On this day in 1869 Edinburgh University first admitted women to the study of medicine.
Sophia Jex-Blake and her friend Edith Pechy were the first to attend the prestigious medical school. Though Jex-Blake passed her exams, she was not allowed to graduate as regulations prevented women from actually serving on the wards. Petitions to the management failed to convince them to change the rules. Jex-Blake eventually managed to obtain her licence from the Dublin College of Physicians, and devoted her life to promoting the cause of female medicine, together with an active role in the women's suffrage movement.
