Susila Anita Bonnerjee (died 25 September 1920) was a medical doctor, educator and suffragist who advocated for women's education and health in England and India in the late 1800s.

Life and education

Bonnerjee was born to

Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee (or Umesh Chandra Banerjee; 29 December 1844 – 21 July 1906) was an Indian independence activist and barrister who practiced in England. He was a secretary of the London Indian Society founded by Dadabhai Naoroji i ...

(a founder and the first president of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

) and Hemangini Motilal. She was one of six children (four sisters and two brothers), and was educated and lived primarily in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, where her parents owned a home. They travelled frequently to their ancestral home in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

as well. She died in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

(then part of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

), in 1920.

Education and career

Bonnerjee was educated at the

Croydon High School Croydon High School is a private day school for girls located near Croydon, London, England. It is one of the original schools founded by the Girls' Day School Trust. History The school was founded in 1874 in Wellesley Road just north of the ce ...

for Girls, and later attended

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, where she studied the natural sciences. She went on to study medicine at the

London School of Medicine for Women The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) established in 1874 was the first medical school in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain to train women as doctors. The patrons, vice-presidents, and members of the committee that supp ...

, and earned an M.B. degree in 1899. Bonnerjee was one of a small group of Indian women (including

Rukhmabai Rukhmabai (22 November 1864 – 25 September 1955) was an Indian physician and feminist. She is best known for being one of the first practicing women doctors in colonial India (the first being Dr. Kadambini Ganguly who started practicing in ...

, Alice Sorabji, and Merbai Vakil) who trained in medicine in England in the 1800s, later returning to India to help establish the medical profession for women and to open educational institutions for women's education. Bonnerjee initially practiced medicine at the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barnet Ho ...

. She later moved back to her familial home in Kolkata, India, and worked in Delhi, at Cambridge Mission Hospital. Her sister Janaki has recorded in her memoirs that Bonnerjee was the only available doctor at her mission station during a plague epidemic, and that the strain of treating patients in this time affected her own health. Facing objections from her family over her desire to establish her own practice, she returned to Cambridge in 1906, but was unable to establish an independent practice there either, frequently encountering incidents of racism and harassment that were recorded by her sister Janaki in a family history. Bonnerjee later joined the Balfour Laboratory at Newnham College, where she conducted research and taught physiology to students at Girton and Newnham Colleges. In 1911, Bonnerjee was elected the president of a private organisation named the Indian Women’s Education Association, and worked to raise funds to help educate Indian women in England. She was also active in the

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

movement in England, and in 1913, she became a branch president of the Church League for Women’s Suffrage in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

. During World War I, she was given a temporary post as Home Surgeon in a hospital in Bristol. Bonnerjee continued to travel between India and England to teach medicine and raise funds for women's education until her death in

in 1920, when she was 48 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnerjee, Susila 1920 deaths Activists from Kolkata Women medical researchers Medical doctors from Kolkata Women scientists from West Bengal 20th-century Indian medical doctors 20th-century Indian women scientists Indian feminists Indian suffragists British suffragists Medical doctors from British India 20th-century Indian women medical doctors Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge