Edith Pechey

Edith Pechey (7 October 1845 – 14 April 1908) was one of the first women doctors in the United Kingdom and a campaigner for women's rights. She spent more than 20 years in India as a senior doctor at a women's hospital and was involved in a range of social causes.

Mary Edith Pechey was born in Langham, Essex, to William Pechey, a Baptist minister with an MA from Edinburgh University and his wife Sarah (née Rotton), a lawyer's daughter who, unusually for a woman of her generation, had studied Greek. After being educated by her father, Edith worked as governess and teacher until 1869.

After Sophia Jex-Blake's sole application to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh was turned down, she advertised in The Scotsman for more women to join her. The second letter she received was from Edith Pechey. In her letter, Pechey wrote:

"Do you think anything more is requisite to ensure success than moderate abilities and a good share of perseverance? I believe I may lay claim to these, together with a real love of the subjects of study, but as regards any thorough knowledge of these subjects at present, I fear I am deficient in most."

Despite her concerns, Edith Pechey became one of the Edinburgh Seven, the first seven undergraduate students at any British University, and proved her academic ability by achieving the top grade in the Chemistry exam in her first year of study. This made her eligible to receive a Hope Scholarship.

Forty years previously, Professor Hope, then Professor of Chemistry, had instituted annual awards known as the Hope Scholarships. The four students who achieved the highest marks sitting the first-term examination in chemistry for the first time were to be granted free use of the facilities of the University laboratory during the next term. Edith Pechey came top of this group and therefore had first claim to a Hope Scholarship.

Dr Crum Brown, the Professor of Chemistry, was concerned that awarding the scholarship to a woman would provoke a backlash from the male students, who had grown increasingly hostile when they saw that women were capable of outstripping them in competitive examinations. He had also noticed that, as the term had progressed, many of his respected colleagues in the Medical Faculty began to express resentment of the presence of women in the University.

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