Eleanor Mears
Eleanor Mears | |
---|---|
Born | Ellen Cowie Loudon 9 December 1917 |
Died | 18 May 1992 Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England | (aged 74)
Occupation(s) | Medical practitioner Campaigner |
Years active | 1940–1992 |
Eleanor Cowie [Ellen Cowie] Mears (
Early life
On 9 December 1917, Mears was born in Willowbank, Cleland, North Lanarkshire,[1] in Scotland.[2] Her family was the Loudon family, who were successful builders in the local area.[3] Mears was the second of three children to the builder William Loudon, and his wife Helen Cowie, née Robertson. She was intended to be christened Ellen but the name was misheard and the name was put as Helen on her birth certificate instead. Between 1924 and 1930, Mears attended school in Cleland before moving to Wishaw High School until 1935.[1] She went on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh despite her parents believing a woman should not be working in the medical profession.[3] Mears was a popular and prominent student, holding left-wing political views. She was a member of the Student Christian Movement, occasionally preached in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and played golf and hockey for the University of Edinburgh. In mid-1940, Mears graduated MB ChB.[1]
Career
At the age of 23, Mears moved to London and became the operator of a vacant practice of a male doctor, at a time when most men general practitioners were enlisted for the war effort.[4][5] She went by the name of Eleanor,[1] and she became popular with female patients in her area of practice who discussed their gynaecological problems that they would not talk about to a male doctor.[2][5] Mears did not formally qualify to become a gynaecologist and was privately not agreeable to the surgical emphasis of a branch of medicine that was dominated by men.[2][5] Nevertheless, she began taking an interest in women's medicine.[1]
When the
In 1960, she authored the advice book called Marriage, a Continuing Relationship for newlywed couples and it suggested that women avoid promoting radical views of women's rights and instead assume a meek role.[1] Mears wrote Handbook on Oral Contraception in 1965,[1] and co-authored with Alan Gutmacher Babies by Choice or by Chance.[3] She became head of research into all oral (and subsequently) inter-urine contraceptives, coordinating and observing every clinical trial conducted by pharmaceutical companies in the United Kingdom.[5][4] Mears prescribed the drug Conovid to patients, believing that women should have the right to have control of their fertility and promoted oral contraceptives despite vocal opposition from her profession from individuals such as Edith Summerskill.[1][3] She campaigned through the media for reform to laws regarding abortion that was put through Parliament by Edwin Brooks and David Steel in the late 1960s and, unsuccessfully, euthanasia.[3][4] Mears later opened consulting rooms in Harley Street and moved to Grimsby from where she operated a clinic for psycho sexual problems on behalf of the Lincolnshire Health Authority.[1]
Personal life
Mears married a fellow medical student, Kenneth Patrick Geddes Mears, in 1940. They had three children and she independently conducted an abortion on her fourth, unwanted, pregnancy. They separated in 1954 and were later divorced. In 1968 she married the Grimsby fish wholesaler Francis Frederick Smith.[1] She began suffering from Alzheimer's disease by 1987,[4] and was admitted to Rauceby Hospital in Sleaford, where she died on 18 May 1992. She was buried at Grantham eight days later.[1]
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47178. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ .
- ^ .
- ^ .
- ^ a b c d e "Dr Eleanor Mears". The Times. 22 May 1992. p. 17. Retrieved 23 February 2022 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- OCLC 7250089 – via Open Library.
- .