Gertrude Marian Amalia Herzfeld, FRCSEd 1890-1981
The first practising woman surgeon in Scotland
Gertrude was born and educated in London and realised at an early age that she wanted to enter into the medical profession and after three years of medical study decided to make surgery her specialty.
After qualifying MBChB in Edinburgh in 1914, Gertrude became the first woman House Surgeon to Sir Harold Stiles at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and the Chalmers Hospital. Six years later she was appointed honorary Assistant Surgeon subsequently becoming full consultant to the Bruntsfield Hospital (the Edinburgh Hospital for Women and Children): this was staffed entirely by women doctors.
In 1920 she was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh - only the second woman to have achieved this at the time - and the first to 'take her seat' in the College (a tradition dating back 200 years that still exists today and carried out on the day of admission to Fellowship which publicly acknowledges that status.) She spent her professional life in Edinburgh specialising in paediatrics and gynaecology, retiring in 1955.
Her many other achievements included helping to found the Edinburgh School of Chiropody and the Edinburgh Orthopaedic Clinic and she was also medical adviser to the Edinburgh Cripple Aid Society and the Trefoil School for Physically Handicapped Children.
During her tenure as President of the Medical Women’s Federation she championed the cause of women in medicine. She had joined the British Medical Association in 1915 and in the early sixties chaired the Edinburgh Division.
Until her retirement Gertrude enjoyed an illustrious surgical and teaching career deftly combining surgical skill and knowledge with a gentle, calm manner and approach to patients and students alike. Her achievements were all the more remarkable for having been made at a time when the field of medicine was very much a male domain and women's efforts in this sphere were undermined. Her determination and dedication saw her overcome these challenges to achieve her own goals and pave the way for future generations of female students.
Kate Neilson
Sources:
Obituary Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Gertrude Herzfeld In Royal College of Surgeons website: www.library.rcsed.ac.uk/
Ewan,E, Innes,S, Reynolds,S (eds.) The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. EUP 2006
