Mary Charlotte Murdoch (26 September 1864 – 20 March 1916) was a Scottish-born
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 ...
and
suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
. She had a lifelong association with
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south- ...
, where she was the first woman doctor, a suffragist, and car owner.
Early life and education
Murdoch was born on 26 September 1864 in
Elgin, Scotland, the youngest child of Jane (née Macdonald) and William Murdoch. Her father was a
solicitor
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
.
[ She was educated by governesses before attending Weston House School, Elgin. She subsequently attended Manor Mount Girls' Collegiate School in ]London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, after which she received tuition in Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...
, Switzerland. She returned to Elgin to care for her widowed and invalided mother, who died in 1887. Around this time she discovered what she regarded as the "love of her life", medicine. Her ambition was encouraged by the family doctor, Dr Adams. She studied to be a doctor at the London School of Medicine for Women
The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) established in 1874 was the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors. The patrons, vice-presidents, and members of the committee that supported and helped found the London School of Me ...
, funded by money that her mother had left her. While at the school she was curator of its museum. She completed her studies in Scotland and qualified in 1892.[
]
Career
In 1893 she began her association with Hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
when she became a house surgeon at the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, which had opened two years previously, in Park Street.[ In 1894 she joined the ]British Medical Association
The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association's headqua ...
. She moved to work at Tottenham Fever Hospital in London in 1895. Illness followed and the following year she was back in Hull as the city's first female general practitioner.
In 1900 she employed as an assistant, the newly qualified doctor Louisa Martindale. They worked closely together not just as partners in their business. In 1902 they went on a cycling holiday together, visiting Vienna, Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
and Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. They were in partnership until 1906. When she wrote her biography, Martindale spent a chapter on their life together.
Murdoch's career is also the subject of a 1919 biography: 'A woman doctor: Mary Murdoch of Hull' by Hope Malleson. The appendix to this book quotes Murdoch from an address she gave to students of the London School of Medicine for Women
The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) established in 1874 was the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors. The patrons, vice-presidents, and members of the committee that supported and helped found the London School of Me ...
in 1904 that she dreamt of a future in which it would be seen as 'one of the barbarisms of a past age that a medical man should ever have attended a woman'.
Suffrage
Murdoch founded the Hull Women's Suffrage Society in 1904, and part of the Millicent Fawcett's National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
The National Union of Women Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), also known as the ''suffragists'' (not to be confused with the suffragettes) was an organisation founded in 1897 of women's suffrage societies around the United Kingdom. In 1919 it was ren ...
(NUWSS)[ but fell out with the group after the national body decided to not support militant methods by any campaigner. Murdoch joined the ]Women's Social and Political Union
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership an ...
(WSPU) who had increasingly militant methods.[ She was still well regarded by Fawcett, and in 1911 she was chosen as Fawcett's representative at the ]International Council of Women
The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's rights organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington, D.C., wit ...
in Stockholm
Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
.
Personal life
Murdoch worked hard, taking only four or five hours sleep a night, but she also enjoyed herself. She was the first woman in Hull to own a car, which she drove at speed.[ One anecdote describes how six men had to put her car back on the road after she had rolled backwards down a hill and her car had caught fire. Murdoch then joked about it with her passenger.]
Murdoch joined the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
in 1914.
Murdoch died at her home in Hull in 1916 after returning through snow from seeing an emergency patient.[Katharine Cockin, ‘Murdoch, Mary Charlotte (1864–1916)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, May 200]
accessed 15 November 2017
/ref> Her funeral procession, which attracted thousands of mourners, was led by her car. She was cremated and her urn was placed in the Lady Chapel of All Saints church in Hull. Plaques were placed on her home in Park Street and on the former Victoria Hospital.
Tribute
In March 2021, a new footbridge
A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at ...
was opened connecting Hull city to Princes Quay
Princes Quay is a shopping centre in the heart of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The centre is unusual in that it is built on stilts over '' Prince's Dock'' after which it is named. It was opened in 1991.
Description
To ...
waterfront, marina and fruit market over Castle Street, a dual carriageway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
road also designated A63. The name Murdoch's Connection was nominated by pupils from Newland School for Girls
Newland School For Girls is a secondary school for girls aged 11– 16, situated in the Newland area of Kingston upon Hull, England.
History
Newland School was founded in 1907 to meet the growing demand for girls' education. It opened on the ...
in Newland, Hull.It’s here! After more than 200,000 working hours a stunning structure that will shape the future of Hull has been unveiled
highwaysindustry.com, 1 March 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murdoch, Mary (Hull)
1864 births
1916 deaths
Scottish women medical doctors
19th-century Scottish medical doctors
20th-century Scottish medical doctors
People from Elgin, Moray
Alumni of the London School of Medicine for Women
20th-century women physicians
19th-century women physicians
20th-century Scottish women