Louisa Aldrich-Blake has been commemorated with a Google doodle – here is the story of the British medical icon
She broke down barriers and became a heroine for young women looking to enter the world of Medicine and now Louisa Aldrich-Blake is being honored by Google with their homepage doodle.
Born on August 15, 1865, in Chingford, Essex, Louisa Aldrich-Blake was raised in Welsh Bicknor with her parents, Reverend Frederick James Aldrich-Blake and Louisa Blake Morrison.
Educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Louisa would go on to graduate with first-class honors with a Bachelors of Science, Bachelors of Medicine, and a Medical Degree from the London School of Medicine for Women.
Louisa then gained a Medical Doctorate from the University of London in 1894, following this with a Master of Surgery in 1895 – the first British woman to ever receive the qualification.
Going on to be appointed an assistant surgeon at the New Hospital for Women and Children in London, Louisa rose up to a landmark position as a senior surgeon, whilst also working at the Royal Free Hospital.
Dr. Aldrich-Blake would find her world altered forever, like so many others, with the outbreak of World War One in 1914.
With an unimaginably intense workload at home too, Dr Aldrich-Blake traveled to France on her holidays between 1914 and 1916, where she spent her time saving and mending lives in military hospitals.
Not content with just being a ground-breaking female surgeon in her own right, she also wrote to every female clinician on the General Medical Register and helped to organise overseas postings for those who replied volunteering their services.
In addition to her military aid in World War One, Dr Aldrich-Blake would also work on clinical research and helped to innovate in treatments of cervical and rectal cancers whilst working as a volunteer at the Canning Town Women’s Settlement Hospital.
If this wasn’t enough, Dr Aldrich-Blake would remain a staunch advocate of medical education and became the Dean for the London School of Medicine for Women in 1914.
Finally, Louisa became Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake in 1925 when she was awarded a much-earned DBE in the year of her death.
Louisa passed away on December 28, 1925, from cancer after several operations.
Her life was celebrated in St. Pancras Church in London on New Year’s Day 1926 before her ashes were taken home to Welsh Bicknor.
A statue of Dame Louisa can be found in Tavistock Square in London near to her former home of her medical school.Speaking to the Royal College of Physicians , Professor Wendy Reid, the first national director of Health Education England, said of her hero Louisa: “Louisa Aldrich-Blake was, quite simply, a powerhouse. The first woman in Britain to gain a specialist qualification in surgery, she practised at the highest level, innovating as she did so. She made a massive personal contribution to the British effort in the First World War, and maintained her commitment to the wider community through career-long charitable work in London’s East End.”
Her Google Doodle commemorates her on her 154th Birthday.
Louisa Aldrich-Blake DBE (August 15, 1865 – December 28, 1925)
