Fanny Jane Butler 1850–1889

This pioneering doctor worked hard to save souls as well as lives, and left an enduring legacy

Aside from merchants, administrators, engineers and soldiers, the European population of British India included several missionaries. English-born Fanny Jane Butler was a medical missionary and the first fully trained doctor in the subcontinent who had travelled from England. Trained at the London School of Medicine for Women, Butler was sent to work with purdah women in India by the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. Besides spreading the Christian message to local women, Butler opened medical dispensaries in Srinagar in Kashmir and Bhagalpur, and spearheaded the building of the first hospital in Srinagar (the John Bishop Memorial Hospital) in 1888. Sadly, she contracted dysentery and died on 26 October

1889. She was buried not far from the location of the hospital she had instigated, in the cemetery in Srinagar.

Butler’s pioneering work led to local women in India receiving medical care that was previously unavailable to them. She promoted a holistic approach to health focused on both medical and spiritual wellbeing, which also benefited women from outside India, including those who had travelled from Europe. She became a role model for other women in India, some of whom were inspired to become doctors. Following the news of Butler’s death, the London School of Medicine for Women created a scholarship in remembrance. In addition, the hospital in Srinagar was finally completed after her death, although it