Ella Campbell Scarlett

Ella Campbell Scarlett (22 November 1864 – 30 October 1937) was an English physician who was the first woman medical practitioner in Bloemfontein, South Africa and the first woman doctor at the Royal Columbian Hospital in Canada.

Ella Campbell Scarlett
Black-and-white photograph of Scarlett wearing a hat
Ella Scarlett in 1916
Born(1864-11-22)22 November 1864
Surrey, England
Died30 October 1937(1937-10-30) (aged 72)
London, England
Alma materLondon School of Medicine for Women and the Royal Free Hospital
OccupationPhysician
SpousePercy Hamilton Synge (m. 14 December 1901-1921; divorced)
Parent(s)Helen (née Magruder) Scarlett (mother)
William Scarlett, 3rd Baron Abinger (father)
Relatives

Early life and education

Scarlett was born at Abinger Hall in Surrey, England on 22 November 1864. Her parents were Helen (née Magruder) Scarlett, niece of John B. Magruder, and William Scarlett, 3rd Baron Abinger.[1][2]

In 1897, Scarlett studied medicine at the London School of Medicine for Women and the Royal Free Hospital for five years, and spent some time in Korea at the Royal Court.[3]

On 14 December 1901, she married Percy Hamilton Synge. At the time of the wedding she was 37 years old and Synge was 29 years old.

Career

In 1902, Scarlett traveled to Norvalspont, Cape Colony to serve, by government appointment, in the concentration camp as part of the Boer War.[4] Scarlett then moved to Bloemfontein, where she was part of a six-member committee appointed by the British Minister of War to investigate conditions in the concentration camps. Other members of the committee included Millicent Fawcett and Jane Elizabeth Waterston.[5] In 1903, Scarlett was assigned the position of doctor to Normal College and the Dames Instituut.

In 1907, Scarlett moved to Edmonton, Canada, for five years before moving to New Westminster. In 1915 Scarlett worked for the Canadian Red Cross teaching first aid and home nursing, as well as organising the first Women's Volunteer Reserve Corps of Canada[6] and becoming the first woman doctor at the Royal Columbian Hospital.[7] In August 1915, Scarlett traveled to Serbia to distribute medical supplies and visited British prisoner of war camps in Germany.[8] She died in 1937 in London.[9]

References
  1. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975
  2. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 25. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  3. Says, Richard Merchant (26 July 2012). "Royal Columbian Hospital's First Woman Doctor". RCH150.
  4. "One of the Great Women of the West - Maclean's - SEPTEMBER 1916". Maclean's, The Complete Archive.
  5. Potgieter, S V (1998). "History of Medicine: Medicine in Bloemfontein - anecdotes from the turn of the century". South African Medical Journal. 3 (88): 272–274.
  6. Hacker, Barton; Vining, Margaret (2012). A companion to women's military history (Volume 74 ed.). Brill. p. 195. ISBN 9789004212176.
  7. Says, Richard Merchant (26 July 2012). "Royal Columbian Hospital's First Woman Doctor". RCH150.
  8. Hacker, Barton; Vining, Margaret (2012). A companion to women's military history (Volume 74 ed.). Brill. p. 195. ISBN 9789004212176.
  9. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995
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