Lillias Hamilton trained as a doctor in London, qualified in 1890 and practiced in Calcutta and later in Afghanistan where she was the personal physician to the Amir and the only Western doctor. After six years abroad, she returned to England but owing partly to establishment prejudice was unsuccessful in setting up a London practice and eventually became the Principal of a Women's Agricultural College. Her career illustrates the aspects of medical practice abroad in the 1890s, as well as the difficulties encountered by women doctors in England even after the route to qualification in the UK had been opened.
Cohen SL. Hamilton, Lillias Anna (1858–1925). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/55593 (2008, accessed 12 July 2019).
Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. Autumn 1895; 32: 319.
7.
Cohen SL. op. cit. ref 1.
8.
Beale D. letter to Hamilton LA. 22 January 1891. Wellcome Library Archive PP/HAM/A.1.
9.
Dr Lillias Hamilton. The Times, 9 January 1925.
10.
Op. cit. ref. 6.
11.
The Workhouse at Liverpool, Lancashire, www.workhouses.org.uk (accessed 28 November 2019).
12.
Ibid.
13.
Ibid.
14.
Certificate of Efficiency and Qualification as a Nurse in Medical, Surgical and Midwifery Cases 1886. Wellcome Library Archive: PP/HAM/A.33.
15.
Medical Student registration certificate. Wellcome Library Archive, PP/HAM/A.33.
16.
McIntyre N. How British Women became Doctors. The Story of the Royal Free Hospital and its Medical School. UK: Wenrowave Press, 2014, p.138.
17.
Hamilton H. letter to Hamilton LA., 6 August 1887. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.1.
18.
Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. Spring 1925; 7 (New Series): 53.
19.
Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. Autumn 1895; 32: 320.
20.
Tripartite certificate of qualification as Licentiate of the Royal College of Medicine, Edinburgh, The Royal College of Surgery Edinburgh, and of The Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Glasgow, 26 July 1890. Wellcome Library Archive, PP/HAM/A.33.
21.
Diploma of qualification as Doctor of Medicine, Surgery and Midwifery with Distinction at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Brussels 10/11/1890. Wellcome Library Archive. PP/HAM/A.33.
22.
McIntyre N. Op. cit. ref. 16, p.135.
23.
Digby A. The Evolution of British General Practice 1850–1948. Oxford: OUP, 1999 p.184.
24.
Editorial, The Lancet, 17 August 1878.
25.
Digby A. Op. cit. ref. 23, p.184.
26.
McIntyre N. Op. cit. ref. 16, p.132.
27.
Witz A. Colonising women: Female medical practice in colonial India 1880-1890. Conrad LI and Hardy A (eds) Women and modern medicine, Clio medica: Studies in the history of medicine and health (volume 61). Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi, 2001, pp.23–34.
28.
Hamilton LA. Lecture on Female Medical Work in India – undated notes. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.24.
29.
Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. Autumn 1893; 28: 281–283.
30.
Hamilton LA. Letter to Mr Osborne, 6.10.1912. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A12.
31.
Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. Spring 1894; 15: 117.
32.
Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. Autumn 1893; 28: 282.
33.
Hamilton LA. Op. cit. ref. 28.
34.
Ibid.
35.
Witz A. Op. cit. ref. 27,p.35.
36.
Moberly Bell E. Storming the citadel. The rise of the woman doctor. London: Constable & Co., 1953, pp.122–124.
37.
Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. Autumn 1894; 30: 311.
38.
Ibid, 317–321.
39.
Ibid.
40.
Lady's Pictorial. 27 August 1898: 296. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.28.
41.
Hamilton LA. A Lady Doctor in Afghanistan, Impressions and Experiences. Wellcome Library Archive PP/HAM/A.24 Box 2.
42.
Hamilton LA. Something About Medical Work in Afghanistan. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.24 Box 2.
43.
Daily Graphic, 6 September 1895. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.28.
44.
Hamilton LA. Op. cit. ref. 42.
45.
Hamilton LA. Stories of Life in Cabul. Wellcome Library Archive PP/HAM/A.19.
46.
Hamilton LA. Op. cit. ref. 42.
47.
Ibid.
48.
Ibid.
49.
Lady's Pictorial, 3 September 1898: 336. Wellcome Library Archives, PP/HAM/A.28.
50.
Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. Autumn 1895; 32: 322.
51.
Hamilton LA. Notes for a lecture. Wellcome Library Archives PP/Ham/A.23.
52.
The Queen, 31 July 1897: 233 Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.28.
53.
Prince Habebullah Khan letter to Hamilton LA, undated. Wellcome Library Archives, PP/HAM/A.3.
54.
Cheltenham Ladies College Magazine. Autumn 1895, 32: 323.
55.
Hamilton LA. Op. Cit. ref. 30.
56.
St James's Gazette 4 September 1896, p.15. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.28.
57.
Hamilton LA. Op. cit. ref. 30.
58.
Ibid.
59.
Hamilton LA. letter to Amir Abdur Rahman, 6 October 1896. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.2.
60.
Daily Consular and Trade Reports, USA Department of Commerce, Washington. October-December 1913; 4: 1286.
61.
Hamilton LA. Letter to Beale D, 24 December 1894 published in CLCM, Spring 1895, Vol 16 Issue 31, 164.
62.
Cohen SL. Op. cit. ref. 1.
63.
HamiltonLA. Introduction. A Vizier's daughter – a tale of the Hazara war, London: John Murray, 1900.
64.
Ibid p.96.
65.
Hamilton LA. Op. cit. ref. 30.
66.
Simey E. The Victoria Women's Settlement, Liverpool. Charity organisation review, February 1915: 37 No. 218: 61–68 (accessed online via JStor, 14 October 2019).
67.
Ibid. p.75.
68.
Liverpool Echo, 22 January 2011.
69.
Hamilton CLC. letter to Income Tax Commissioners, 24 August 1906. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/B.1.
70.
Medical report from Sophia Hemmet Hospital, Stockholm, 6 January 1906. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.4.
71.
Preston C. letter to Hamilton CLC., 27 January 1928. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/B.28.
72.
Hamilton D. to Hamilton LA., 31 January 1917. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.8.
73.
Hamilton LA. letter to Hamilton CLC., 10 September 1906. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/B.1.
74.
Hamilton LA. Op. cit. ref. 30.
75.
Ibid.
76.
Hamilton LA. letter to Allan J., 3 February 1912. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.5.
77.
Garstang DM. Notes to Gaskell E., 1970-71. Wellcome Library Archives, PP/HAM/D2.
78.
Hamilton LA. Letter to Dr Clarke, July 1915. Wellcome Library Archives, PP/HAM/A.9.
79.
Bennett A. Wounded allies relief committee – a short account of work done. 1915. Monograph published by the W.A.R.C.
80.
Hamilton LA. Letter to Dr Rutherford, September 1915. Wellcome Library Archives, PP/HAM/A.9.
81.
Hamilton LA. Letter to Dr Rutherford, 18 March 2016. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.9.
82.
Willoughby de Broke M. letter to Hamilton LA., 5 March (no year). Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/A.9.
83.
Hamilton CLC. Letter to Preston C., undated. Wellcome Library Archives PP/HAM/B.25.
Digby A. Making a Medical Living. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
86.
Greater Manchester Record Office, Q217.1 Medical Women's Federation Scrapbook, Obituary, cited in Digby A. Op. cit. ref. 23 p.173.
87.
The influence of women in the profession of medicine – address given by Dr Elizabeth Blackwell – Winter session 1889. London: George Bell & Sons, 1889.
