Mary Hannah Frances Ivens

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRCOG (1870 – 6 February 1944) was an

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgic ...

and gynaecologist who was the first woman appointed to a hospital consultant post in Liverpool. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

she was chief medical officer at the

Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont The Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont was a medical hospital during World War I active from January 1915 to March 1919 operated by Scottish Women's Hospitals (SWH), under the direction of the French Red Cross and located at Royaumont Abbey ...

, northeast of Paris. For her services to the French forces she was awarded a knighthood in France's ''

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

'' and the '' Croix de Guerre''.

Early life and education

Ivens was born in Little Harborough, near

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. In the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby whi ...

in 1870, the 5th child of Elizabeth (née Ashmole) (1840–1880) and her husband, William Ivens (1830–1905), farmer and timber merchant.Crofton, E. (2013) ''Angels of Mercy: A Women's Hospital on the Western Front, 1914–1918''. Edinburgh: Birlinn. She entered the London School of Medicine for Women in 1894 at the age of 24, doing her clinical studies at the Royal Free Hospital and qualified in 1900 with the gold medal in obstetrics and honours in medicine and forensic medicine.Weiner, M-F. (2016)
Frances Ivens (1870-1944): the first woman consultant in Liverpool
''. In 1902, she qualified

MB BS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

(Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery) with first class honours. In 1903 she obtained the degree of Master of Surgery (MS). She had further postgraduate experience in obstetrics and gynaecology in Dublin and Vienna followed by seven years' surgical experience in London at the Royal Free Hospital, the

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital and its predecessor organisations provided health care to women in central London from the mid-Victorian era. It was named after Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, one of Britain's first female phys ...

(New Hospital for Women) in London, and the Canning Town Mission Hospital for Women in East London.

Liverpool 1907–1914

In 1907 she was appointed gynaecological surgeon to a new unit in the Liverpool Stanley Hospital – the first woman to hold an honorary post in a Liverpool hospital. Beds had been specially endowed on the condition that they should be in the care of a woman practitioner. Here she built up a large gynaecological out-patient department. Later she was also appointed honorary surgeon to the Liverpool Samaritan Hospital. In Liverpool she fought to have more women appointed to hospital posts, and became a leading member of the North of England Medical Women's Society. She was active in the suffrage movement and was chair of the Liverpool branch of the Conservative and Unionist Women's Suffrage Society.

Surgeon at Royaumont

In December 1914, she volunteered to serve in France as head of the unit of the Scottish Women's Hospital, which was established in the Abbaye de Royaumont under the French

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

. Before the war, as her practice was confined to women and children, she had not treated men. Nor had she any experience of treating battle casualties, and read widely on the subject, as shown by the books which she later donated to the

Liverpool Medical Institution The Liverpool Medical Institution is a historic medical organisation based in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Its building on the corner of Mount Pleasant and Hope Street was opened in 1837, but the site has been used as a medical library since 1779. ...

. The hospital treated the French wounded from the Western Front. The excellence of her leadership and the work of the unit was recognised by the French Army. Initially 100 beds were opened but by the end of the conflict this had risen to 600. She continued as ''médecin chef'' until February, 1919, with only one period of leave in England, which she spent largely in lecturing to raise money for the hospital. In 1917 another hospital at

Villers-Cotterêts Villers-Cotterêts () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France, France. It is notable as the signing-place in 1539 of the '' Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts'' discontinuing the use of Latin in official French documents, and as ...

was opened, closer to the Western Front. There she operated under shell fire during the German advance in March, 1918, until they were forced to evacuate back to Royaumont. Over the course of the war Ivens and her team treated over 10,861 patients including 8,752 soldiers. The bulk of the major surgery was carried out by Ivens and her second in command Ruth Nicholson. The remarkably low mortality rate of 1.82% was lower than similar military hospitals. The Royaumont doctors pioneered a new approach to the treatment of

gas gangrene Gas gangrene (also known as clostridial myonecrosis and myonecrosis) is a bacterial infection that produces tissue gas in gangrene. This deadly form of gangrene usually is caused by '' Clostridium perfringens'' bacteria. About 1,000 cases of gas ...

, using X-rays and bacteriology for diagnosis, followed by extensive

surgical debridement Debridement is the medical removal of dead, damaged, or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of the remaining healthy tissue. Removal may be surgical, mechanical, chemical, autolytic (self-digestion), and by maggot therapy. In p ...

of the affected tissue. She published accounts of these in the medical literature. They were also able to use antiserum supplied by the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines ...

in Paris. The hospital was inspected and approved by many French generals and government officials, and its reputation was largely due to the leadership of Frances Ivens.

Post-war career

After the war, Ivens returned to hospital practice in Liverpool. She was closely involved with the rebuilding of the Maternity Hospital, and with the formation of the Liverpool Women's Radium League. She was also a leader in the establishment of the Crofton Recovery Hospital for Women. During this period, Ivens was active in promoting the cause of women in medicine, and was elected president of the

Medical Women's Federation The Medical Women's Federation is the largest UK body of women doctors. The organisation is dedicated to the advancement of the personal and professional development of women in medicine and to improving the health of women and their families i ...

from 1924 to 1926. A few years later, she was the first woman to be elected vice president of the Liverpool Medical Institution in 1929 when she became a founder fellow of the

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is a professional association based in London, United Kingdom. Its members, including people with and without medical degrees, work in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, that ...

that same year. At the age of sixty, she married Charles Knowles, now a widower, whom she had known from student days. They moved to London where she continued a consultant practice until she and her husband retired to

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. She was succeeded in her posts in Liverpool by Ruth Nicholson who had been her assistant at Royaumont. With the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in 1939 she acted as medical inspector for the Red Cross in Cornwall. She also played a leading role in the activities of the Royaumont and Villers Cotterêts Association and was chairman of the Cornwall committee of the Friends of the Fighting French.

Later years and death

A fluent French speaker she made regular visits to France where she would visit former patients and many of the wounded whom she had treated at Royaumont wrote regularly to her. She kept in touch too with former staff members who would meet annually at the annual dinner of the Royaumont Association. She died on 6 February 1944, at the age of 74, in Killagorden, St Clement, Cornwall.

Honours and awards

In recognition of her service at Royaumont she was decorated by the French President with a Knight of France's ''

''. In December 1918 she received the '' Croix de Guerre'' with palm, the citation reading: "...having ensured, day and night, the treatment of French and Allied wounded during repeated bombardment at Villers Cotterets in May 1918. On the approach of the enemy she withdrew her unit at the last moment to the Abbaye de Royaumont where she continued her humane mission with the most absolute devotion”.''Liverpool Echo'', Saturday 18 December 1918 She was also awarded the Médaille d'honneur des épidémies. In 1926 she was elected vice president of the

. The University of Liverpool awarded her the honorary degree of Master of Surgery (ChM) in 1926 and in the same year she became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (