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Description area
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History
Sophia Jex-Blake was born in Hastings in 1840, and educated at Queen's College in London. After meeting Dr Lucy Sewell at the New England Hospital for Women, Sophia decided to become a doctor, and enrolled at Edinburgh University in 1868. She was soon joined by Isabel Thorne, Edith Pechey and four others. The women matriculated successfully, but were prevented from sharing formal university teaching with male medical students. They arranged a course of private tuition, identical to that run by the university, but were refused entry to the final examinations as a result of pressure from those who wanted to prevent women from entering the medical profession. As a result of the difficulties at Edinburgh, Sophia Jex-Blake founded the London School of Medicine for Women, which opened in 1874. Originally, she was one of four Trustees who were appointed to administer funds for the School. When it became necessary to appoint a secretary to the medical school, Sophia considered herself to be the automatic choice, as she had founded the school. However, she was not elected, as her 'stormy, passionate nature' had already caused several rifts between herself and the School's Council. Instead, she went to Edinburgh where she founded a hospital for women and children, and the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women. The Edinburgh Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children acquired the home of Sophia Jex-Blake after her retirement, which became known as the Bruntsfield Hospital. The hospital closed in 1989, and the building is currently a hotel. Sophia retired to Tunbridge Wells in 1899, and continued to campaign for women's suffrage until her death in 1912.