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The Girton and Newnham Unit

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The Girton and Newnham Unit

The first Scottish Women's Hospital unit was established at the Abbey of Royaumont near Paris, France. Another unit was sent out in May 1915 to Troyes, France. This unit was named the Girton and Newnham Unit after two women's colleges in Cambridge. Previous alumni of the colleges had donated a sum of money towards the Scottish Women's Hospital effort [1]. 

The Girton and Newnham Unit was run by Dr Anne Louise McIlroy, a graduate of the University of Glasgow and well-established surgeon in gynaecology. Along with physicians, radiologists, nurses, electricians, drivers, and cooks, the unit was composed of 60 different working women.

Due to the easy mobility of the tents that made up the hospital, the unit followed the French Expeditionary Force from France to Serbia and then Salonica. Although the primary function of the unit was to serve and treat the French army, patients from all over were treated by staff at the unit, including Albanians, Serbians, and Russians. 

The staff of Girton and Newnham faced a variety of challenges influenced by the locations in which they were stationed. Being so close to the frontline meant that the unit was always busy. The weather conditions in southern Serbia proved difficult to operate in, with the high winds blowing the tents and furniture. The heat of the Greek summer when stationed in Salonica made conditions almost unbearable to work in. In such warm climates staff saw many patients suffering from malaria and dysentery, as well as wounds from field combat. These diseases often spread to members of staff themselves, further impacting the running of the unit. 

During the war, the staff of the Girton and Newnham unit were exposed to new clinical experiences and gained vital skills in emergency medicine and surgery associated with warfare. They proved that women were more than capable to run a war hospital and work in any field of medicine and surgery, even those specialties that were previously restricted to male doctors only. 

[1] Morrison, E., Parry, C. (2014). The Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service – the Girton and Newnham Unit, 1915–1918. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 44, pp. 337-343. [online] Available at: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/sites/default/files/morrison_0.pdf