Royal touch at service to commemorate war hero

The Princess Royal greets First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at St Giles’ Cathedral ahead of a commemoration service for Dr Elsie Inglis, the pioneering doctor who set up hospitals to treat those injured in the First World War

Part of a medical school is to be renamed in honour of an Edinburgh-raised wartime doctor, 100 years after her death.

Dr Elsie Inglis was one of the University of Edinburgh’s first female graduates and is credited with saving thousands of lives during the First World War.

She is known for establishing and running the Scottish Women’s Hospitals during that period and is also remembered as a key figure in the women’s suffrage movement.

University chancellor Princess Anne yesterday announced the Old Medical School’s courtyard is to be renamed in Dr Inglis’s honour.

University principal Sir Timothy O’shea said: “Naming our historic quadrangle after Dr Inglis is a fitting reminder of her remarkable achievements and lasting legacy.”

The medical school was established in 1726 and is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the English-speaking world.

Dr Inglis also established a medical college for women and a maternity hospital for poor mothers in Scotland’s capital. She died in November 1917 after returning to Britain from Russia where she had been treating wounded Serbian and Russian soldiers.

The Princess Royal laid a commemorative wreath at a specialcentenaryserviceheld at Edinburgh’s St Giles’ Cathedral. 0 A band commemorates Dr Elsie Inglis at the centenary service; actress Ailsa Clarke wears the Scottish Women’s Hospital doctors’ uniform; Princess Anne lays a wreath at St Giles’ Cathedral