Annie Wardlaw Jagannadham

Annie Wardlaw Jagannadham (1864 – 26 July 1894) was an Indian physician trained at Edinburgh. She was the first Indian woman qualified to practice medicine in Britain.

Annie Wardlaw Jagannadham
Born1864
Visakhapatnam
Died23 July 1894
Visakhapatnam
OccupationPhysician

Early life edit

Jagannadham was born in Visakhapatnam,[1] one of the six children of Rev. Pulipaka Jagannadham, a Telugu poet, teacher, and Christian missionary, and his wife, Eliza Osborne, a mission teacher, who was also a convert from Hinduism.[2] Her older sister was Eliza Lazarus, married Daniel Lazarus, the headmaster of the Vizagapatam Mission School.[3] Her brother P. Richard Hay Jagannadham was also a doctor trained at Edinburgh.[3] Her niece was Hilda Mary Lazarus (1890–1978), an obstetrician and medical school principal.[4]

Education and career edit

Jagannadham studied at Madras University, and pursued further training as a physician at Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women,[5] from 1888 to 1890.[6][7] She was described as "the first Indian lady who obtained a registerable British diploma."[8] She was a student of Sophia Jex-Blake, who supported scholarships to bring other Indian women students to study medicine in Britain.[9] She also held a certificate in psychological medicine (MPC).[10]

She was house surgeon at the Edinburgh Hospital for Women and Children in 1890.[11][12] After returning to India, Jagannadham worked as house surgeon at Cama Hospital in Bombay, under hospital head Edith Pechey-Phipson.[3][13]

Death edit

Jagannadham caught an illness described as "some painful disease of the throat" while working at the hospital in Bombay, and died in summer 1894, aged 30 years, at her parents' home.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ "Miscellaneous News". The Yorkshire Herald and the York Herald. 31 August 1894. p. 3. Retrieved 12 November 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Lazarus, D. (February 1897). "The Late Rev. P. Jagannadham, of Vizagapatam". The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society: 18–20, 33–34.
  3. ^ a b c d Goffin, H. J., "The Late Dr. Annie Wardlaw Jagannadham" The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society (October 1894): 232-233. via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Brouwer, Ruth Compton. "The legacy of Hilda Lazarus." International Bulletin of Missionary Research, vol. 30, no. 4, 2006, p. 202+.
  5. ^ "Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women". Journal of the British Dental Association. 11: 316. 15 May 1890.
  6. ^ "Medical Women". The Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions. 20: 363–365. 15 August 1889. ISBN 9780824037468.
  7. ^ "Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Edinburgh". Glasgow Medical Journal. 32: 134. December 1889.
  8. ^ "Obituary". The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review and Oriental and Colonial Record: 506. 21 September 1894.
  9. ^ Todd, Margaret Georgina; Travers, Graham (1918). The Life of Sophia Jex-Blake. Macmillan. p. 504.
  10. ^ "List of those who have passed the examination for the Certificate of Efficiency in Psychological Medicine". The Journal of Mental Science. 41: xviii. 1895–1896.
  11. ^ "Personal". Boston Post. 30 June 1890. p. 4. Retrieved 12 November 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Gleanings". Evening Journal. 19 March 1892. p. 3. Retrieved 12 November 2020 – via Trove.
  13. ^ "Notes". Public Opinion. 12: 530. 27 February 1892.