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years earlier, the Freeman’s Journal reported on Dr. Thomas More Madden’s
address at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association in Glasgow. Dr.
More Madden, an Irishman, was President of the Obstetrics Section of the British
Medical Association at the time and supported the admission of women to the
medical profession, particularly their admission to the speciality of obstetrics. More
Madden is quoted as having said:
I cannot agree with those who are opposed to the admission of women into
the practice of our department of medico-chirurgical science for which their
sex should apparently render them so especially adapted. I can see no valid
reason why any well qualified practitioner, male or female, should not be
welcomed amongst us. Nor if there are any women who prefer the medical
attendance of their own sex, does it seem fair that in this age of free trade
they should not be afforded every opportunity. 42
More Madden also argued that there was a distinctive need for women doctors in
India and Oriental countries ‘where millions of suffering women and children are
fanatically excluded from the possibility of any other skilled professional assistance;
and I therefore think that such practitioners are entitled to admission into our ranks
in the British Medical Association’. 43 This was a common argument put forward by
supporters of women in the medical profession in the period, in particular by
members of the medical profession itself who may have had fears about the
overcrowding of their profession within the United Kingdom. Even Queen Victoria,
who was otherwise opposed to women doctors, expressed in 1883 her support for
efforts being made to raise a guarantee fund for the benefit of women doctors
willing to go out from Britain to settle and work in India. 44 Jex-Blake, however, was
critical of non-university courses that were established for the purpose of training
women to provide medical care in the Zenana missions, arguing that such courses
could not possibly equip women with the skills and training necessary for the
medical profession. 45
42 Untitled, Freeman’s Journal, August 9 th , 1888, p.4.
43 Untitled, Freeman’s Journal, August 9 th , 1888, p.4.
44 ‘The Queen and medical women’, The Englishwoman’s review, January 13 th , 1883, p.33.
45 Sophia Jex-Blake, ‘Medical education of women: a comprehensive summary of present
facilities for education, examination and registration’, (Edinburgh: The National Association
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