Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake

British physician
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Print
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Quick Facts
Born:
Jan. 21, 1840, Hastings, Sussex, Eng.
Died:
Jan. 7, 1912, Mark Cross

Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake (born Jan. 21, 1840, Hastings, Sussex, Eng.—died Jan. 7, 1912, Mark Cross) was a British physician who successfully sought legislation (1876) permitting women in Britain to receive the M.D. degree and a license to practice medicine and surgery. Through her efforts, a medical school for women was opened in London in 1874, and in 1886 she established one in Edinburgh.

Jex-Blake attended Queen’s College, London, and then studied for three years in Boston and New York, returning to England in 1868. She was admitted to classes in medicine at the University of Edinburgh but was not allowed to take a degree. In 1877 she obtained the M.D. of the University of Bern and, through the King’s and Queen’s College of Physicians, Dublin, a license to practice in Great Britain.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.