ELIZABETH GARRETT ANDERSON, 1836-1917 By Louisa Garrett Anderson This concise
biography of the first Englishwoman to practise here with an English medical qualification (Faber, los. 6d.) has been written by her daughter who has, like her mother, attained high distinction in the medical profession. It is a most stimulating record of a woman's courage and determina- tion. Elizabeth Garrett, the daughter of an Aldeburgh business man, was twenty-three when in 1859 she met Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell who, thanks to her American doctorate, had been placed on the first Medical Register under the Act of 1858. Miss Garrett was encouraged by her friend Emily Davies, the future founder of Girton, to take up the idea of becoming a doctor. She had to overcome all the conventions of Victorian society, and the stubborn conservatism of the universities, the medical bodies and the profession, and her daughter's account of the seven years' struggle that ended in 1866 with Miss Garrett's admission as a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries is admirably told. She soon had a large practice, she founded the London School of Medicine for Women and the New Hospital for Women, and she married a shipowner and was a happy wife and mother. Her daughter does not conceal the fact that Mrs. Garrett Anderson was a masterful lady and had a short way with some fellow-workers, women as well as men. Indeed, the author's dispassionate treatment of various old controversies adds greatly to the interest of an an excellent little book.
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