Thumbnail for DaviesColleyEleanor.jpg
Resource Name:
DaviesColleyEleanor.jpg
File Size:
90.12 KB
Resource Type:
JPEG Image
Metadata
Asset Name:
E003941 - Davies-Colley, Eleanor (1874 - 1934)
Title:
Davies-Colley, Eleanor (1874 - 1934)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E003941
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2013-05-01

2020-07-02
Description:
Obituary for Davies-Colley, Eleanor (1874 - 1934), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Davies-Colley, Eleanor
Date of Birth:
21 August 1874
Place of Birth:
London
Date of Death:
10 December 1934
Place of Death:
London
Occupation:
Titles/Qualifications:
MRCS and FRCS 14 December 1911

MB BS London 1907

MD 1910
Details:
Born in London 21 August 1874, the second daughter of J N C Davies-Colley, surgeon to Guy's Hospital, and Sophia Margaret Turner, his wife. Her maternal grandfather, Thomas Turner, was Treasurer of Guy's Hospital. She was educated at the Church of England High School for Girls in Baker Street, London, and at Queen's College, Harley Street, W1. She worked for some time after leaving school at the East End branch of the Invalid Children's Aid Association and acted as a School Board Manager, living in a workman's flat in Wapping. She received her medical education at the London School of Medicine for Women, where she acted as demonstrator of anatomy and at the Royal Free Hospital in Gray's Inn Road, where she filled the post of surgical registrar. In 1907 she was appointed house surgeon to the New Hospital for Women in Euston Road. She subsequently joined the staff of the South London Hospital and at the time of her death was senior surgeon, whilst at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital she was the senior obstetrician. She was also surgeon to the Marie Curie Hospital. She died, unmarried, at 16 Harley Street, W on 10 December 1934. Miss Davies-Colley was skilful and conscientious in her profession, shy and reserved socially. She had the distinction of being the first woman admitted after examination a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. **See below for an expanded version of the published obituary uploaded 2 July 2020:** Eleanor Davies-Colley, senior surgeon at the South London Hospital for Women, was the first woman to become a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, gaining her FRCS by examination in 1911. She was born at Hilliers, Petworth, Sussex, on 21 August 1874, the second daughter of John Neville Colley Colley-Davies and Sophia Margaret Colley-Davies née Turner. There was a long tradition of medicine in the family. Her father was a distinguished surgeon at Guy’s Hospital, London and her paternal grandfather, Thomas Davies, was a physician to Chester General Infirmary (he later took the name Davies-Colley). Her mother’s father was Thomas Turner, treasurer of Guy’s, and her uncle, Francis Charlewood Turner, was a physician at the London Hospital. Two of Davies-Colley’s younger brothers, Robert and Hugh, became surgeons and fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons. Other family members were also accomplished: her older sister Frances Baker was successful painter who trained at the Slade; her cousin, Harriet Weaver, was a political activist and feminist publisher, who become a patron of James Joyce. Davies-Colley spent her childhood divided between Harley Street in London and Sussex, and attended the Church of England High School for Girls in Baker Street and then Queen’s College, Harley Street. On leaving school, she chose to live among the poor in London’s East End, working for the Invalid Children’s Aid Association and then as a London School Board manager, living in a ‘people’s dwelling’ in Wapping on a very small income. In her mid-twenties, she decided to become a doctor and studied at Regent Street Polytechnic for matriculation and preliminary science examinations for London University. In 1902, she enrolled at the London School of Medicine for Women, where she was an outstanding student, qualifying with the MB BS in 1907. She became a house surgeon at the New Hospital for Women in Euston Road (later renamed the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital after its founder). She then became a demonstrator in anatomy at the London School of Medicine for Women and a surgical registrar at the Royal Free Hospital. In 1910, she was awarded an MD by the University of London and in 1911 she obtained the FRCS by examination, becoming the first woman to gain the fellowship. In the same year, with others, including the surgeon Maud Chadburn and her cousin, Harriet Weaver, Davies-Colley began raising funds for a hospital for women and children in South London, staffed only by women. An outpatients’ department was opened in 1912 and in 1916 the first inpatient beds were opened in a new building at Clapham Common. Davies-Colley remained on the staff of the hospital as senior surgeon until her death. She was also a surgeon at the Marie Curie Cancer Hospital and senior obstetrician at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital. In 1917, she was a founder member of the Medical Women’s Federation. Davies-Colley lived with her colleague Maud Chadburn for 25 years, who described her in an obituary in the *Medical Women’s Federation Quarterly Review*. As a surgeon, she was skilful and experienced, very observant, with a clear, logical mind. As a person, she was shy, ‘humble-minded’ and reserved, preferring to miss meetings and social functions, although ‘…to meet friends in real friendship was a great joy to her.’ She travelled widely and ‘knew beautiful places in Italy, Egypt, Palestine and Turkey as well as England, Wales and Ireland’. She was exceptionally sensitive to and appreciative of beauty: ‘All her life sunshine, beautiful country, beautiful surroundings, appealed to her at once and strengthened her.’ She loved to garden at her country cottage in Essex, and also enjoyed reading and art. Above all, she had a ‘nobility of character…integrity of purpose…and a high sense of honour’. Chadburn summed her up as ‘…a rare spirit, a delightful human being, an honest level-headed worker, an able surgeon and a great and good friend’. Davies-Colley died unexpectedly of thyroid toxaemia at her home 16 Harley Street on 10 December 1934. She was 60. In 2004 one of the lecture theatres at the Royal College of Surgeons in Lincolns Inn Fields was dedicated to her memory. Sarah Gillam
Sources:
Information given by her brother Robert Davies-Colley CMG FRCS

*The Times* 11 December 1934 p.11c www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/article/1934-12-11/11/6.html – accessed 27 May 2020

*The Lancet* 1934 2 1371www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(00)85375-1/fulltext – accessed 27 May 2020

*Brit med J* 1934 2 1181, with portrait www.bmj.com/content/2/3859/1181.1 – accessed 27 May 2020

*Med Wom Fed Quart Rev* 1935 p.65 with portrait https://wellcomecollection.org/works/q67k7fk2 – accessed 27 May 2020

Colley, Eleanor Davies- (1874-1934) *Oxford Dictionary of National Biography* https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-60897?rskey=aAfyHL&result=1 – accessed 27 May 2020

*The Journal of Perioperative Practice* Vol 19 Iss 3 (Mar 2009) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/175045890901900306 – accessed 27 May 2020

Royal College of Surgeons of England Library Blog Eleanor Davies-Colley (1874-1934) and the Invalid Children’s Aid Association (est. 1888) 31 August 2018 www.rcseng.ac.uk/library-and-publications/library/blog/eleanor-davies-colley-and-the-invalid-childrens-aid-association/ – accessed 27 May 2020

Royal College of Surgeons of England Library Blog Eleanor Davies-Colley (1874-1934) and the South London Hospital for Women (1912-1984) 7 September 2018 www.rcseng.ac.uk/library-and-publications/library/blog/eleanor-davies-colley-and-the-south-london-hospital-for-women/ – accessed 27 May 2020
Rights:
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Image Copyright (c) Image provided for use with kind permission of Stephen Burch
Collection:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format:
Obituary
Format:
Asset
Asset Path:
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003900-E003999
Media Type:
JPEG Image
File Size:
90.12 KB