Agnes Yewande Savage (21 February 1906 – 1964) was a Nigerian medical doctor and the first
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
n woman to train and qualify in
orthodox medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
.
Savage was the first West African woman to receive a university degree in medicine, graduating with first-class honours from the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
in 1929 at the age of 23.
In 1933,
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
an
Political Activist, political activist and
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
pioneer,
Edna Elliott-Horton
Edna Elliott-Horton (13 September 1904 – 26 March 1994) was the second West African woman from a British colony to receive a university degree after the Nigerian physician Agnes Yewande Savage, who received a medical degree from the University ...
became the second West African woman university graduate and the first to earn a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in the
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
.
Life
Early life and education
Savage was born on 21 February 1906 in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
,
to
Richard Akinwande Savage
Richard Akinwande Savage (1874–1935) was a prominent physician, journalist and politician in Lagos, Nigeria during the colonial era.
Early years
Richard Akinwande Savage was born in 1874, the son of a successful merchant in Lagos descended fr ...
Sr, a
Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
medical doctor, newspaper publisher and a 1900 Edinburgh graduate of
Sierra Leone Creole descent and Maggie S. Bowie, a working-class
Scotswoman.
Her brother was
Richard Gabriel Akinwande Savage
Major Richard Gabriel Akinwande Savage (1903–1993) was a physician, soldier, and the first person of West African heritage to receive a British Army commission.
Early life and family
He was born in 1903 at 15 Buccleugh Place, in Edinburgh, S ...
, also a doctor who graduated from Edinburgh in 1926.
Savage passed exams to the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
in 1919 and was given a scholarship to study at
George Watson's Ladies College
George Watson's College is a co-educational independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a hospital school in 1741, became a day school in 1871, and was merge ...
.
There, she received an award for General Proficiency in Class Work and passed the Scottish Higher Education Leaving Certificate.
She entered
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...
to study medicine, excelled in her studies. In her fourth year of medical school, she obtained first class honours in all subjects, won a prize in Diseases of the Skin and a medal in Forensic Medicine – becoming the first woman in the history of Edinburgh to do so.
She was awarded the Dorothy Gilfillan Memorial Prize as the best woman graduate in 1929.
Medical career and legacy
Savage faced gender and racial institutional barriers in her career.
After graduation, she joined the colonial service in the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
(present-day Ghana) as a Junior Medical Officer. Though better qualified than most of her male counterparts, she received fewer benefits.
In 1931, she was recruited by the headmaster of
Achimota College
Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The schoo ...
. At the urging of the headmaster,
Alec Garden Fraser
Alexander Garden Fraser (6 October 1873 – 27 January 1962), , was a British educator and Anglican vicar. He was one of the founders of Achimota School and the first principal of the school (1924–1935). The other founders were Sir Frederick ...
, the colonial government gave her a better contract. She was with
Achimota
Achimota ( ), is a town in the Accra Metropolitan District, a district of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Achimota means "speak no name" in the Ga language
Ga is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana, in and around the capital Accra. There ar ...
for four years as a
medical officer
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and a teacher.
While at Achimota, she came into contact with
Susan de Graft-Johnson when the latter was the Girls' School Prefect. Johnson regularly worked with Savage at the sick bay
[Vieta, K. T. (1999). ''The Flagbearers of Ghana: Profiles of one hundred distinguished Ghanaians''. Accra, Ghana: Ena Pubs.] and later went on to also study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, becoming Ghana's first female medical doctor.
Another West African woman medical pioneer who studied at both Achimota and
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
was
Matilda J. Clerk
Matilda Johanna Clerk (2 March 1916 – 27 December 1984) was a medical pioneer and a science educator on the Gold Coast and later in Ghana as well as the second Ghanaian woman to become an orthodox medicine-trained physician. The first wo ...
, who became the first Ghanaian woman to win a university merit scholarship, the second female doctor in Ghana and the fourth West African woman to train as a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
.
After Achimota, Savage went back to the colonial medical service and was given a better concession, in charge of the infant welfare clinics, associated with
Korle Bu Hospital in
Accra
Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
. Concurrently, she was appointed the assistant medical officer to the maternity department of the hospital and warden of the nurses' hostel. At Korle-Bu, she supervised the establishment of a training school for nurses,
Korle-Bu Nurses Training College
The Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Korle Bu (NMTC Korle-Bu), the premier institution in Ghana for nursing education, is located in Korle Bu in Greater Accra. The establishment of the college in 1945 was supervised by Agnes Yewande Savage ...
, where a ward was named in her honour.
Death
Savage retired relatively early due to "physical and psychological exhaustion" in 1947 and spent the remainder of her life in Scotland raising her niece and nephew. She died of a
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
in 1964.
See also
*
Timeline of women in science
This is a timeline of women in science, spanning from ancient history up to the 21st century. While the timeline primarily focuses on women involved with natural sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics, it also includes women f ...
*
Women in medicine
The presence of women in medicine, particularly in the practicing fields of surgery and as physicians, has been traced to the earliest of history. Women have historically had lower participation levels in medical fields compared to men with occu ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savage, Agnes Yewande
1906 births
1964 deaths
20th-century Nigerian medical doctors
20th-century Nigerian women
20th-century women physicians
Alumni of the Royal College of Music
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Black British history
Black British people in health professions
British expatriates in Ghana
Gold Coast (British colony) people
Nigerian expatriates in Ghana
Nigerian people of Scottish descent
Nigerian women medical doctors
Nigerian women's history
Medical doctors from Edinburgh
Agnes
Scottish people of Nigerian descent
Scottish people of Sierra Leonean descent
Sierra Leone Creole people
Saro people
Scottish people of Yoruba descent
University and college founders
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical School
Yoruba women physicians