Jessie MacLaren MacGregor (7 May 1863 – 22 March 1906) was one of the first women to be awarded an MD 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 1899. Along with

Elsie Inglis Eliza Maud "Elsie" Inglis (16 August 1864 – 26 November 1917) was a Scottish doctor, surgeon, teacher, Women's suffrage, suffragist, and founder of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service, Scottish Women's Hospitals. She was the ...

she was instrumental in setting up the Muir Hall of Residence for Women Students in Edinburgh, and the Hospice, a nursing home and maternity hospital for poor women.

Early life and education

Jessie MacLaren MacGregor was born 7 May 1863. She was a student of

Sophia Jex-Blake Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake (21 January 1840 – 7 January 1912) was an English physician, teacher and feminist. She led the campaign to secure women access to a University education when she and six other women, collectively known as the Edinb ...

at the

Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women The Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women was founded by Sophia Jex-Blake in Edinburgh, Scotland, in October of 1886, with support from the National Association for Promoting the Medical Education of Women. Sophia Jex-Blake was appointed as bot ...

, and was one of the first women to take a medical degree at the

, after the barriers to women qualifying as doctors were removed by the University. Having qualified initially with the

Triple Qualification The Triple Qualification (TQ) was a medical qualification awarded jointly by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Faculty (later Royal College) of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow betwe ...

(LRCPE, LRCSE, LRFPSG), she took her

MBChB 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) degree in 1896, achieving first-class honours in every subject in the curriculum, passing all her professional examinations in the shortest time possible, and being awarded the Arthur Scholarship. Three years later, she took her MD (Doctor of Medicine), winning a gold medal for her thesis on the comparative anatomy of the auditory nerve.

Career

In 1894, she set up a medical practice 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 ...

with

at 8 Walker Street. After passing her MD in 1899 she was appointed as Junior Physician to the Edinburgh Hospital for Women and Children, and was also a Registrar and Assistant to the Extra Physicians at the

Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh The Royal Hospital for Sick Children was a hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, specialising in paediatric healthcare. Locally, it was commonly referred to simply as the "Sick Kids". The hospital provided emergency care for children from birth to t ...

. In 1901 along with

she was involved in setting up The Hospice on the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...

in Edinburgh, a maternity hospital specifically for the care of working class women. She was also elected as a member of the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society in 1901, and was an active member, presenting samples and reading papers at meetings. In 1905, for family reasons, she left her practice in Edinburgh and emigrated to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

in the United States.

Death and legacy

She died of acute cerebral meningitis on 22 March 1906, in Denver, and is buried in that city's Fairmount Cemetery. In 1908, the Dr Jessie MacGregor Prize in Medical Science was set up as a memorial to her, with a value of £75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacGregor, Jessie MacLaren 1863 births 1906 deaths 20th-century women physicians 19th-century women physicians 19th-century Scottish medical doctors 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish women medical doctors 20th-century Scottish women