Medicine and Community
Plymouth attracted some of the earliest women to practice medicine, partly because of the readiness of local Plymothians to avail themselves of their services, instead of preferring male doctors. Plymouth was also a location where nurse training was carried on, through the Three Towns Nursing Association initially, and a number of formidable sisters and matrons emerged and worked in the city’s hospitals during both wars and subsequently. Sadly, we have not been able to track down sufficient detail about the Plymouth Powerful Women in the nursing field – but though nameless, currently, we know they made a significant contribution – and hope to have details to add as a result of further research.
Dr Rosa Bale (1864-1941) A Devon-born woman, she was Plymouth’s first woman GP. She was one of the early female entrants into medicine. She was trained at the London School of Medicine for Women, but also obtained qualifications in Glasgow, at a time when it was difficult… Read More »Rosa Bale
Dr Sheila Cassidy (1937-) Sheila Cassidy qualified in medicine at Oxford in 1963 and embarked upon a career in what she calls ‘mending broken people’. In 1971 she went with her beloved chow, Winston, on a cargo boat to Chile where with her halting Spanish… Read More »Sheila Cassidy
Dr Jessie Gilbert A woman GP, operating in the interwar period in Plymouth
Miss L.A. Joliffe She was the Matron of Alexandra House, including both a maternity home and the Royal United Services Orphan Home for Girls, located in Devonport. A formidable figure and trained nurse, she became deeply involved with issues such as the high mortality rate… Read More »L.A. Joliffe
Dr Mabel Ramsay MD, FRCS, MRCOG, DPH (1879-1954) The daughter of a naval officer and his wife, Annie Ramsay – in her own right a noted suffragist – the family moved to Plymouth thanks to her father’s naval career. Mabel was as ardent a suffragist as… Read More »Mabel Ramsay