Isabel Thorne

Isabel Jane Thorne (1834/35-1910) was an early campaigner for medical education for women.

Born in London, she married Joseph Thorne, a tea merchant, and went to live in Shanghai. They had five children; Isobel, born in 1860, became an art student. Mary, born in 1861, was at first an animal keeper before becoming a surgeon after supporting her mother in her campaigns. Isobel also had two sons: Joell, born in France in 1876 and Foster, born in 1881.

A third son died in childbirth in Shanghai and she became convinced of the need for women to have female doctors for themselves and their children, especially women living in China and India. When the family returned to England in the late 1860s she started a midwifery training at the Female Medical College in London. Soon she responded to Sophia Jex-Blake's advertisement calling for women to join her in an attempt to qualify as doctors at Edinburgh University and so Thorne became one of the Edinburgh Seven. During this time, she won first prize in an anatomy examination.

After their attempt to graduate in medicine was blocked, Thorne was one of the women who "re-grouped" at the London School of Medicine for Women. Her diplomatic temperament meant she was a more acceptable honorary secretary than Jex-Blake whose nomination had threatened to stir up controversy. Thorne gave up her own ambition to be a doctor in order to commit herself to helping the school run smoothly and become more solidly established. She kept records and wrote an account of these years which was published in 1905 as "Sketch of the Foundation and Development of the London School of Medicine for Women".

In 1908 her daughter, the surgeon Mary Thorne who had graduated from the LSMW in 1895, succeeded her as honorary secretary. In 1910 Isabel Thorne died at home in Harley Street, London. Her ashes are in Southover churchyard, Lewes.

References

* "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
* "PDFlink| [http://www.almlondon.org.uk/uploads/documents/Exploring-Archives-Royal-Free-Hospital2.pdf Archives of the Royal Free Hospital] |0.99 MiB "
* " [http://www.findmypast.com/CensusHouseholdSearchServlet?uir=ed1b4f53c069f6f35af91cf2b3487eed&lineNo=2&lineNoSuffix=0&UIRStamp=1a224c876e004bd096de603eaed6256feea0b491db03610a58ec0160d6411bc75e5f8418f19b5123&pagetype=6]