Isabella Macdonald Macdonald

Isabella Macdonald Macdonald (1856–1947) was one of the first women to graduate as a medical doctor after training in the United Kingdom; she was awarded a Bachelor of Medicine and a Licence of the Society of Apothecaries in 1888, from the London School of Medicine for Women. She went on to have a long career, including as a consultant at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital.

Biography

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Isabella Macdonald Macdonald was born in 1856, daughter of John Macdonald, lawyer and town-clerk of Arbroath and his wife Ann, née Kid (d.1860). The couple had eleven children including seven daughters.[1] Her younger sister, Louisa Macdonald was an educationist and suffragist.[1]

She was an early student of the London School of Medicine for Women, established to provide a route by which women could acquire the credentials necessary to become a registered physician in the UK.[2][3]

She graduated in 1888 as a doctor of medicine (MB)[4][5] and pharmacist. She practiced initially, for three years, as the resident physician at Cama Hospital, Mumbai, returning to the UK with ill-health. Thereafter she worked for many years at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, rising to the level of consultant physician and retiring in 1925. She maintained a private practice operating from her house in Seymour Street, Portman Square until 1940, when the property was destroyed as the result of a wartime bombing.[2]

Her 1947 obituary makes no mention of any marriages. She died, aged 91, in 1947.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Alexander, H. (1986). "Macdonald, Louisa (1858–1949)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Obituary - Dr. Isabella Macdonald Macdonald". British Medical Journal. 2 (4525): 511. 27 September 1947. JSTOR 20370826.
  3. ^ "Dr. Isabella Macdonald". The Times (50863): 6. 11 September 1947.
  4. ^ "Medical News". The Lancet. 2 (3404): 1049. 24 November 1888. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Presentation day at the university of London". The Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions. 20: 261. 15 June 1889. ISBN 9780824037468.