Dorothea Maude or Dorothea Clara Nasmyth (26 February 1879 – 12 December 1959) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

physician and surgeon. She had a private practice in Oxford but left this three times to serve at hospitals in Belgium, France, Serbia and Corfu during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. She was first woman

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Education and early life

Maude was born in

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

in 1879. She was the middle girl of five daughters of Emma Constance (born Henry) and Ashley Henry Maude. Her youngest sister was the children's author Muriel Wace. Her mother died when she was ten and she was educated well at

Cheltenham Ladies College Cheltenham Ladies' College (CLC) is a private boarding and day school for girls aged 11 or older in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school was established in 1853 to provide "a sound academic education for girls". It is also a member ...

. She finished there in 1897 and Maude went up to

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

to come top of her class in science, but was denied an Oxford degree because she was a woman. She went on to study at London’s Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for Women. She also gained a masters degree in Dublin (where women were allowed to have degrees). She then gained an

MBBS A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...

from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1906 and finally an M.D.

First World War

The war broke out in 1914 and at the end of that year she was in Belgium. In January 1915 she was in France, later at the first Maude Hospital run by her uncle and before the summer she was back in England. In July 1915 she took her third trip, this time to Serbia where she volunteered. She was given charge of an of typhoid hospital in October 1916 60 miles north of Salonika in Vodena. This would be her last hospital. The Maude hospital moved to Salonika in September 1916. The new hospital was disease ridden. Maude had to take quinine to allow her to recover from the malaria that suffered in the first month there. She returned to Britain on 30 April 1917. Maude had a great deal of affection for Serbia and their people. She said that anyone who visited there would remember it and have to return.

Private life

She married G. C. H. (Hugh) Nasmyth in 1909 and they had two children. She died at Abingdon near Oxford at the age of 80 on 12 December 1959. Her autobiography is in the Wellcome Library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maude, Dorothea British women surgeons British anaesthetists 1879 births 1959 deaths People from South Kensington Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Alumni of the University of London 20th-century English women 20th-century English people English women medical doctors 20th-century English medical doctors British general practitioners People educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College 20th-century British surgeons Women anesthesiologists