The achievements of a woman doctor in the First World War are to be remembered a century after her death.
WW100 Scotland is to mark the contribution of Dr Elsie Inglis and the Scottish Women’s Hospitals to the war effort.
On the outbreak of the conflict Dr Inglis was told by the War Office to “go home and sit still” as women doctors were not permitted to serve in front-line hospitals.
Instead she offered her services to Britain’s allies and on their acceptance formed the Scottish Women’s Hospitals.
Seventeen hospitals were set up across France, Corsica, Greece, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia to treat soldiers. Of almost 1,500 personnel, only 20 were men.
Together with colleagues and associates from the suffragist movement, Dr Inglis helped raise £53 million in today’s money to buy equipment and get their stations to the front line.
Suffering from cancer, she died on November 26, 1917, the day after she arrived back in Britain.
There will be a private ceremony at her grave in Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh, on November 26 and a larger event at St Giles Cathedral three days later, a century after mourners gathered for her funeral there.
Amateur historian Alan Cumming began researching Dr Inglis’ story after seeing a plaque dedicated to her in Serbia. She spent most of the war there and is affectionately known as the Serbian mother from Scotland.
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