Louise McIlroy

Dame Anne Louise McIlroy, DBE, MD, DSc, Hon. LL.D (b. 11 November 1874, County Antrim - d. 8 February 1968, Glasgow, Scotland), was best-known as Dr. Louise McIlroy.

Her father was Dr. James McIlroy, a medical practitioner in Ballycastle. She followed in her father's footsteps and attended Glasgow University in 1894 to do a medical degree.

Early Career

She was one of the first women medical graduates, winning class prizes in both medicine and pathology before obtaining her MB,ChB in 1898 followed by an MD with commendation in 1900.

After further postgraduate work throughout Europe specialising in gynaecology and obstetrics she was appointed gynaecological surgeon at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow, a post she held from 1906 to 1910.

At the outbreak of the First World War she and other female medical graduates offered their services to the government. They were declined as "the battlefield .. [was] no place for women".

They decided to set up the Scottish Women's Hospital for Foreign Service. Dr. Louise McIlroy commanded a unit of the hospital at Troyes, France before being posted to Serbia and, three years later, Salonika. During her time in Salonika she established a nurses training school for Serbian girls and oversaw the establishment of the only orthopaedic centre in the Eastern Army. She finished her war service as a surgeon at a Royal Army Medical Corps hospital in Constantinople.

Awards

She was awarded the French Médaille des Epidemies, French Croix de Guerre avec palme, Serbian Order of St. Sava, and, in 1920, the Officers of the Order of the British Empire.

Post World War I Career

In 1921 she was appointed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the London School of Medicine for Women, becoming the first woman to be appointed a medical professor in United Kingdom. She also worked as a surgeon at the Marie Curie Hospital for Women during this period.

Damehood

Her services were recognised in 1929 when she was created Dame Commander of the British Empire. She retired in 1934, to have, in her own words 'a few years of freedom'. After the Second World War she returned to her retirement, residing with her sister in Turnberry, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Death

She died peacefully in a Glasgow hospital on 8 February 1968, aged 93.

Epitaph

"Dame Louise was a hard taskmaster. She expected, and got, the very best from her staff; praise and criticism were justly awarded. To have worked for and with her was a privilege truly sought after by young aspiring specialists."

Links

• Biography

References

• The Lancet, Vol. 1 (1968), p. 429.
• British Medical Journal, Vol. 1 (1968), p. 451.