Mona Geddes CBE 1872 -1936
First woman to receive an MD from the University of Edinburgh
Alexandra Mary (Mona) Geddes was born in India. She went to Aberdeen to study teaching, but returned to Edinburgh when her mother became ill. In 1891 Mona studied medicine in Edinburgh, attending the Medical College for Women, which her mother Christina (Nellie) Anderson had been involved in founding.
In 1898 she graduated as the first woman MD from The University of Edinburghinthe morning. In the afternoon she married, proudly able to write the title after her name, becoming Mrs Douglas Chalmers Watson MD.
In 1916 she was invited to London to support the creation of a Women’s Corps to take on non-combatant duties in France. Initially the move was opposed. Mona then privately presented her case again, this time to the Adjutant–General of the British Expeditionary Force, Sir Neville Macready, who accepted it.
The WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) was formed in 1917 with Mona as its first Senior Commandant. She described it as an advance of the women’s movement and a national advance. She was involved in the early recruitment of 40,000 women.
After the war Mona and her husband worked in the field of Child Nutrition. At their farm they bred tuberculin-tested cattle, becoming known across Europe for this pioneering work.
Mona was involved in the foundation of the Elsie Inglis Hospital for Women, and the Suffrage Movement. She is remembered for her support of women medical students, her work with infant and invalid feeding, and many Edinburgh women’s organisations, including the Edinburgh Women’s Citizen’s Association, of which she was President. As first Commandant of the WAAC, her diplomatic and organisational skills were invaluable. The women of the WAAC entered a different world post WW1.
Janet Hopkins
Sources:
Ritchie, Mrs Astrid (granddaughter). Interview 2015.
Terry, Roy. Alexandra Mona Chalmers Watson. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. OUP www.oxforddnb.com
Shipton, Elizabeth. Female Tommies - The Frontline Women of the First World War. In British Women’s Services, from 1917. Chapter 8. The History Press 2014.
