Elsie Inglis

thumb|Bronze bust of Elsie Inglis by [[Ivan Meštrović 1918, SNPG]]

thumb|Plaque marking Elsie Inglis's surgery, Walker Street, Edinburgh

Eliza Maud "Elsie" Inglis (16 August 1864 – 26 November 1917) was a Scottish medical doctor, surgeon, teacher, suffragist, and founder of the Scottish Women's Hospitals. She was the first woman to hold the Serbian Order of the White Eagle. as did her maternal grandfather. Inglis's parents considered the education of a daughter as important as that of a son, Inglis's maternal grandfather was George Powney Thompson. She was an aunt of the gynaecologist Sir Henry Simson, and a distant cousin of fellow female medical pioneer Grace Cadell.

Inglis's father retired (when aged 56) from the Indian Civil Service and moved to Edinburgh, via Tasmania, where some of her older siblings had settled. in new premises at 219 High Street, on the Royal Mile, close to Cockburn Street, and was the forerunner of the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital. In 1913, Inglis travelled across to the US (Michigan) to visit and learn from a new type of maternity hospital.

Inglis's surgical skills were recognised by colleagues as "she was quiet, calm, and collected, and never at a loss, skilful in her manipulations, and able to cope with any emergency."

Inglis lived and was in a relationship for some time with Flora Murray, a fellow doctor and suffragette.

Suffrage movement

thumb|Executive Committee of the Scottish Federation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1913 (fourth from left at front?)

Her dissatisfaction with the standard of medical care available to women led her to political activism through the suffrage movement. She was the secretary of the Edinburgh National Society for Women's Suffrage in the 1890s, supported by her father.

Inglis worked closely with Millicent Fawcett, the leader of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (the NUWSS), speaking at events all over the country. By 1906, "Elsie Inglis was to the Scottish groups what Mrs. Fawcett was to the English; when they too formed themselves that year into a Federation, it was Elsie who became its secretary." From the early years of the Scottish Federation of Women's Suffrage Societies, Inglis was honorary secretary from 1906 and continued in this role right up to 1914.

Inglis spoke in support of suffrage in 1907 with Chrystal MacMillan and Alice Low as fellow speakers, at a NUWSS meeting in Edinburgh's Café Oak Hall. Jessie Scott from New Zealand, where women already had the vote was also a guest speaker.

A century later, in The Lancet, Lucy Inglis (a relative) noted Inglis had said 'fate had placed her in the van of a great movement' and was a 'keen fighter'. it was during the First World War that she made her mark. Despite government resistance, Inglis established the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service Committee, an organisation funded by the women's suffrage movement to provide all female staffed relief hospitals for the Allied war effort, including doctors and technical staff (paid) and others including nurses and transport staff and others as volunteers. but was able to use her connections to the suffrage movement to raise money for what became the Scottish Women's Hospitals (SWH). Inglis approached the Scottish Red Cross to help with funding, but the head of the Scottish Red Cross, George Beatson denied Inglis' request stating that the Red Cross was in the hands of the War Office and he could have "nothing to say to a hospital staffed by women." To start the project, "she opened a fund with £100 of her own money." Millicent Fawcett, of NUWSS took up the cause and invited Inglis to speak about the SWH in London, The goal was £50,000. Collection boxes had the NUWSS logo in small print, one is held in the National Museum of Scotland.

The organisation was active in sending eventually 14 teams to Belgium, France, Serbia and Russia. It was, instead, the French government that took up her offer and established a unit in France and then she led her own unit in Serbia. Inglis was involved in all aspects of the organisation of this service down to the colours of the uniform, 'a hodden grey, with Gordon tartan facings'. The French hospital was based at the Abbey of Royaumont and was run by Frances Ivens from January 1915 to March 1919. Inglis had initially offered a 100-bed hospital but it grew to hold 600 beds as it coped with the severity of battles, including that on the Somme.

Inglis went with the teams sent to Serbia, to work in improving hygiene which reduced typhus and other epidemics there. On her journey, she was to enjoy a last peaceful day of sunshine and starlight on the voyage. and local press and in fundraising talks once she returned home. Inglis was said, in the chaos, to think of her homeland 'there, quiet, strong and invincible, behind everything and everyone'.

Inglis's body lay in state at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, and her funeral there on 29 November was attended by both British and Serbian royalty. The service included the 'Hallelujah Chorus' and the Last Post played by the buglers of the Royal Scots. The streets were lined with people as her coffin went through Edinburgh to be buried at the Dean Cemetery.

In London, a subsequent memorial service, attended by members of the royal families of Britain and Serbia, was held at St Margaret's Church in Westminster, the Anglican parish church of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

A memorial fountain was erected in Inglis's memory in Mladenovac, Serbia, commemorating her work for the country. A plaque marking her pre-war surgery from 1898 to 1914 was erected at 8 Walker Street, Edinburgh. A portrait of her is included in the mural of heroic women by Walter P. Starmer unveiled in 1921 in the church of St Jude-on-the-Hill in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London. In 1922 a large tablet to her memory (sculpted by Pilkington Jackson) was erected in the north aisle of St Giles Cathedral, in Edinburgh.

