Elsie Inglis

1864 - 1917

A leading surgeon and suffragette. Although born in India, Inglis came to Edinburgh with her parents at a young age. She trained in the city and at the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow. Inglis improved maternity facilities and fought for better healthcare for women in Scotland. She founded a maternity hospital in Edinburgh (1901) staffed only by women. During the First World War, she set up hospitals for the troops in Serbia and Russia. In appreciation of her significant contribution, Inglis became the first woman to be awarded the Order of the White Eagle, the highest honour given by the Yugoslavian Government.

She died, ill and exhausted, in Newcastle (England) while returning from the war en route to Edinburgh and lies buried in Dean Cemetery. The Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital opened in Edinburgh in 1925 and continued its work until 1988.

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