The Edinburgh Seven

This graduation cap commemorates the Edinburgh Seven, adorned with a collage of materials relevant to them and their achievements. Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake, Isabel Thorne, Edith Pechey, Matilda Chaplin, Helen Evans, Mary Anderson, and Emily Bovell were the first female students in the UK, accepted to study medicine at Edinburgh.

Although the court ruled in 1869 that they should never have been admitted, and they did not graduate initially, their campaign directly led to legislation changing to allow women to be licensed medical practitioners as of 1876.

These women faced serious backlash throughout their time studying at the University of Edinburgh, including the Surgeon's Hall Riot, where gangs of male students obstructed their entrance to an anatomy exam required for graduation, jeering and hurling mud at the women, to protest their studies. Whilst five of the original seven ladies went on to achieve their MDs abroad in the late 1870s, to mark the 150th anniversary of their matriculation in 2019 the University of Edinburgh granted them all posthumous degrees

These pioneering individuals mark an incredible turning point in the opportunities available within both medicine and education more broadly for women. Stories like theirs lie at the very heart of this exhibition, shining a light on the historic gendered exclusion within these institutions and the inspiring women in whose footsteps aspiring female medical students can proudly follow today.