Graham Travers - The Life of Sophia Jex-Blake

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Transcribers Note:

Footnotes have been collected at the end of the text and are linked for ease of reference.

Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Only the most egregious of these have been corrected if they occur within quoted text, particularly juvenile matter. Please see the transcribers at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.

The cover image has been created, based on title page information, and is added to the public domain.

THE LIFE OF SOPHIA JEX-BLAKE

By the same Author

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MONA MACLEAN

FELLOW TRAVELLERS

WINDYHAUGH

THE WAY OF ESCAPE

GROWTH

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Samuel Laurence pinx.Emery Walker ph. sc.
Sophia Jex-Blake
at the age of 25

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THE LIFE OF

SOPHIA JEX-BLAKE

BY

MARGARET TODD, M.D.

(GRAHAM TRAVERS)

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

ST. MARTINS STREET, LONDON

1918

COPYRIGHT

GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.

TO ALL THOSE

MENTIONED IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES

OR PASSED OVER

FROM IGNORANCE OR WANT OF SPACE,

WHO LENT A HELPING HAND

TO A BRAVE AND UNSELFISH FIGHTER,

THIS BOOK IS

GRATEFULLY DEDICATED

PREFACE

There are several reasons why it has seemed worth while to write the life of Sophia Jex-Blake at some length.

1. She was one of the people who really do live. In the present day a woman is fitted into her profession almost as a man is. Sixty years ago a highly dowered girl was faced by a great venture, a great quest. The life before her was an uncharted sea. She had to find her self, to find her way, to find her work. In many respects youth was incomparably the most interesting period of a life history.

2. S. J.-B. has left behind her (as probably no woman of equal power has done) the record of this quest. She was a born chronicler: almost in her babyhood she struggled laboriously to get on to paper her doings and dreams; and she was truthful to a fault. We have here the kind of thing that is constantly idealised in present day fiction,have it in actual contemporary record,with the added interest that here the story begins in an old-world conservative medium, and passes through the life of the modern educated working girl into the history of a great movement, of which the chronicler was indeed magna pars . The reader will see how more and more as the years went on S. J.-B.s motto became Not me, but us, till one is tempted to say that she was the movement, that she stood, as it were, for women.

3. That, so to speak, was her job; but she never grew one-sided; never forgot the mans point of view. No woman ever took a saner and wider view of human affairs.

4. In spite of the heavy strain thrown by conflicting outlook and ideals on the relation between parents and child, the reader will see in the following pages how that relationship was preserved. This is perhaps the most remarkable thing in the whole history, and it is full of significance and helpful suggestion for us all in these critical days.

5. And lastly, it proved impossible to write the life in any other way. When S. J.-B. was a young woman, Samuel Laurence was asked by her parents to make a crayon drawing of her. After some hours work, he threw down his pencil. I must get you in oils or not at all, he said.

Those words have often been in the mind of the author of this book.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

Childhood

Birth, parentage and descentEarly influencesSweet Sackermena.

CHAPTER II

School Life

A terrible pickleHome lettersHolidaysPoemsA confession.

CHAPTER III

School Life Continued

Indifferent healthVarious educational experimentsS. J.-B.s character as seen by her schoolfellows.

CHAPTER IV

School Life Concluded

Leaves school abruptlyFresh startIllness of her mother and sisterLetter from her fatherConfirmation.

CHAPTER V

Life at Home

Friendship with her motherDreams of authorshipSelf-centred lifeMakes acquaintance of Norfolk cousins.

CHAPTER VI

Life at Queens College

Comes into touch with Feminist movementGoes to Queens CollegeFrictionHunt for lodgingsIs appointed mathematical tutorCorrespondence with her father as to accepting payment for her workCertificate won with great credit.

CHAPTER VII

Friendship

All-round developmentCapacity for friendship and serviceFriendship with Miss Octavia Hill.

CHAPTER VIII

A Step Beyond

Confidence in her motherFresh dedication of her life.

CHAPTER IX

First Experience of Edinburgh

The problem of realizing the visionGoes to study educational methods in EdinburghChequered experiencesChurch-going and religious difficultiesConsults Rev. Dr. PulsfordLetters from her motherAn increasing purpose.

CHAPTER X

Germany

Miss Garretts efforts to obtain medical educationComes to prospect in EdinburghShe and S. J.-B. go canvassing togetherDisappointmentS. J.-B.s desire to study educational methods farther afieldGermanyGttingenMannheimAppointed English teacher at Grand-ducal Institute.

CHAPTER XI

Life as a Teacher at Mannheim

Letters to her motherSuccess of her workTransient wave of unpopularityLetter to her mother on Biblical criticism.

CHAPTER XII

Various Projects and Ventures

Return home delayed by scarlet feverDeath of a college friendMr. Plumptre recommends S. J.-B. as founder and Lady Principal of modern Girls School at Manchester.

CHAPTER XIII

A Visit to some American Schools and Colleges

Opposition of parentsGoes to BostonMakes acquaintance of Dr. Lucy SewallR. W. EmersonDinner at the EmersonsVisits NiagaraInspects various colleges (Oberlin, Hillsdale, St. Louis, Antioch) and schoolsCorrespondence with her brotherViews on American education.

CHAPTER XIV

Questionings

Gets to know women doctors in BostonAssists with dispensing in New England Hospital for WomenGradual initiation into hospital workHeart-searchings as to her own futureLaw?The Ministry?Religious difficultiesMedicine?

CHAPTER XV

Pioneer Work in America

Writes A VisitPublished by MacmillanGood reviewsBegins study of medicineApplication to HarvardLetters from Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and Dr. Brown-SquardObtains clinical teaching in Massachusetts General HospitalGoes to New YorkObtains private teaching in anatomySumming up of three years in America.

CHAPTER XVI

Going Home

Visit of Dr. Sewall to EnglandRapprochement between S. J.-B. and her fatherDr. Elizabeth and Dr. Emily Blackwell found Medical College for Women in New YorkS. J.-B. starts house-keeping and medical study thereIllness of her fatherReturn to England.

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