Agnes McLaren

Agnes McLaren (July 4, 1837 - April 17, 1913)cite book | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HH2NMvjcgygC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=Agnes+McLaren+1837&source=web&ots=NcxPThpPDh&sig=-orJEi8VNLMzGC-1VCwUx8g_Pvc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result | title = Faces of Holiness (Dr Agnes McLaren Medicine Woman) | first = Ann | last = Ball | isbn = 9780879739508 | publisher = Our Sunday Visitor Publishing] was a respected Scottish doctor who was the first to give medical assistance to women in India who, because of custom, were unable to get medical help from male doctors.

Background

McLaren was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The daughter of Duncan McLaren [cite web | url = http://www.thepeerage.com/p15.htm#i143| accessdate = 2008-09-17|title=thePeerage.com] , a Presbyterian businessman and politician, she entered the school of medicine at the University of Montpellier in 1876, eventually becoming only the tenth woman in Britain to graduate as a doctor.cite book | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=giffod3v0FsC&pg=RA1-PA397&lpg=RA1-PA397&dq=%22Agnes+McLaren%22+1837&source=web&ots=IbbB8pcs-9&sig=BxnQVOZAKcbQPWEAPgg5S4_NPbQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result | title = The Women's Suffrage Movement | first = Elizabeth | last = Crawford | isbn = 9780415239264 | published = Routledge | page=397] By 1882, she was a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, and set up a practice in Cannes around 1879.

India

In 1899, she joined the Catholic Church, and went to India with a Catholic mission, where she learned of the tremendous health needs of women in India. Because of India’s custom of seclusion for women ("purdah"), they could not be seen by men other than their immediate family, a custom which meant they also could not receive medical care from male physicians. With so few women doctors in the early 1900s, literally thousands of women died in illness or in childbirth each year and many babies also died in infancy. McLaren responded to this problem by establishing the Medical Mission Committee in London, which financed the opening of a small hospital, St. Catherine’s Hospital, in Rawalpindi, a particularly needy area. During her search for women who could help run the hospital, McLaren discovered that Catholic Canon Law prohibited Sisters from giving this type of health service. She petitioned Rome to lift the restriction and, while waiting for a response, continued looking for women interested in health care abroad. Anna Maria Dengel, an Austrian-born doctor, responded to McLaren’s request, but was never able to meet McLaren, who passed away shortly after their correspondence began. However, before her death, Agnes McLaren encouraged Dengel to study at the Cork University, setting into motion Dengel’s desire to start her own medical community of the Medical Mission Sisters, a Catholic order of female doctors and nurses dedicated to providing health care to women and children around the world.

McLaren was buried in Antibes. [cite web | url = http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/read/MIDLOTHIAN/2001-08/0997465980 | title = Details on monument in St. Cuthberts Churchyard, Edinburgh]

References

*The British Medical Journal: Medico-Legal, 1913 April 26. vol. 1 (2730): 917
*citation | url = http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LTSYePZvSXYC&pg=PA871&lpg=PA871&dq=%22Agnes+McLaren%22+1837&source=web&ots=hNm5oU016z&sig=6zHnFdWkyRPP2Ykv8T30GA6nq-8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result | title = The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science | last1 = Ogilvie | first1 = Marilyn Bailey | last2 = Harvey |first2 = Joy Dorothy |page = 871 |publisher = Taylor & Francis | isbn = 9780415920407