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 both the Director and the Dean of the School. The first class of women to study at the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women consisted of eight students, the youngest of whom was nineteen years of age. Throughout its twelve years in operation, the school struggled to find financial funding to remain open. A rival institution, the Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women, set up by Elsie Inglis with the help of her father John Inglis, attracted several students of Jex-Blake, including Martha Cadell and Grace Cadell. St Mungo's College and Queen Margaret College in Glasgow also accepted women medical students and when the Scottish universities began to do so the Edinburgh School of Medicine could no longer compete. The school closed in 1898. Over the twelve years of its operation, the Edinburgh School of Medicine provided education to approximately eighty female students. Of those eighty students, thirty-three completed the full course of medical training at the Edinburgh School while many others chose to finish their education at outside institutions.
Background about the founder
The first step in Sophia Jex-Blake's journey to obtaining entry into a medical program was by requesting permission from Professor JJ Balfour, who served as the Dean of the Medical Faculty, to participate in the University of Edinburgh Medical College’s summer classes. Following this request, the faculty at the University voted to determine the fate of Blake and future women’s admission into their medical program. On one hand, she received support in her pursuit of medical education as long as women were educated solely in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. However, other faculty members were opposed to allowing females to study medicine on the foundation of intellectual inferiority. One such individual was Robert Christison, who believed that allowing women to study medicine would diminish the quality of the medical field because women were not only less intelligent than men, but also too fragile to endure the rigorous coursework demanded by such a profession. In spite of some opposition to Sophia Jex-Blake’s request, the faculty vote ended in favor of her admission to the program.
The admission of Sophia Jex-Blake into the University of Edinburgh Medical College did not go without controversy and upheaval from university attendees. After the initial vote granted Jex-Blake admission to the program, Claud Murihead, who worked with the Royal Infirmary, brought forward an appeal to overturn the decision. Backed by a petition signed by approximately 200 students, Murihead’s appeal resulted in a reversal of the decision to admit Jex-Blake. The argument that led to the decision was that men and women should be educated separately, and thus providing courses for a single female student would be inefficient and financially unconscionable.
The fight did not end there, however. During the appeal, Jex-Blake was represented by David Masson, who was both a friend and advocate of her cause. Masson argued that the cost of educating men and women separately could be offset by increasing the number of women enrolled. With a greater number of female medical students, the University would have the resources to provide separate courses for women without producing a financial headache. David Russel, who edited a local newspaper The Scotsman, was a friend to Jex-Blake and published the story regarding the admissions debate as well as Masson’s proposed solution. Inspired by Jex-Blake, more women applied to the University of Edinburgh Medical College.