From Hunter Street to Grays Inn Road

Follow the Footsteps of 19th Century Women Trailblazers

Sophia Jex Blake
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

Start at 8 Hunter Street WC1N 1BN at the site of the London School of Medicine for Women, founded in 1874 by Sophia Jex Blake  Women in Medicine in 19th Century England – Pascal Theatre Company (pascal-theatre.com) suported by Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Elizabeth Blackwell.  The School trained women who went on the make their name in different fields eg: Louisa Aldrich Blake first woman in Britain to be awarded the degree of Master of Surgery (statue in Tavistock Square), Mary Gordon, first British female prison inspector, Rukhmabai, first qualified practising female doctor in India.

Go round the corner down Handel Street to St George’s Gardens following the steps medical students took to go to the Royal Free Hospital in Grays Inn Road where they did their clinical practice. St George’s Gardens are a peaceful oasis in the heart of Bloomsbury and result from work done by Miranda and Octavia Hill Social Reformists – Pascal Theatre Company (pascal-theatre.com) to provide ‘open air sitting rooms’ to promote physical and mental health in the heart of the city.  Setting up the Kryle Society they campaigned to preserve disused graveyards as public spaces of beauty to be enjoyed by all.  It is also probable that Fanny Wilkinson, the first qualified female landscape gardener, had a hand in the design of the gardens.            

Octavia Hill
Miranda Hill

         

We did this short walk and talk after a workshop with St Pancras Community Association Golden Years members.  The discussion:                  

  • Lady doctors traitors to their sex!  Women’s place is in the home!  Where do these opinions come from?
  • Should women fight for equal access to the education and training men have or separate education and training for women?
  • What barriers did women face accessing education, training and employment in the 19th century and how have these changed since then?

We explored these ideas and drew personal accounts of experiences in the home, school and workplace with older participants sharing personal experiences and those of their children and grandchildren.