Jex-Blake, Sophia
Jex-Blake, Sophia (1840–1912). Pioneer of women in medicine. Ever concerned with women's education, Sophia Jex-Blake was mathematics tutor at Queen's College, London (1859), but an American friendship drew her to medical studies, initially in New York but then in Edinburgh, until increasing hostility prevented clinical training. The cause of women's medical education now publicly aired, she responded by founding the London School of Medicine for Women (1874), negotiating clinical work at the Royal Free Hospital. Gaining an MD at Berne, then the Dublin licentiate (registrable in Britain), but too stormy for the LSMW (who appointed Elizabeth Garrett Anderson as dean), she returned hurt to Edinburgh, where she founded her own medical school for women (1886). Like many of her schemes, this did excellent work but foundered through her domineering personality and intransigence. Impetuous trail-blazer, concerned with tuition and legal qualification but difficult to work with, Jex-Blake finally admitted defeat (1899) and retired to Sussex.
A. S. Hargreaves
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
Jex-Blake, Sophia
