SHE was a respected doctor and suffragist who blazed a distinguished trail despite being told by the government to “go home and sit still”.
Yet only now, more than 100 years after her death, is Dr Elsie Inglis to receive the honour of a statue in the Scottish capital recognising her achievements under new plans to redress a "staggering imbalance".
The pioneering medic and equal rights champion is the latest female figure to be honoured in a country of mostly male memorials after the London unveiling of a statue to commemorate suffragist Millicent Fawcett - the first depicting a women in Parliament Square - and a tribute to campaigner Mary Barbour in Glasgow.
Read more: Millicent Fawcett: First woman to have a statue on Parliament Square - all you need to know
The Dr Elsie Inglis Scottish Women's Hospitals' Trust hopes to erect such a memorial on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh near where the surgeon - who set up 14 Scottish Women's hospitals on the frontline in the First World War - established her first hospital at 219 High Street.
Above: One of the Edinburgh hospitals
It will stand out against the 43 statues of men in Edinburgh city centre.
As well as Scottish Enlightenment thinkers such as Hume and Adams there are also more controversial memorials in Edinburgh, such as the St Andrew Square plinth with 18th century politician Henry Dundas, Viscount of Melville, reviled by many for his role in the slave trade.
There's also a monument to famed dog Greyfriars Bobby and a tribute to Wojtek the bear, a Polish soldiers' mascot.
But there are only two statues of women - one is Queen Victoria and the other an un-named victim of apartheid.
Above, clockwise: Henry Dundas, Elsie Inglis, David Hume
A meeting with MSPs to discuss the Ms Inglis proposal is now planned.
Ian McFarlane, founder and chairman of the trust, said he hoped the meeting would "galvanise Holyrood MSPs and MPs, medical, nursing, educational and other relevant representatives to ensure the necessary support and financial backing for this Scottish monument, in the capital Edinburgh, which is of such fundamental and paramount importance".
The move was welcomed by Terry Levinthal, director of the Cockburn Association heritage group.
Read more: Statue of rent strike Mary Barbour leader is unveiled
He said: "It has been a while because there has been any number of men, like David Hume and Adam Smith on the High Street.
"She was a great person of her time and great leader in her field.
"For her to be commemorated in the centre of Edinburgh would be perfectly fitting and entirely supportable, if you take it in the context of the very recent statue being erected in Parliament Square of Millicent Fawcett."
Above: Dr Elsie Inglis
Frank Ross, Edinburgh’s Lord Provost, said: "As a city, we should rally together to commemorate all that Elsie achieved and what she has stood for in the century since she died.
"She was the war hero nurse who ‘refused to go home and sit still’ and I am pleased to see support from MSPs to help us give Elsie the honour she deserves."
It comes as the council members unanimously agreed to the temporary closure of East Princes Street to traffic one day next month when thousands of women and girls will take part in a mass procession.
Read more: Should we tear down Scotland's statues to British Empire builders and slavers?
The move will allow those taking part to follow in the same footsteps as Scottish suffragists who famously marched along Princes Street in 1909 during a demonstration arranged by the Women's Social and Political Union.
At parliamentary level, Lib Dem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton and Labour colleague Daniel Johnson are promoting the Elsie Inglis statue plan.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: "The imbalance in Edinburgh's statues is staggering."
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