Lilian Lindsay née Murray was the first woman with a British qualification in dentistry, the first female president of the British Dental Association and a noted historian of dentistry. She was born on 24 July 1871 in Holloway, north London to Margaret Amelia Murray née Bennett and James Robertson Murray, the third child of four boys and seven girls. Their father, an organist, died when Lilian was 14, leaving the family in debt. She attended Camden School for Girls and then won a two-year scholarship to North London Collegiate School. She did well, but the headmistress, Frances Mary Buss, an ardent recruiter for the teaching profession, was determined she should become a teacher of the deaf and dumb. Lillian refused and told her she wanted to be a dentist. This enraged Buss: she ensured Lilian didn’t get a further scholarship and had to leave the school. At the time there were no UK-qualified female dentists, but Lilian wanted to be the first. She undertook a three-year apprenticeship to a dental surgeon, studied some academic subjects, took a preliminary examination and registered as a dental student. The General Medical Council’s registrar advised her the next step was to enter a dental school and suggested she try the National Dental Hospital in London, which she did. The dean didn’t even allow her to enter the building, insisting on speaking to her on the pavement. He, like most dental school administrators at the time, was against accepting female students. However, knowing entry to the profession was more advanced in Scotland, he suggested she apply to the Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School. To her delight, Lilian was accepted by its dean. With little money, she borrowed to pay for her classes. Lilian was refused admittance to medical classes for men, however, one of Edinburgh’s two medical schools for women allowed her to attend their anatomy and physiology classes. She joined the dental students for classes in chemistry, where Lilian said she was treated well. On her first morning at the Dental Hospital Lilian was met by Robert Lindsay, who had been instructed by the dean to show her where to go and what to do. He later played an important part in her life as they eventually married. Lilian much enjoyed her courses, including surgery at the Infirmary. Here cranial surgery was just beginning, using a saw in a dental engine to enter the skull. Having been trained in a dental workshop, Lilian was used to a lathe and the foot engine, which gave her an advantage over the male house surgeons, so she was much in demand for these operations. Unsurprisingly, Lilian was a talented student, awarded the Wilson medal for dental surgery and pathology and the medal for materia medica and therapeutics, and, in May 1895, she became the first British qualified woman dentist, gaining the LDS with honours from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. At that time no one envisaged a female member of the British Dental Association (BDA), however, in November of that year the association heard that Lilian had become a member, enrolled by its Scottish branch: the board could find no way to bar her. Meanwhile the Royal College of Surgeons of England persisted in barring women from its LDS examination, twice voting against it. Only in 1908 did the college finally admitted woman to all its examinations and, in 1912, Lily Fanny Pain became the first female to gain the LDS from the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Lilian and Robert Lindsay married in 1905, but first both had to overcome money and family issues, so Lilian practised in London. Apart from paying off her student debts, she helped to educate her younger siblings. In addition, she needed cash to rent premises and buy equipment. After their marriage, Lilian joined Robert’s practice in Edinburgh. In 1920 Robert became the first paid full-time dental secretary of the BDA, so they moved to London, living above its headquarters in Russell Square. Lilian didn’t practise, but, with a very enquiring mind, she collected books of dental interest. In 1920 about 100 books were presented to the association in memory of a former sub-editor of the *British Dental Journal* and Lilian was appointed as an ‘honorary temporary librarian’. She continued to expand the library until her death. The Robert and Lilian Lindsay Library is now one of the world’s major dental libraries. Lilian also collected dental ephemera, which became the basis for the renowned BDA Dental Museum and encouraged members to do the same, recognising the value of recording dental history. However, a lack of space delayed the official establishment of the museum until 1934. Lilian was an intellectual with wide interests in history and literature. She taught herself French, German, Latin and Anglo-Saxon, to help her read relevant literature and communicate with colleagues worldwide. She presented many lectures, the first to the Odonto-Chirurgical Society of Scotland in 1912. It was 11 more years before Lilian’s next lecture: in 1933 she delivered the first C E Wallis lecture to the Royal Society of Medicine. Between 1925 and 1959 she published 57 papers plus many translations, letters, notes and annotations for the *British Dental Journal*; at least ten of major historical importance. Annoyingly she often excluded references. In 1933 Lilian published *A short history of dentistry* (London, J Bale & Co). Her 1946 translation of Pierre Fauchard’s ground-breaking work *Le chirurgien dentiste* was very important in bringing it to the attention of English-speakers (*The surgeon dentist* London, Butterworth & Co). Lilian had a major interest in orthodontics, joining the British Society for the Study of Orthodontics in 1922 as its second female member. Lilian presented many papers between 1925 and 1948, often with Robert: their first was on the relevance of growth and formation of bone to orthodontics, her second on the stimulation of bone formation by percussion following treatment. Lindsay was editor of the society’s *Transactions* (from 1930 to 1934), president (in 1938) and senior vice president (from 1947 to 1955). After Robert died in 1930, Lilian became sub-editor of the *British Dental Journal*, remaining on its editorial committee until her death. She always championed the cause of women in dentistry. Not surprisingly, Lilian received many honours and awards. In 1946 she became the first female president of the British Dental Association, having already been president of its Metropolitan (London) branch. The same year saw her awarded the CBE and an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Edinburgh and an honorary higher dental diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. The Royal College of Surgeons of England awarded Lilian its prestigious John Tomes prize in 1945, the fellowship in dental surgery in 1947 (the year of the foundation of the faculty of dental surgery) and the Colyer gold medal in 1959. Also in 1959, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh made Lilian an honorary FDS. At the Royal Society of Medicine, she was president of the odontology section (from 1945 to 1946) and the first female president of its history of medicine section (from 1950 to 1952). In 1950 she became the first female president of the Medical Society of London. Three years later she became an honorary member of the American Academy of the History of Dentistry. She was also an honorary member of the Odonto-Chirurgical Society of Scotland and of the Edinburgh Women Students. Lilian was vice president of the Johnson Society and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Music was important to her. In her sixties, she sang the toothdrawer’s song to the audience when giving her paper ‘The sun, the toothdrawer and the saint’ to the section of odontology of the Royal Society of Medicine. On her 80th birthday in 1951, Lilian was presented with her portrait painted by Thomas Cantrell Dugdale which, together with several other portraits of Lilian, now hangs in the BDA’s headquarters. Lilian Lindsay died on 31 January 1960. By then she had broken a number of glass ceilings and is remembered amongst the world’s greats in dentistry. In 1962, some dentists commemorated this outstanding woman by founding the Lindsay Club, which later became the Lindsay Society for the History of Dentistry. An annual Lilian Lindsay memorial lecture is delivered by a leading member of the profession at the annual conference of the BDA and a Lindsay medal is presented to outstanding dental historians. In 2013 English Heritage placed a blue plaque commemorating Lilian Lindsay on her childhood home at Hungerford Road, Holloway in north London. Because of partial destruction of the house, it was later moved to 23 Russell Square, former home of the BDA, where Lilian had lived. Although in the 19th century Lilian was discouraged by North London Collegiate School, now the situation is completely different: a group attended the unveiling of the plaque, and a house has been named after her at the school. In 2023 *The New York Times* published a belated obituary of Lilian as part of its ‘Overlooked’ series.