Ethel Elizabeth Osborne (née Goodson 30 January 18823 December 1968) was a British-born Australian doctor who was an expert in the field of hygiene and public health.

Biography

Osborne was born in

Armley Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the Industrial Revolution and had several mills, one of which houses now the Leeds Industrial ...

, a district of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in England and studied at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, graduating in 1901. On the 10 December 1903 she married William Alexander Osborne and then travelled to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. In 1910 Osborne founded the Catalysts, a women's group in Victoria. She also founded a Lyceum Club in Melbourne, and was elected vice-president during its first meeting on 21 March 1912. Osborne served for two years with the British

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis of ...

during World War II as a night welfare worker, where she performed research for the Health of Munition Workers' Committee and the Industrial Fatigue Research Board, publishing two reports, "Industrial Hygiene as Applied to Munition Workers" (1921) and was the coauthor of "Study of Accident Causation" (1922). Osborne also conducted inspections of the

Women's Land Army The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the ...

training centres, taking her then three children with her. In 1919 Osborne returned to Melbourne. Osborne had four children, Audrey Josephine in 1905, Gerard in 1908, Yrsa in 1913, and Charis in 1920. Osborne retired in 1938. In 2008 she was inducted into the

Victorian Honour Roll of Women The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The Honour Roll was established as part of the cele ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Ethel 1882 births 1968 deaths Medical doctors from Leeds 20th-century English medical doctors 20th-century British women medical doctors British women activists British women's rights activists British women medical doctors English expatriates in Australia Alumni of the University of Leeds