Louisa Garrett Anderson

Louisa Garrett Anderson was the oldest of three children of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman to qualify as a doctor in Britain, co-founder of the London School of Medicine for Women and Britain's first elected woman Mayor. Her father was James George Skelton Anderson, co-owner of the Orient Steamship Company with his uncle Arthur Anderson. She was educated at St Leonards School in St Andrews and London School of Medicine for Women, where she received her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1898. Anderson received her Doctor of Medicine in 1900, enrolled in further postgraduate studies at Johns Hopkins Medical School and travelled to observe operations in Paris and Chicago. == Early career ==

Despite her education, Anderson was unable to join a general major hospital, since attitudes at the time opposed female doctors treating both men and women. As a result, in 1902 she joined the New Hospital for Women, a women's-only hospital founded by her mother, which treated women and children. Anderson first worked as a surgical assistant and later as a senior surgeon. She performed gynaecological and general operations and co-published a paper with the hospital pathologist in 1908 discussing her hysterectomy operations and dissecting the 265 cases of uterine cancer treated at the New Hospital for Women. ==Women’s Suffrage==

and Louisa Garrett Anderson, Alfred Caldecott and another in 1910 on the day they went to see the Prime Minister From 1903, Anderson had been active in organizations affiliated with the NUWSS, which advocated for gaining voting rights through peaceful means. Frustrated by the lack of progress on voting rights, in 1907 she became an active member of the more radical WSPU. On 18 November 1910, Anderson joined her mother, Emmeline Pankhurst, Alfred Caldecott, Hertha Ayrton, Mrs Elmy, Hilda Brackenbury, Princess Sophia Duleep Singh and 300 women to petition Prime Minister Asquith for voting rights. The protest became known as Black Friday owing to the violence and sexual assault the protesters faced from the police and male bystanders. More than one hundred women were arrested, including Anderson, but all were released without charge. In 1914, Anderson joined Agnes Harben and the new group of women and men: H. J. Gillespie, Gerald Gould, Bessie Lansbury and George Lansbury, Mary Neal, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, Julia Scurr and John Scurr, Evelyn Sharp, and Edith Ayrton, Louise Eates and Lena Ashwell in starting the United Suffragists, which grew to have branches in London, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow. ==Medicine – World War I==

When the First World War broke out, Anderson and Flora Murray founded the Women's Hospital Corps (WHC), and recruited women to staff it. Believing that the British War Office would reject their offer of help, and knowing that the French were in need of medical assistance, they offered their assistance to the French Red Cross. The French accepted their offer and provided them the space of a newly built hotel, Claridge's, in Paris as their hospital. Murray was appointed Médecin-en-Chef (chief physician) and Anderson became the chief surgeon. BIPP was widely adopted by surgeons for the rest of the war, although opinion among doctors remained divided as to the best method for wound treatment. Despite continued debate, BIPP was also used in the Second World War and continues to be in use today in ear, nose, throat, maxillofacial, and neurosurgery procedures. == Awards ==

Murray and Anderson were both appointed to the Order of the British Empire as Commanders (CBE) in August 1917, as part of the first group to receive the honour. ==Death==

Anderson died in Brighton and was cremated. Her ashes were scattered over the South Downs. She is memorialised on Murray's gravestone, near to their home in Penn, Buckinghamshire. The inscription reads:To the dear love of comrades and in memory of Flora Murray CBE, MD, BS Durham, DPH. Cambridge Daughter of Com John Murray RN Murraythwaite, Dumfriesshire Born 8 May 1869 Died 26 July 1923 She commanded the military hospital Endell Street London with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel RAMC 1915 -1919 God gave her the strength to lead, to pity and to heal And of her friend Louisa Garrett Anderson C.B.E., M.D., Chief Surgeon Women's Hospital Corps 1914–1919 Daughter of James George Skelton Anderson and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson of Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Born 28 July 1873 Died 15 November 1943 WE HAVE BEEN GLORIOUSLY HAPPY ==Archives==

The archives of Louisa Garrett Anderson are held at The Women's Library at the Library of the London School of Economics, ref. 7LGA]. ==Posthumous recognition==

Anderson's name and picture (and those of 58 other women's suffrage supporters) are on the plinth of the statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, London, unveiled in 2018. ==See also==