Trailblazing pioneer in children’s health

From typist to first female member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

Dr Ella Pringle was a medical missionary, child health pioneer and the first female member and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

Born in Edinburgh on 1 December 1876, she grew up in Morningside where she lived with her widowed mother.

Ella first worked as a typist and her British Medical Journal obituary suggests that one of the reasons she became interested in studying medicine was the time she spent typing Edinburgh University M.D. theses.

Another reason was attending an inspiring lecture on the work of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society.

Following in the relatively recent footsteps of pioneering medical women, Isabella attended classes at Edinburgh University and graduated MB CHB in 1909 at the age of 33.

After her postgraduate medical training Dr Pringle travelled to Manchuria to work as a medical missionary. This was not an easy placement - Manchuria was a very unstable place with Russia, Japan and groups of Chinese warlords all competing for control.

The region’s other problems included serious outbreaks of plague.

In 1916 ill heath forced Ella to end her time in Manchuria and she returned to Scotland where she continued to work to improve medical services for mothers and children.

After gaining the Scottish Diploma in Public Health Dr Pringle worked in Paisley where (as Assistant Medical Officer of Health) she was responsible for a new maternity and child welfare scheme.

Under her leadership this became one of the most comprehensive of its kind in Scotland, two decades before the inception of the NHS.

Ella then returned to Edinburgh to become Senior Assistant Medical Officer in the maternity and child welfare service of the Edinburgh City Corporation.

Working with Dr T Y Finlay she used her experience from Paisley to greatly improve the services available for mothers and children in the capital.

In 1920 the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh gained a supplementary charter which allowed them to recognise and support female doctors for the first time.

In 1925 at the age of 39 Dr Pringle bravely sat the College’s membership examination, becoming the first woman to pass.

In 1929 she became the first female Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

Dr Ella Pringle died on 27 May 1963 in Chalmers Crescent in Edinburgh’s south side. She is buried in Morningside Cemetery.

She never married but, as a colleague is said to have pointed out, “Dr Ella Pringle was one of that devoted group of lady doctors in this country who pioneered and gave their all for the furtherance of maternal and child health”. Iain Milne – Head of Heritage, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh