Ella Campbell Scarlett

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

Ella Scarlett in 1916

Early life and education

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

Career

In 1902, Scarlett traveled to Norvalspont, South Africa 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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