In a time when women were barred from lecture halls, dismissed from hospitals, and told to know their place, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson carved out a legacy that would change the course of British medicine. 🔊 Listen Now: Episode 131 Endell Street Military Hospital
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, Euston Road, originally opened in 1889 as the New Hospital for Women, it was renamed in 1918. Today, it stands as a preserved tribute to the first female doctor in England. If you’ve ever walked down Euston Road and passed the handsome old brick building tucked beside the UNISON offices, you may not realise you’re brushing shoulders with a legacy. That building? It’s the former Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital—a monument not just to medicine, but to sheer grit.
Breaking Barriers in Medicine
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was no ordinary woman. In 1870, she became England’s first qualified female doctor, paving a path through prejudice, persistence, and the polite refusals of institutions run (entirely) by men. She didn’t just break the glass ceiling—she dissected it, analysed its structure, and prescribed a better blueprint.
Born to be bold, Elizabeth is a portrait that radiates the determination and resolve she became known for. Her expression says it all—she was not one to back down. Born in 1836 into a large, comfortably well-off family, Elizabeth was the second eldest of ten children. Her father, having made his fortune in Suffolk’s brewing and malting industry, ensured his daughters were educated—though even he might not have anticipated just how far Elizabeth would go. Her eureka moment came at age 23, when she attended a talk by Elizabeth Blackwell—a British-born, US-trained doctor who had earned her MD in America. She was the first woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S., whose lecture in 1863 inspired Elizabeth Garrett Anderson to pursue medicine.
Female Solidarity and Support Networks
That encounter lit a fire under Elizabeth. Afterwards, discussing it with her friend Emily Davies and her sisters Louisa, and Millicent Fawcett said prophetically: ‘Well Elizabeth it is clear what must be done; I must devote myself to securing higher education, while you open the medical profession to women. After these things are done we must see about getting the vote. You are younger than we are Millie so you must see about that’
Emily Davies, an education reformer and co-founder of Girton College, Cambridge—an influential voice and close ally in Elizabeth’s mission “No Girls Allowed!” easier said than done.
Education and Empowerment of Women
Elizabeth began medical training at Middlesex Hospital—observing surgeries, attending lectures, and working as a nurse. She excelled. In fact, she excelled too much: the male students complained that she was answering all the questions better than them. The governors panicked, and she was swiftly shown the door.
Middlesex Hospital is where Elizabeth began her studies, excelling in lectures until male students had her removed. Rejections followed thick and fast. Edinburgh? No. St Andrews? Nope. But she was clever. She found a loophole: the Society of Apothecaries couldn’t legally ban her from taking their exams. So, with tutoring from sympathetic surgeons, she earned her licence to dispense medicine in 1866. The dispensaries were like Boots the chemist with a walk in clinic combined.
The Certificate or Emblem of the Society of Apothecaries, a legal loophole allowed Elizabeth to earn her medical licence here in 1865—making history in the process. From there, her story moves fast: a dispensary in Marylebone in 1866, serving poor local women (for 6d, if they could manage it) and running a private clinic in her Berkeley street home for paying clients. By 1870, she’d earned her medical degree from the Sorbonne in Paris—acing every exam in French, naturally. And not long after, she married and had a daughter.
Innovation in Women’s Healthcare
A hospital of her own: by 1872, she’d opened hospital beds above her dispensary, and soon after, she built something bigger—The New Hospital for Women, staffed by women, for women. First on Marylebone Road (until the railways moved it) and later in the very building still standing today near Euston. It wasn’t just a hospital; it was a statement. The wards had space between beds, embroidered covers, flowers on the tables, parquet floors, and stained glass windows—a sharp contrast to the grim austerity of places like the Middlesex. And this vision? It was a family affair: her sister Agnes and cousin Rhona (both trailblazing designers) furnished and decorated the place with care and creativity.
Legacy and Recognition
More than a doctor, Elizabeth wasn’t just healing bodies—she was healing systems. She trained women as dispensers and doctors, decades before this became common. And when the British Medical Association refused women entry, she built her own medical gallery at the hospital, so female physicians could come together to share research and support. All the while, she was raising her daughter, supporting her suffragist sister Millicent Garrett Fawcett, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her friend Emily Davies, founder of Girton College, Cambridge.
A legacy written in brick and spirit, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson died in 1917, and a year later the hospital was renamed in her honour. It ran until 2001 and, although no longer a hospital, the building has been preserved and restored—quietly guarding the story of a woman who refused to wait for permission. She wasn’t just a doctor. She was a trailblazer, a strategist, a mother, a rebel, and—above all—a woman who changed what was possible. So next time you pass that building near Euston, pause for a moment. Look up. And maybe give a quiet nod to a woman who rewrote the rules.
If you’ve been inspired by Elizabeth’s journey, why not walk in her footsteps? Join us on the Women and Medicine in Euston and Fitzrovia Walk to uncover more untold stories of courage, innovation, and progress.
Book your ticket now and discover how women like Elizabeth didn’t just practise medicine—they transformed it.
