Jessie Scott (medical doctor)

Jessie Ann Scott (1883–1959) was a New Zealand medical doctor, medical officer and prisoner of war.

Early life

Jessie Scott was born in Brookside, North Canterbury, New Zealand, in 1883 and attended Christchurch Girls' High School.[1] She studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MB ChB in 1909 and MD in 1912.[1]

Career

Scott remained in Edinburgh after her training and worked as the resident medical officer at the Edinburgh Hospital for Women and Children.[2] During this time, she was a guest speaker, along with Dr Elsie Inglis, Chrystal MacMillan and Alice Low, at an NUWSS meeting in Edinburgh's Café Oak Hall.[3][4]

She then became assistant medical officer to the London County Council for three years from 1910 to 1913.[2] During this time she completed her MD thesis in public health.[5] She returned to New Zealand in 1913 and practiced in Auckland.[1][2]

In World War I she returned to the United Kingdom and volunteered for the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service a unit staffed by women.[2][6] She served in Serbia, where she was captured by the Austrians and kept a prisoner of war for four months, and later became a medical officer with the Serbian Army. Later in the war she worked with the Royal Army Medical Corps in Salonika and France.[2][6] For her service in Serbia she was awarded the Order of St Sava 4th class by the Serbian government.[2][6][7]

After the war, Scott returned to London in 1920 where she did postgraduate work in gynaecology and paediatrics at the Chelsea Hospital for Women and the Victoria Hospital for Children, and worked for the London County Council as a medical officer.[1][2]

In 1924 she returned to Christchurch where she worked as an obstetrician and gynaecologist in the public hospital. After being frustrated by obstructions from male colleagues she went into private practice.[1][6]

Scott served on many organisations including the National Council of Women, the Federation of University Women, and the Women's War Service Auxiliary during World War Two.[1] She became one of two vice-presidents of the Christchurch Branch of the New Zealand Medical Women's Association in 1954. She gave the first medical presentation to the branch on her experiences during World War One in the Scottish Medical Women's Hospital in Serbia.[8]

Jessie Scott died in August 1959 in Christchurch.[2]

See also

References
  1. Ward, Fiona. "Jessie Ann Scott". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. "Jessie Anne Scott". New Zealand Medical Journal. 59: 303. June 1960.
  3. "General notices". The Scotsman. 5 February 1909. p. 1.
  4. "Edinburgh NUWSS". Women's Franchise. 11 February 1909. p. 393.
  5. Scott, Jessie Anne (1912). Study of pigmentation in relation to disease in children (M.D.). University of Edinburgh. hdl:1842/20772.
  6. Tolerton, Jane (2017). Make her praises heard afar : New Zealand women overseas in World War One. Wellington, New Zealand: Booklovers Books. pp. 139–141, 166–167, 207–209, 212–213. ISBN 978-0-473-39965-8. OCLC 1011529111.
  7. "Serbian Awards". www.nzans.org. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  8. Maxwell, Margaret (1990). Women doctors in New Zealand : an historical perspective, 1921-1986. Auckland, N.Z.: IMS (N.Z.). p. 66. ISBN 0-473-00798-3. OCLC 25456512.

Jessie Anne Scott. Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph

Great War Stories 4: Dr Jessie Scott. (2017) NZ OnScreen

New Zealand Military Nursing. Serbian Awards to New Zealand medical women. New Zealand Army Nursing Service - Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps.

WWI: The NZ Female Doctor who became a POW. Video on Newsroom, 25 April 2022

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