Dame Rosemary Rue DBE (14 June 1928 – 24 December 2004) was a British physician and civil servant, most notable as the one-time regional general manager/medical officer of the Oxford Regional Health Authority. She was also: * President of the

Medical Women's Federation The Medical Women's Federation is the largest United Kingdom, UK body of women doctors. The organisation is dedicated to the advancement of the personal and professional development of women in medicine and to improving the health of women and t ...

(1982–1983) * President of the Faculty of Community Medicine of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

(1986–1989) * President of the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...

(1990–1991) * Founding Fellow of

Green College, Oxford Green Templeton College (GTC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college is located on the former Green College site on Woodstock Road next to the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in North Oxford and is ...

* Awarded the Jenner Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2001)

Background

Elsie Rosemary Laurence was born in 1928 in

Hutton, Essex Hutton is an area of Brentwood, in Essex, England; Brentwood town centre lies 3 miles to the west. The area is split between modest housing estates and the largely affluent Hutton Mount. Hutton was formerly a civil parish, which was abolished ...

in England and moved with her family to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1933. She was evacuated in 1940 during

The Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

to stay with relatives in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

shire, where she contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and covering of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One pa ...

. It was while she was convalescing that she decided on a career in medicine, entering the all-woman

Royal Free Medical School The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) established in 1874 was the first medical school in Britain to train women as doctors. The patrons, vice-presidents, and members of the committee that supported and helped found the London School of M ...

in London in 1945. In 1950 she married Roger Rue, a pilot instructor of Belgian descent in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. When she told the medical school dean that she was changing her name, she was told that she could not stay at the school if she was married. She was instead accepted at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, qualifying in 1951 after taking 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 ...

exams. Her first job was at an extended-care hospital in Oxford. She did not tell her employers that she had a husband or a newborn son, as many hospitals then didn't employ married women. She was eventually sacked when her employers learned she was married with children. In 1954, she contracted

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

from a patient, becoming the last person in Oxford to get it. Polio gave her the major, lifelong disability of having one bad leg. This left her unable to walk, even with crutches, or perform basic tasks such as carrying a medical bag. She spent time teaching at girls' schools. Unable to walk up front steps for interviews, she had to turn down several medical jobs. New hospitals were constructed in

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

, with basic modules that could be incorporated into every hospital. In 1960, she was named Assistant County Medical Officer for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

and worked as a part-time paediatrician in

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

. She spent an academic term at the Institute of Child Health in London. In 1965, she was offered the job of Senior Assistant Medical Officer for the Oxford region, running that region's health authority. In the early 1960s new money was allocated by the government to rebuild the crumbling medical system in the UK. Dr Rue ensured that Oxford got a fair share.

Later positions

In 1972 she became one of the founders of the Faculty of Community Health (now the Faculty of Public Health), which brought together academic bodies such as the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public hea ...

, community health doctors, and organisations such as the

Public Health Laboratory Service In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

(PHLS). She served as the PHLS Regional Medical Officer from 1973 to 1984, and Regional General Manager from 1984 to 1988. She became

Dame Commander of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1989.

Death

In her last few years, Dame Rosemary continued to take an active interest in health service matters, despite both breast and colon cancer. She died, aged 76, at her cottage in

Stanton St John Stanton St. John is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England, about northeast of the centre of Oxford. The village is above sea level on the eastern brow of a group of hills northeast of Oxford, in a slight saddle between two of the ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

2004, aged 76. She was survived by her two sons.Biography
livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk; accessed 26 October 2015.

References

External links

*
''British Medical Journal'' obituary for Dr Dame Rosemary Rue

''Oxford Medical Files'' obituary for Dr Dame Rosemary Rue

Watch a video oral history interview with Dr Dame Rosemary Rue
- recorded by Oxford Brookes University in partnership with the Royal College of Physicians as part of th
Medical Sciences Video Archive.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rue, Rosemary 1928 births 2004 deaths People from Hutton, Essex Medical doctors from London Alumni of the UCL Medical School Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Oxford English women medical doctors Fellows of Green Templeton College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Fellows of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Fellows of the Royal College of General Practitioners 20th-century English medical doctors Deaths from breast cancer in England Deaths from colorectal cancer in England Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Administrators in the National Health Service Presidents of the Medical Women's Federation 20th-century British women medical doctors 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Recipients of the Jenner Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine