Who was Britain's first woman doctor

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Q.� Quite an achievement. Was she from a privileged background

A.� Fairly. Elizabeth, daughter of Newson Garrett and Louise Dunnell, was born in Whitechapel, London. She was one of 12 children. Her father ran a pawnbroker's shop in London, but in 1841 he bought a corn and coal warehouse in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. It made him a fortune and by 1850 he could send his children good schools.

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Q.� Medical school

A.� Not as simple as that. Elizabeth was taught for two years in Blackheath and then expected to return home until marriage. However, Elizabeth was more interested in working. In 1854, she met a young feminist, Emily Davies. She was later introduced to Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in the United States to qualify as a doctor. Garrett made up her mind: That was what she was going to do. She later wrote: 'I asked [my father] what there was to make doctoring more disgusting than nursing, which women were always doing, and which ladies had done publicly in the Crimea. He could not tell me.' Her parents were initially hostile, but eventually her father agreed to support her.

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Q.� It wasn't easy for her

A.� No. Garrett tried to study in several medical schools but they all refused to accept a woman - so she became a nurse at Middlesex Hospital and attended lectures intended for the male doctors. Men students complained and Garrett was banned from the lecture hall.

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Q.� So, little progress

A.� Garrett discovered that the Scottish Society of Apothecaries did not specify that females were banned for taking examinations. So in 1865 she sat and passed the apothecaries' examination. She received the certificate - and that allowed her to become a doctor. (However, the society changed its regulations to stop other women from entering the profession that way.)

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Q.� And she set up in practice

A.� Yes, in London, with support of her father. In 1866 she established a dispensary for women in London (renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital) and four years later was appointed a visiting physician to the East London Hospital. She was determined to obtain a medical degree, but this still wasn't an option in Britain, so she learned French, and passed her exams at the University of Paris. The British Medical Register still refused to recognise her degree.

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Q.� Did she raise a family

A.� Yes. In 1871 she married James Anderson, a businessman and the financial adviser to the East London Hospital. They had had three children - Louisa, Margaret, who died of meningitis, and Alan. In 1872 she opened the New Hospital for Women in London, which had an all-female staff. Elizabeth Blackwell, the woman who inspired her to become a doctor, was appointed professor of gynecology. She retired in 1902.

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Q.� A quiet retirement

A.� No. She moved to Aldeburgh, Suffolk, where she continued her interest in politics - and in 1908 she was elected mayor: the first woman mayor in England. Later, aged 72, she joined the militant Women's Social and Political Union and joined fellow suffragettes in storming the House of Commons. She died in 1912.

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By Steve Cunningham