Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake Memorial
| Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake Memorial | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Artists | Arthur George Walker (sculptor) Sir Edwin Lutyens (architect) |
| Year | 1926 |
| Medium | Bronze and stone |
| Subject | Louisa Aldrich-Blake |
| Location |
|
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | Memorial to Dame Louisa Aldrich Blake in Tavistock Square Gardens |
| Designated | 14 May 1974 |
| Reference no. | 1244104[1] |
The Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake Memorial is a bronze and stone memorial honouring British surgeon and educator Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake, the first woman to receive the degree of Master of Surgery. Aldrich-Blake worked at the New Hospital for Women and Children (later renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital) and Royal Free Hospital, and also served as dean of the London School of Medicine for Women, the country's first medical school to train women doctors. She pioneered surgical treatment for cervical cancer and colorectal cancer, and also volunteered for the Red Cross during World War I.
The identical bronze busts on the memorial were sculpted by Arthur George Walker and the memorial was designed by noted architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. It was unveiled in 1926, shortly after Aldrich-Blake's death. The memorial was listed in 1974. It is located on the southeast corner of Tavistock Square Gardens in Bloomsbury, London, one of several public artworks in the Gardens.
Description
[edit]The Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake Memorial is a bronze and stone memorial honouring British surgeon and educator Louisa Aldrich-Blake. There are two identical bronze busts, each measuring 85 centimetres (33 in) tall, 59 centimetres (23 in) wide and 40 centimetres (16 in) in diameter, depicting Aldrich-Blake holding a book which is inscribed with aspects of her career. Each bust is mounted on one side of a stone column measuring 2.30 metres (7 ft 7 in) tall. On the opposite sides of the column are bronze serpents wrapped around a staff, the Rod of Asclepius. The column rests on a semi-circular stone bench with a seat back.[1][2][3]
The inscriptions on the bronze plaques read:[3][4]
(top plaque, south and north sides)
LOUISA
BRANDRETH
ALDRICH-BLAKE
D.B.E. M.D. M.S.
1865 - 1925(bottom plaque, south and north sides)
Dean of the London
(Royal Free Hospital)
School of Medicine
for Women
1914 - 1925Consulting Surgeon
Royal Free Hospital
1919 - 1925Surgeon to the
Elizabeth Garrett
Anderson
Hospital
1895 - 1925(bottom plaque, south side)
Glorious is the fruit
of good labour(bottom plaque, north side)
The path of the just
is as a shining light
The memorial is located on the southeast corner of Tavistock Square Gardens in Bloomsbury, London, with one bust facing the Gardens and the other facing the street.[2][3] The other artworks in the Gardens are the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, a bust of Virginia Woolf, a memorial to victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, the Conscientious Objectors Commemorative Stone and a tree planted in honour of victims of the bombing of Hiroshima.[5]
History
[edit]Biography
[edit]Louisa Aldrich-Blake was born in 1865 in Chingford, Essex, and attended Cheltenham Ladies' College before enrolling in 1887 at the London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW), the country's first medical school to train women doctors. [6][7] She received her Doctor of Medicine degree in 1894 and the following year became the first woman to receive the degree of Master of Surgery.[8][9] She began working as assistant surgeon at the New Hospital for Women and Children (renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital in 1918) in London, later being promoted to senior surgeon while also working at the Royal Free Hospital. At the Royal Free, Aldrich-Blake became the hospital's first woman surgical registrar and anaesthetist.[9][10]
Aldrich-Blake pioneered surgical treatment for cervical cancer and colorectal cancer, while also working as an educator.[8][9] She was named dean of the LSMW in 1914, training other women doctors while also continuing her work as a surgeon. She volunteered her services for the Red Cross during World War I, spending her holidays between 1914 and 1916 working at military hospitals in France where she was nicknamed Madame la Générale.[10][11] For her many years of service in medicine and education, Aldrich-Blake was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) at the 1925 New Year Honours.[8][12] She continued working until her death on 28 December 1925.[9][11]
Memorial
[edit]President of the Royal Free Sir George Riddell served as chairman of a committee to raise funds for a memorial to Aldrich-Blake. Donations were raised by her relatives, colleagues and students of the school where she taught, with funds also raised for a scholarship named in her honour.[13] The memorial was designed by prominent architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, whose works in London include the BMA House on Tavistock Square, The Cenotaph on Whitehall, the Civil Service Rifles War Memorial at Somerset House and the Tower Hill Memorial on Tower Hill.[3][14] The busts were sculpted by artist Arthur George Walker. His works in London include the statue of Florence Nightingale on Waterloo Place and the Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Memorial in the Victoria Tower Gardens.[3][15]
The memorial was unveiled on 4 July 1927, near the former school and hospital where she once worked.[9][16] The dedication ceremony was presided over by physician Dame Mary Scharlieb and those in attendance included many who were affiliated with the school and hospitals where Aldrich-Blake taught and worked. The memorial was unveiled by Sir William Beveridge, vice chancellor of the University of London. During his speech, Beveridge said the "monument called to mind a singularly gifted personality, one who lived a very happy life, happy not only in itself, but in its power of conferring happiness on others."[13] Noting its location in an area of the city where more educational institutions were being established, he said "students in increasing numbers would pass that spot, and they would be reminded thereby of one of the great pioneers in the professional education of women."[13] Riddell spoke about the positive attributes of Aldrich-Blake and said he hoped it would inspire patriotism. Additional tributes were made by physicians Elizabeth Bolton and Lady Florence Barrett. Aldrich-Blake's brother, Reverend F. H. Aldrich-Blake, gave the benediction.[13] The memorial was Grade II listed on 14 May 1974.[1]
Gallery
[edit]
Closeup of one of the identical busts
Design for the memorial by Sir Edwin Lutyens
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 "Memorial to Dame Louisa Aldrich Blake in Tavistock Square Gardens". Historic England. Archived from the original on 1 January 2026. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- 1 2 "Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake (1865–1925)". Art UK. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Dame Louisa Brandreth Aldrich-Blake". Public Statues and Sculpture Association. Archived from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
- ↑ "Louisa Brandreth Aldrich-Blake". London Remembers. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- ↑ Pentelow, Mike; Akrell, Peter (2024). Freedom Pass London. Bradt Travel Guides. ISBN 9781804693001.
- ↑ "Blake, Dame Louisa Brandreth Aldrich-". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30367. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ↑ O'Toole, Isobel. "The London School of Medicine for Women". The Historical Association. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Women in medicine: Wendy Reid and Louisa Aldrich-Blake". Royal College of Physicians. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - 1 2 3 4 5 Griffin, Andrew (15 August 2019). "Louisa Aldrich-Blake: Google Doodle honours Britain's pioneering first female surgeon". The Independent. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- 1 2 "Cutting through barriers: Louisa Aldrich-Blake, Britain's first female surgeon". University College London. Archived from the original on 6 March 2026. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- 1 2 "Stop 17: Tavistock Square Gardens". National Portrait Gallery. Archived from the original on 3 January 2026. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
- ↑ "Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood". The London Gazette. 30 December 1924. pp. 5–6. Archived from the original on 24 February 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "Memorial to Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake". The British Medical Journal. 2 (3470): 76. 1927.
- ↑ "Edwin Landseer Lutyens". Art UK. Archived from the original on 4 June 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
- ↑ "Arthur George Walker". Art UK. Archived from the original on 26 April 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
- ↑ "Our English Friends". Medical and Professional Woman's Journal. 34 (1): 248. 1927.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Memorial to Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake, Tavistock Square, London at Wikimedia Commons