Her main physical memorial was the building of the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital in 1925 which was operational until 1988. Many Edinburgh children were born there during the 20th century. It was closed by the National Health Service in 1988 and sold off. Part of it is now an old people's home, part is private housing, and parts are demolished; it is no longer recognisable as a hospital. At its closure there were public protests that a new maternity unit should also be named after Inglis, which has not yet happened (2020). A small plaque to Elsie Inglis exists near the south-west corner at the entrance to Holyrood Park. In March 2015, the British Residence in Belgrade was renamed Elsie Inglis House<nowiki/>' in recognition of her work in the country. The ceremony was conducted by the president of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic and the UK Ambassador Denis Keefe said<blockquote>"Elsie Inglis was one of the first women in Scotland who had finished high education and was a pioneer of medicine. She fought energetically against prejudice, for social and political emancipation of women in Britain. She was also a tireless volunteer, courageous organiser of the Scottish Women's Hospitals and a dedicated humanitarian. Unfortunately, Elsie Inglis didn't live long enough to see the triumph of some of her ideas, but she has had a tremendous influence on social trends in our country. In Scotland she became a doctor, in Serbia she became a saint."

Inglis's name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, unveiled in 2018.

The Women's Roll of Honour plaque in York Minster also includes Inglis' name.

Inglis's younger sister Eva Helen Shaw McLaren wrote her biography Elsie Inglis, The Woman With the Torch a reference is to Florence Nightingale known as 'The Lady of the Lamp'. The Project Gutenberg has published the former book.

In Eva's papers was found an unpublished manuscript novel by Inglis, 'The Story of a Modern Woman', whose heroine, Hildeguard Forrest, may be seen as autobiographical in part, and in a boating accident the narrator says 'in a sudden flash....[she] suddenly realised she wasn't a coward'. and on the Royal Mile itself (the site for Elsie's statue) there are twelve statues of men, and Elsie's will be the first statue of a woman. There was a campaign to raise the £47,500 funding for the memorial statue, virtual tours (through a QR code on the statue) and other ways to commemorate "a truly revered and treasured figure in Edinburgh's history".

As part of this campaign, an event was held by Girlguiding Scotland on 5 March 2022, in the Meadows in Edinburgh. This event was a sponsored 'sit still', with lots of activities sitting still, such as badge making, first aid and making a shelter from sticks. At this event, there was also a bespoke Elsie Inglis bus tour, provided by Edinburgh Bus Tours, that visited areas linked to Elsie Inglis around Edinburgh. This event was to raise funds for the memorial statue for Elsie, raise awareness and inspire the people of Girlguiding Scotland to do anything they put their mind to. Girlguiding Scotland also created an accompanying badge for when members complete some activities from the Challenge Pack.

By May 2022, this crowd-funding drive by Thea Laurie and Fiona Garwood, raised £50,000, by engaging politicians and organisations and public figures like author, Sara Sheridan, tennis coach Judy Murray, scientist Linda Bauld and MSP Jenni Minto, as well as the Lord Provost. They said '"Dr Inglis is the perfect representative for women in Edinburgh. Her achievements in philanthropy and her efforts during World War One are just exceptional. She was a woman who would not be told to sit still and know her place." It will be built on the site of her first hospital at 219 High Street, Edinburgh. The announcement was met with criticism, and the trustees 'paused' the process to reflect on feedback and to consider their options. The public debate on this controversy has continued into 2025, with an open letter to the Edinburgh city council, with notable supporters from the arts and medicine.

thumb|Inglis on a 2015 Serbian stamp

Commemorative Stamp

In December 2015, the British Embassy in Serbia partnered with the Serbia Post to launch a series of six stamps commemorating "British Heroines of the First World War in Serbia". Elsie Inglis was included in the series along with Captain Flora Sandes, Evelina Haverfield, Elizabeth Ross, Katherine MacPhail and Isabel Emslie Hutton.

Awards and honours

In April 1916, Inglis became the first woman to be awarded the Order of the White Eagle (First class) by the Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia at a ceremony in London. She had previously been awarded the Order of Saint Sava (III class).

Gary Mill's 2016 novel My Good Lady is a dramatised account of Inglis's service with the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service in the Balkans during World War 1.

Lothian Health Services Archive holds many records relating to Inglis, as well as a number of her personal possessions. The latter include a case of medical instruments (LHBA 14/37, a Minton coffee cup and saucer (LHBA 14/41) and a beer mug (LHBA 14/38) from Serbia

References

Bibliography

The archives of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service are held at The Women's Library at the Library of the London School of Economics, ref 2SWH

External links

Short biography
Bruntsfield Hospital and Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital (Lothian Health Services Archive)
The Scotsman archives
Surgeons' Hall Museum, Edinburgh.
University of Edinburgh
Medical doctor and history, Documentary film – EAI
Russian medical missions in Serbia during WW1, RTS Documentary
Girlguiding Scotland's 2022 Campaign for an Elsie Inglis statue in Edinburgh