Biographies
Sophia Jex-Blake
Sophia Jex-Blake was the daughter of Dr. Thomas Jex-Blake and Mary Cubitt, was born in Hastings in 1840. Thomas Jex-Blake was a leading physician, but he had retired at the time of her birth. Sophia's parents were evangelical Anglicans who held very traditional views on education and at first refused permission for her to study at college.
Eventually Dr. Jex-Blake gave his permission and in 1858 Sophia began attending classes at Queen's College. Sophia did so well that she was asked to become a tutor of mathematics at the college. Sophia's parents believed it was wrong for middle-class women to work and only gave their approval after she agreed not to accept a salary.
After Queen's College, Sophia spent time teaching in Germany and the United States. When she returned she wrote a book about his experiences A Visit to Some American Schools and Colleges. Sophia had been especially impressed with the experiments in the United States with co-education.
While in the United States, Sophia had met Dr. Lucy Sewell, the resident physician at the New England Hospital for Women. Sophia now decided she would rather be a doctor rather than a teacher. At first she intended to do her medical training in the United States but when her father died in 1868, she returned to England to support her grieving mother.
When her mother had recovered from the death of her husband, Sophia began to explore the possibility of training as a doctor. This was a problem as British medical schools refused to accept women students. Sophia Jex-Blake eventually persuaded Edinburgh University to allow her and her friend, Edith Pechy, to attend medical lectures. This annoyed the male students and attempts were made to stop them receiving teaching and taking their examinations. Jex-Blake and Pechy both passed their examinations, but university regulations only allowed medical degrees to be given to men. The British Medical Association therefore refused to register the women as doctors.
Sophia Jex-Blake's case generated a great deal of publicity and Russell Gurney, a M.P. who supported women's rights, decided to try and change the law. In 1876 Gurney managed to persuade Parliament to pass a bill that empowered all medical training bodies to educate and graduate women on the same terms as men. The first educational institution to offer this opportunity to women was the Irish College of Physicians. Sophia took up their offer and qualified as a doctor in 1877.
Sophia Jex-Blake now joined with Elizabeth Garrett Anderson in her efforts to establish a Medical School for women. Sophia hoped to be put in charge of the medical school but Elizabeth Garrett Anderson eventually appointed Isabel Thorpe. Sophia Jex-Blake was bitterly upset by this decision and cut all links with the London Medical School for Women. Sophia Jex-Blake moved to Edinburgh where she established a successful practice. While in Edinburgh, Sophia played an active role in the local Women's Suffrage Society.
In 1899 Sophia retired to Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Sophia continued to campaign for women's suffrage until her death in 1912.
Biographical Links
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
Source Database
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Further Reading
Sophia Jex-Blake, Medical Women, Elephant (1886)
Margaret Todd, The Life of Sophia Jex-Blake, Macmillan (1918)
Jo Maintain, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Methuen (1965)
Marie Roberts (ed.), The Educators, Routledge (1995)
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