Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital

A building I often walk past on the corner of Euston Road and Churchway, almost opposite St Pancras New Church, is the Grade I-listed Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, famous as the country’s first proper hospital for women…

Born one of twelve children of a Whitechapel pawnbroker, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917) achieved fame for leading the movement for women to qualify as doctors.

Repeatedly turned down by medical schools, Garrett Anderson enrolled as a nursing student at the Middlesex Hospital, attending lectures provided for the male doctors and studying Latin, Greek and ‘materia medica’ privately.

She gained a certificate in anatomy and

physiology from the Society of Apothecaries and this enabled her to practise as a doctor.

In 1866, with the financial backing of her father, she founded St Mary’s Dispensary in Marylebone. In 1872 this became the New Hospital for Women, specialising in the treatment of gynaecological conditions. Its aim was to provide poor women with treatment from qualified female doctors – unheard of at that time. The facility moved to Marylebone Road in 1874. In 1873 she gained membership of the BMA, but remained the only female doctor for 19 years after the

Association voted against the admission of further female applicants.

In 1889 the foundation stone for a new purpose-built hospital in Euston Road was laid. An attractive, Queen Anne-style building, it combined teaching hospital provision (initially with 42 beds) with premises for the Women's Medical Institute, situated on the ground floor of the frontage block.

The layout of the new hospital (right) originally featured a circular ward block at the north end and a series of open connecting balconies between the blocks. The hospital expanded considerably during the 1920s and the circular ward block was replaced with a large rectangular block.

The surviving remnant of the building is of particular historic significance as it originally contained the Women's Medical Institute on the ground floor. The Institute provided a place for women doctors to meet, and read and discuss the latest medical journals.

The building has now been listed and restored, and forms part of the UNISON centre. It contains a gallery open to the public on the life and work of Garrett Anderson. Most hospital services have now moved to a new wing at UCL.

Although principally known for her work in medicine, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was also active in the women’s suffrage movement (her sister was the activist Millicent Fawcett), including membership for a time of the militant Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). She also became the country’s first female mayor in 1908, as well as being the first female to hold the post of magistrate.

References:

https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/11-little-known-things-about-elizabeth-garrett-anderson/