{"id":9405,"date":"2011-06-13T16:19:54","date_gmt":"2011-06-13T15:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=9405"},"modified":"2011-06-14T11:27:34","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T10:27:34","slug":"guy-rughani-new-hospital-gallery-honours-britains-first-female-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2011\/06\/13\/guy-rughani-new-hospital-gallery-honours-britains-first-female-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"Guy Rughani: New hospital gallery honours Britain’s first female doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GuyTasteful up-lighting, shiny touch screens, and slick videos are what we now expect of the modern museum. Actually, they\u2019re not museums any more – that\u2019s far too stuffy. They\u2019re “galleries.”<\/p>\n

With this in mind, London\u2019s latest medical attraction doesn\u2019t disappoint. The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Gallery<\/a> at UNISON\u2019s new headquarters opened\u00a0last week\u00a0(Dr Anderson\u2019s 175th birthday) to polite applause, a speech from the union\u2019s General Secretary, and a glorious array of canap\u00e9s, wine, and cheese.<\/p>\n

The new gallery is in the former library of the “new hospital” for women, founded by Elizabeth Garrett Anderson in 1890. Dr Anderson was the first woman to qualify as a doctor in the UK, and a significant women\u2019s rights campaigner. Inspired by Elizabeth Blackwell (America\u2019s first female doctor), she decided to study medicine, but no medical school would admit her.\u00a0 She eventually cobbled together enough private medical teaching to register in 1865 with the Society of Apothecaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old fogies were properly impressed\u201d commented Elizabeth following her registration exam. \u201cI do think making a decent appearance before examiners is one of the very keenest pleasures of this life.\u201d<\/p>\n

After obtaining an MD from Paris, marrying a wealthy steamship owner, and raising three kids, she returned to social reform. Her “new hospital\u2019 in Bloomsbury was built in a domestic style, more home than hospital, offering poor women and children medial care. The hospital remained open until the mid-nineties, since which time it has lain derelict.<\/p>\n

John Dangerfield, one of the architects charged with restoring the hospital, described what they found: \u201cThe building was on the point of collapse. The ward block and tower were sliding towards the main road, and there was water coming into the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

The architects and builders slowly recorded, dismantled, and reconstructed the original hospital, linking it to the new UNISON tower block. They covered the sandwiched courtyard with a fancy glass roof.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are now more women than men qualifying as doctors in the UK\u201d said UNISON\u2019s general secretary Dave Prentis. \u201cThat is a fitting testament to Elizabeth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visit the Elizabeth Anderson gallery, UNISON Centre, 130 Euston Road, London NW1 2AY<\/p>\n

Guy Rughani<\/strong> is a BMJ Clegg scholar and a third year medical student at the University of Edinburgh.
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\nSee also:<\/p>\n