The Female Medical Society was a British social organisation established in 1862 to promote the employment of women to treat women and children, and to act as midwives. Under its aegis, the first medical college for women, the Ladies' Medical College was founded in 1864, albeit with limited aims and a short life-span.
16-540: The society was established at a time when women were effectively barred from becoming doctors in the UK by the Medical Act 1858 , which required physicians to pass examinations offered by any of 19 examination boards, none of which permitted the admission of women. The practice of midwifery was unregulated, and was undertaken either by self-trained working class women, or by male physicians. The male medical establishment, as
32-646: A clause in the Act that recognized doctors with foreign degrees practising in Britain, Elizabeth Blackwell was able to become the first woman to have her name entered on the Medical Register (1 January 1859). The act also enabled the Royal College of Surgeons of England to be given a new charter allowing them conduct dental examinations. 21 %26 22 Vict. This is a complete list of acts of
48-624: A rule, opposed encroachment on what it considered to be its territory by women. The Society was established by James Edmunds, a physician at the British Lying-In Hospital in Holburn , and the social reformer Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury acted as its first president. Patrons included the rising Frederick Temple Blackwood , Henry Edward Manning , George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll and Elizabeth Campbell, Duchess of Argyll , and Catherine Gladstone , wife of
64-638: A somewhat broader curriculum by 1870. From 1867 students gained clinical experience at the British Lying-In Hospital. 14 students entered in the first year of operation, 69 by 1867 and 84 in 1870. The medical profession, in general, reacted very poorly to the College, espousing various grounds in the British Medical Journal : that the midwifery role should remain subordinate to the (male) physician; that despite its name,
80-467: Is its chapter number. Acts passed before 1963 are cited using this number, preceded by the year(s) of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session was held; thus the Union with Ireland Act 1800 is cited as "39 & 40 Geo. 3 c. 67", meaning the 67th act passed during the session that started in the 39th year of the reign of George III and which finished in the 40th year of that reign. Note that
96-731: The list of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain . See also the list of acts of the Parliament of Ireland . For acts of the devolved parliaments and assemblies in the United Kingdom, see the list of acts of the Scottish Parliament , the list of acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly , and the list of acts and measures of Senedd Cymru ; see also the list of acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland . The number shown after each act 's title
112-460: The College did not offer. In 1872, the Society unsuccessfully sought funds to extend the curriculum offered at the College, at the same time renaming it The Obstetrical College for Women' and in 1873 the College closed. The society appears to have been divided within itself on the question of the admission of women to medical degrees. On the face of it, full admission of women was a stated goal of
128-402: The Parliament of the United Kingdom for the year 1857 . Note that the first parliament of the United Kingdom was held in 1801; parliaments between 1707 and 1800 were either parliaments of Great Britain or of Ireland ). For acts passed up until 1707, see the list of acts of the Parliament of England and the list of acts of the Parliament of Scotland . For acts passed from 1707 to 1800, see
144-779: The Qualifications of Practitioners in Medicine and Surgery , also referred to as the Medical Act 1858 , was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the General Medical Council to regulate doctors in the UK . It is one of the Medical Acts . Describing its purpose, the Act notes that "it is expedient that Persons requiring Medical Aid should be enabled to distinguish qualified from unqualified Practitioners". The Act creates
160-561: The college provided an insufficient education; or that the colleges aims were too high. Feminist journals such as the Alexandra Magazine and Englishwoman’s Journal were more supportive. That the College's ambitions were limited appears to have limited its life-span. Aspiring female physicians were concerned with access to the acquisition of credentials enabling them to be listed on the Medical Register, and these
176-503: The feelings of female patients who preferred to be tended by female practitioners; and to save lives, both by the effect of better training and practice, but also by reducing infections introduced by male physicians who in their wider work came into contact with disease, surgery and post-mortems. In 1864, the society founded the Ladies' Medical College, initially offering a course in obstetrics and supporting and related subject matter, with
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#1732787256718192-431: The modern convention is to use Arabic numerals in citations (thus "41 Geo. 3" rather than "41 Geo. III"). Acts of the last session of the Parliament of Great Britain and the first session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are both cited as "41 Geo. 3". Some of these acts have a short title . Some of these acts have never had a short title. Some of these acts have a short title given to them by later acts, such as by
208-623: The position of Registrar of the General Medical Council — an office still in existence today — whose duty is to keep up-to-date records of those registered to practise medicine and to make them publicly available. The Act has now been almost entirely repealed. The current law governing medical regulation is the Medical Act 1983 . It stated that under the Poor Law system Boards of Guardians could only employ those qualified in medicine and surgery as Poor Law Doctors. Under
224-558: The society as late as its 6th annual meeting. Equally, James Edmunds spoke against the proposition three years earlier, and the society's main instrument, the College, was deliberately limited in its scope. The Society pursued a half-way house, lobbying parliament for the extension of the Medical Register to cover "Licentiates in Midwifery", and to this end issued its own certificates in midwifery training. The Society closed in 1869, partly from lack of funds, and partly because it had lost
240-736: The support of women wishing for a full and complete training curriculum. A year after the closure of the Society's College, the London School of Medicine for Women - unconnected with the Society and arising out of the experience and reaction to the Edinburgh Seven - opened in 1874 to provide full medical training, and the UK Medical Act of 1876 enabled the medical authorities to license all qualified applicants irrespective of gender. Medical Act 1858 The Medical Act ( 21 & 22 Vict. c. 90), An Act to Regulate
256-534: The then Chancellor of the Exchequer . Professionals who lent support included physicians serving at a number of London hospitals, and William Buchanan, a former master of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries . Concerns providing the impetus for the foundation of the society included a desire to raise the status of midwifery such that it could be considered a profession for educated women; to respect
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