Elizabeth Garrett Anderson - Medical Education

Medical Education

After an initial unsuccessful visit to leading doctors in Harley Street, Elizabeth decided to first spend six months as a hospital nurse at Middlesex Hospital, London in 1860. On proving to be a good nurse, she was allowed to attend an outpatients’ clinic, then her first operation. She attempted to enroll in the hospital’s Medical School and was refused but was allowed to attend private tuition in Latin, Greek and materia medica with the hospital’s apothecary, while continuing her work as a nurse. She also employed a tutor to study anatomy and physiology three evenings a week. Eventually she was allowed into the dissecting room and the chemistry lectures. Gradually, Elizabeth became an unwelcome presence among the male students who in 1861, presented a memorial to the school against her admittance as a fellow student. She was obliged to leave Middlesex Hospital but she did so with an honours certificate in chemistry and materia medica. Elizabeth Garrett then applied to several medical schools, including Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons, all of which refused her admittance. Meanwhile, she privately obtained a certificate in anatomy and physiology. In 1862, she was finally admitted for private study by the Society of Apothecaries. During the next three years, she continued her battle to qualify by studying privately with various professors, including some at the University of St Andrews, the Edinburgh Royal Maternity and the London Hospital Medical School. In 1865, she finally took her exam and obtained a licence from the Society of Apothecaries to practise medicine, the first woman qualified in Britain to do so (apart from the woman passing herself off as Dr James Barry). On the day, three out of seven candidates passed the exam, Elizabeth with the highest marks. The Society of Apothecaries immediately amended its regulations to prevent other women obtaining a licence.