Louisa Aldrich-Blake’s 154th Birthday, Google Doodle Today

Louisa Aldrich-Blake’s 154th Birthday, Google Doodle Today:-“When you start a thing you must finish it.” This was the motto by which British physician Louisa Aldrich-Blake lived, which served her well while she developed innovative surgical techniques, saved the lives of soldiers during World War I, and broke down barriers for women entering the medical profession. Today’s Doodle celebrates the birth of Britain’s first female surgeon on this day in 1865.

Louisa Aldrich-Blake’s 154th Birthday

At age 22, Dr. Aldrich-Blake enrolled in the London School of Medicine for Women intending to do “something useful.” She went on to earn a gold medal for surgery in 1893 and an M.D. in 1894, becoming the first woman certified as Master of Surgery in English history a year later.

Her 1903 paper detailing an innovative treatment for rectal cancer was published in the British Medical Journal. From 1910-1925, she practiced surgery at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital and worked at the Royal Free Hospital where she became the first female surgical registrar, anesthetist, and lecturer on anesthetics.

During the First World War, Dr. Aldrich-Blake spent her holidays working with the Anglo-French Red Cross in a field hospital near Paris where patients called her “Madame Générale.” Defying critics who questioned whether women belonged in military hospitals, she personally wrote to every female doctor she knew, encouraging them to volunteer and inspiring many young women to enroll in medical school.

In 1925, Dr. Aldrich-Blake was named a Dame of the British Empire, and a statue was erected in her honor near the headquarters of the British Medical Association.