Profile – £50 Note Zone

Lived:

I was born on the 9th June 1836 in Whitechapel, London and died on the 17th December 1917 in Aldeburgh in Suffolk
Occupation:

I worked as a doctor (when women weren't allowed to be doctors), set up my own medical practice, then co-founded the London School of Medicine for Women (which became the Royal Free Hospital/UCL), and was Dean of my medical school until I retired in 1902
Known for:

I'm known for standing up for the rights of women. I paved the way for women to be able to study medicine and I believe that biggest danger to women's health is "not education but boredom and that fresh air and exercise is preferable to sitting by the fire with a novel". I was a suffragette and met Emmeline Pankhurst. After I retired to Aldeburgh, and after my husband's death, I became the first lady major in England
Field:

Medicine, education, women's health, gynaecological conditions, suffrage

One sentence about me: I was the first woman to openly qualify as a doctor in Britain and I set up a medical school for other women
About Me:

I am a determined, intelligent, efficient and cheerful person. I started off my career as a nurse, but wanted to be a doctor. Being unable to gain entry to any of the medical schools, I gained the required certificates, then gained a licence to practice medicine. I co-founded, and was Dean, of a medical school of educate other woman.

I am a firm believer in women’s rights and was a suffragette.

I was happily married to my husband James Anderson from 1871 until he died in 1907, and we had three wonderful children together. Although Margaret died as a baby, my eldest daughter became a pioneering medical doctor, Chief Surgeon of the Women’s Hospital Corps and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and my son Alan was director of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and served on the board of the Bank of England.
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Elizabeth Garrett Anderson