Flora Murray
Flora Murray CBE | |
---|---|
Born | Murraythwaite, Dalton, Dumfriesshire, Scotland | 8 May 1869
Died | 28 July 1923 Belsize Park, London, England | (aged 54)
Education | London School of Medicine for Women Durham University |
Occupation | physician |
Known for | suffragette |
Relatives | Louisa Garrett Anderson (partner) |
Flora Murray
Early life and education
Murray was born on 8 May 1869 at Murraythwaite, Dumfries, Scotland, the daughter of Grace Harriet Murray (née Graham) and John Murray, a landowner and Royal Navy captain.[4] Murray was the fourth of six children.
Murray attended school in
During her time in Scotland, Murray lived in Edinburgh with Dr Elsie Inglis, founder of the Scottish Women's Hospitals movement.[7] Historians such as Hamer and Jennings have argued that Murray had her "first serious lesbian relationship" with Elsie Inglis.[8][7]
Career
Physician
In 1905 Murray was a medical officer at the
Suffragette
Murray's hand in women's suffrage first started when she became a participant and activist of Millicent Fawcett's National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. She then continued her work in women's suffrage as a supporter of Women's Social and Political Union. She also became a consistent participant in the militant movement, offering her services as a practitioner including at the Pembroke Gardens nursing home for suffragettes recovering from force-feeding, run by Nurses Catherine Pine and Gertrude Townend.[10][11]
She took a leadership role and showed her value as an activist by speaking at public gatherings, becoming a member in the 1911 census protest, and using her medical knowledge and skill to treat her fellow suffragettes who experienced injuries through their work as activists.[5] She looked after Emmeline Pankhurst and other hunger-strikers after their release from prison and campaigned with other doctors against the forcible feeding of prisoners.[12]
Women's Hospital for Children
In 1912 she founded the Women's Hospital for Children at 688 Harrow Road with Louisa Garrett Anderson. It provided health care for working-class children of the area, and gave women doctors their only opportunity to gain clinical experience in paediatrics in London; the hospital's motto was Deeds not Words.[12]
World War I
When the
Murray reported in her diary that visiting representatives of the British War Office were astonished to find a hospital run successfully by British women, and the hospital was soon treated as a British auxiliary hospital rather than a French one.[14] In addition to the hospital in Paris, the Women's Hospital Corps also ran another military hospital in Wimereux.[12]
In January 1915, casualties began to be evacuated to England for treatment. The War Office invited Murray and Anderson to return to London to run a large hospital, the Endell Street Military Hospital (ESMH), under the Royal Army Medical Corps. ESMH treated almost 50,000 soldiers between May 1915 and September 1919 when it closed.[12]
After the war ended, Murray returned to Harrow Road hospital which was renamed Roll of Honour Hospital, where she continued her work as a private practitioner. Her diary about her experiences of the War became a book titled Women as Army Surgeons: Being the History of the Women's Hospital Corps in Paris (1920). The book's dedication reads, "To Louisa Garrett Anderson / Bold, cautious, true and my loving companion."[8]
Lack of funding eventually led to the closure of the Roll of Honour Hospital, and also the retirement of both Murray and Anderson. They moved to a cottage in Paul End, in Penn, Buckinghamshire.[5]
Death
Murray suffered from
To the dear love of comrades and in memory of
Flora Murray
CBE, MD, BS Durham, DPH. Cambridge
Daughter of Com John Murray RN
Murraythwaite, Dumfriesshire
Born 8 May 1869
Died 26 July 1923
She commanded the military hospital Endall Street London with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel RAMC 1915 -1919
God gave her the strength to lead, to pity and to heal
And of her friend
Louisa Garrett Anderson
C.B.E., M.D., Chief Surgeon Women's Hospital Corps 1914–1919
Daughter of James George Skelton Anderson and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson of Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
Born 28 July 1873
Died 15 November 1943
WE HAVE BEEN GLORIOUSLY HAPPY
Commemorations
In April 2022, it was announced that Murray would appear on the 'reverse side' of the new polymer £100 banknote to be issued by Bank of Scotland to highlight her work in medicine and in women's rights.[17] The note will feature a portrait of Murray by Francis Dodd. The chief executive of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust noted that "Almost a century since her death, Flora's story is a reminder of the huge debt of gratitude we owe to those early agitators who refused to accept the limitations imposed by a society that didn't believe women could or should be doctors, physicians and surgeons. “Then and now, we embrace the pioneers, the innovators, and the game-changers."[18]
The banknote came third in the 2023 'world's most beautiful banknote' contest, with the image of Murray on the reverse side, in the foreground and her female stretcher-bearers at Endell Street Hospital in the background. She also appears uniquely in the banknote's front security hologram. [19]
See also
References
- ^ Flora Murray. findagrave.com
- ISBN 9780198614111. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Moore, Wendy (2020). No Man's Land: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain's Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During World War I. Basic Books. p. 51.
- ^ "SR Birth Search Return for birth of Flora Murray 1869". Scotland's People.
- ^ required.)
- ^ S2CID 220171025.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84645-007-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7190-5321-4.
- .
- OCLC 1016848621.
- ^ go4more (14 February 2021). "LGBTQ+ History Month | Doctor Flora Murray: Suffragette, Doctor and Local Heroine". Devils Porridge Museum. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ PMID 17200698.
- ^ "Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray: Redefining gender roles in military medicine". The Bulletin. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ PMID 8007751.
- ^ Moore, Wendy (2020). No Man's Land: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain's Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During World War I. Basic Books. p. 449.
- ^ Green, Miles. "Dr. Flora Murray 1869-1923 and Dr. Louisa Garrett Anderson 1873‑1943 | History, Monuments and Memorials of Penn". Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ "Medical pioneer Dr Flora Murray features on new bank note". BBC News. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
- ^ "Who was Flora Murray?". www.lloydsbankinggroup.com. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
- ^ "Scottish £100 banknote among the world's 'most beautiful'". BBC News. 1 June 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.