Sophia Jex-Blake

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Standard Name: Jex-Blake, Sophia
Birth Name: Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake
In a society that valued modesty, where women refrained from seeking treatment from male doctors for some medical problems, SJB saw a need for women doctors. Through extensive conflict, she became the third woman to have her name on the British Medical Registry. However, unlike Elizabeth Blackwell , who sought education in America, and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson , who received her degree through regulatory loopholes that soon closed, SJB directly pressured the universities and parliament, through her writings and through direct action, to admit women to both medical education and the practice of medicine. Her published works include essays on medical history and medical practice, on infection and childcare, and powerful arguments for ending the male monopoly. Her success paved the way for women to become doctors in England and Scotland on the same formal terms as men.
Black and white, head-and-shoulders photo of Sophia Jex-Blake aged twenty-five, a dozen years before she won her struggle for medical qualifications. Backed by dark drapery, she wears a simple, dark, loose-fitting dress with a white collar; her dark hair is pulled back.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Education Pandita Ramabai
Her study of Christianity had already involved her in learning about the Bible and about the English language, under Miss Hurford of the Sisters of St Mary the Virgin . Her intention in travelling to...
Leisure and Society Isabella Bird
At Edinburgh IB became involved with a community of young intellectuals whom she met through John Stuart Blackie , Professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh , and his wife Eliza (sometimes called Ella)...
politics Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
BLSB and other Langham feminists such as Jessie Boucherett and Emily Davies formed the society for the discussion of political and social issues. The first meeting was held at the home of Charlotte Manning ...
Textual Features Mary Stott
Here MS writes grippingly of her own life, and illuminatingly about myriad subjects of public or cultural interest: the lives, customs, and deaths of newspapers, the conspiracy of silence about sex which had not dissipated...
Textual Features Q. D. Leavis
QDL 's review constitutes a personal and professional attack on Woolf, based primarily on three fronts: education, domesticity, and class. A footnote asserts that Woolf commenting on women's institutional education is voicing an opinion on...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Ray Strachey
The book starts with an account of Mary Wollstonecraft 's work, and proceeds decade by decade, citing Florence Nightingale , Josephine Butler , John Stuart Mill , Sophia Jex-Blake , and many others. Its heroine...

Timeline

1 May 1848: Queen's College for Women (a secondary, not...

Building item

1 May 1848

Queen's College for Women (a secondary, not a post-secondary institution) was founded in London to educate prospective governesses and improve girls' education generally.
Kamm, Josephine. Indicative Past: A Hundred Years of The Girls’ Public Day School Trust. Allen and Unwin, 1971.
24
Borer, Mary Cathcart. Willingly to School: A History of Women’s Education. Lutterworth Press, 1976.
263-4

23 May 1865: The Kensington Society, a quarterly women's...

Building item

23 May 1865

The Kensington Society , a quarterly women's discussion group devoted to social and political issues, held its inaugural meeting in London.
Stephen, Barbara. Emily Davies and Girton College. Constable, 1927.
106, 147
Mitchell, Sally. Frances Power Cobbe: Victorian Feminist, Journalist, Reformer. University of Virginia Press, 2004.
150

21 August 1865: The Manchester Guardian reported the scandalous...

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21 August 1865

The Manchester Guardian reported the scandalous discovery that medical army inspector James Barry, who had recently been found dead, had also been found to be a woman.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
89
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2024, 22 vols. plus supplements.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
James Barry was rarely included in...

March 1870: Edinburgh University student Mary Edith Pechey...

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March 1870

Edinburgh University student Mary Edith Pechey received the highest grades in her class for the Chemistry examination, but was denied the right to receive the Hope Scholarship.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
114-5
Feminist historian Catriona Blake notes an alternative...

April 1870: Supporters of Sophia Jex-Blake's campaign...

Building item

April 1870

Supporters of Sophia Jex-Blake 's campaign for female medical education wrote to The Times and The Englishwoman's Review asking women to petition Parliament in support of female doctors.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
120

1889: Elsie Maud Inglis helped found the Medical...

Building item

1889

Elsie Maud Inglis helped found the Medical College for Women in Edinburgh.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Texts

Jex-Blake, Sophia. A Visit to Some American Schools and Colleges. Macmillan, 1867.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. “Medical Education of Women in Great Britain and Ireland”. The World’s Congress of Representative Women, edited by May Wright Sewall, Vol.
1
, Rand McNally, 1894, pp. 214-20.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. “Medical Women”. The Nineteenth Century, pp. 692-09.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. “Medical Women in Fiction”. The Nineteenth Century, Sampson Low, Marston & Company, pp. 261-72.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. Medical Women: A Thesis and A History. 2nd ed., Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier: Hamilton, Adams & Co, 1886.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. Medical Women: Two Essays. Oliphant, 1872.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. “Medicine as a Profession for Women”. Woman’s Work and Woman’s Culture, edited by Josephine Butler, Macmillan, 1869, pp. 78-120.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. Puerperal Fever: A Graduation Thesis. 1877.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. The Care of Infants: A Manual for Mothers and Nurses. Macmillan, 1884.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. “The Practice of Medicine by Women”. Fortnightly Review, Vol.
xvii
, Chapman and Hall, 1875, pp. 392-07.
Jex-Blake, Sophia. “Women as Practitioners of Midwifery”. The Lancet, Vol.
96
, No. 2445, pp. 63-4.