Sophia Jex-Blake

After studying medicine in the United States — working at the New England Hospital for Women and Children Boston under Dr. Lucy Sewall, and subsequently studying at Elizabeth Blackwell's Women's Medical College in New York — the English daughter of a lawyer, Sophia Jex-Blake (1840–1912), wished to continue her medical education in Britain. However, she found that medical schools in England would not admit women, and the Society of Apothecaries had closed the loophole that had enabled Elizabeth Garrett to qualify and practice in Britain. 

Sophia Jex-Blake Aged 25 Portrait by Samuel Laurence 1865

A determined and tempestuous and abrasive personality, Jex-Blake embarked on a vigorous campaign for acceptance into Edinburgh University in Scotland to study medicine. After initially persuading the university to allow women to attend separate classes, Jex-Blake and six other female students — together known as the "Edinburgh Seven," the first women to matriculate at any British university — encountered fierce opposition from hostile lecturers and male students. On November 18, 1870, when the women attempted to enter Surgeons' Hall to sit an anatomy examination, a mob of over 200 gathered outside, throwing mud and rubbish at them in what became known as the Surgeons' Hall Riot.

Jex-Blake took legal action in an attempt to force the university to admit the women to degree examinations. However, in 1873 the Court of Session ruled against her, ending the Edinburgh campaign.

Her battles did manage to shift public opinion, and by the following year Jex-Blake had gathered enough support to co-found the London School of Medicine for Women, which opened in October 1874 — the first medical school in Britain to train women.

Further progress was made in 1876 when the Medical Act (enabled by Russell Gurney's Enabling Bill) was passed by Parliament, permitting women in Britain to receive a medical degree and a licence to practise medicine and surgery. Jex-Blake herself qualified in 1877, obtaining her MD from the University of Berne in Switzerland, and became Edinburgh's first practising woman doctor in 1878. She also founded the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women in 1886. However, it was only in 1892 that the University of Edinburgh permitted women to sit its medical degree examinations, with women graduating fully from 1894 onwards.