Jane Elizabeth Waterston
Jane Elizabeth Waterston | |
---|---|
Born | 1843 Inverness, Scotland |
Died | 7 December 1932 Cape Town, South Africa | (aged 88–89)
Nationality | British |
Known for | being the first woman physician in Southern Africa |
Jane Elizabeth Waterston (1843 – 7 December 1932) was a Scottish teacher and the first woman physician in southern Africa. Inspired by David Livingstone she trained to become a physician and missionary. Prejudice led her [clarification needed] to leave Livingstone's footsteps and to work with the poor in southern Africa.
Life
Waterston was born in
She worked there until 1873 when she returned to undertake the difficult task of obtaining medical training in England. Waterston was inspired by David Livingstone's death and the news that women were being allowed to become physicians. She was fortunate to be one of the first women to be trained at the London School of Medicine for Women where she took her medical degree in 1880. She received a medical license from the Irish King and Queen's College of Physicians.[1]
After training she went to the
In 1880 she was back to the Lovedale mission for three years before she became a physician in Cape Town. She went into private practice, lived in part as a socialite,[5] and was able to send money back to Scotland where her own family were unemployed, following the failure of the Caledonian bank in 1878.[1]
Waterston worked with the poor and established a "Ladies Branch of the Free Dispensary". It was known as "free expenses", but a small charge was always made to ensure the recipients' dignity. Waterston also insisted that the mothers who benefited should be married even though the child might have been born before the marriage. The organisation looked after mothers and also trained midwives to continue the work.[6]
In Bloemfontein she was part of a six-member committee appointed by the British Minister of War to investigate conditions in the concentration camps (other members of the committee included the suffragist Millicent Fawcett and physician Ella Campbell Scarlett).[7]
For her tireless work, Waterston was given the South African name of Noqataka, "the mother of activity".[4] In 1925 she became the second woman to be made a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.[6] In 1929 Waterston was made a Doctor of Laws by the University of Cape Town.[8] Waterston died in Cape Town in 1932.[3]
Legacy
Waterston had written to James Stewart who led the institution in Lovedale in 1866. Her correspondence with Stewart continued until 1905. They were edited and published in 1983.[6]
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/59011. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- PMID 11618389.
- ^ hdl:10394/5473.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7486-1713-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-5961-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-620-07375-2.
- ^ Potgieter, S V (1998). "History of Medicine: Medicine in Bloemfontein - anecdotes from the turn of the century". South African Medical Journal. 3 (88): 272–274.
- ^ Celebrating 125 years of women on campus, University of Cape Town, Retrieved 11 September 2015
Further reading
- Ross, John. "Feisty, Feminist and Fearless: Jane Elizabeth Waterston, South Africa's First Female Doctor". academia.edu. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
- Bickers, Robert A.; Seton, Rosemary (5 November 2013). Missionary Encounters. Routledge. p. 117. ISBN 9781136786099. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- "Am Baile". Am Baile. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- Ewan, Elizabeth; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Sian (2006). The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From the Earliest Times to 2004. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748617135. Retrieved 27 July 2016.