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Pechey, Edith

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(Mary) Edith Pechey-Phipson (1845–1908) was born on 7 October 1845 in the village of Langham, near Colchester, Essex, England, the sixth child and third daughter of the Reverend William Pechey (d. 1888), Baptist minister at Langham Chapel, and his wife, Sarah Rotton Pechey (d. 1879). Named Mary Edith by her parents, she took the name Edith Pechey-Phipson after her marriage to a Bombay-based wine merchant, Herbert Musgrave Phipson (1849–1936) in March 1889. Edith’s parents were well-educated, her mother was competent in Greek, and Edith inherited this love of learning as she began her career as a teacher.

In 1869, aged 24, Edith Pechey joined in the struggle for women’s right to study and practice medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Sophia Jex-Blake was her fiery, famous companion, among others, and together they first won the right to take the preliminary examination in arts and eventually the right to attend classes with male students, which was a...

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References

  • Anon. 1908. Edith Pechey-Phipson, M.D.Bern, L.R.C.P.I. The British Medical Journal 1 (2469): 1025.

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  • Balfour, M.I., and R. Young. 1929. The work of medical women in India. London: Oxford University Press.

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  • Burton, Antoinette. 1996. Contesting the Zenana: The mission to make “lady doctors for India,” 1874–1885. Journal of British Studies 35 (3): 368–397.

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  • Jex-Blake, Sophia. 1886. Medical women: A thesis and a history. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier.

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  • Kittredge, G.A. 1889. A short history of the ‘medical women for India’ fund of Bombay. Bombay: Education Society’s Press.

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  • Lutzker, Edythe. 1973. Edith Pechey-Phipson, M.D.: The story of England’s foremost pioneering woman doctor. New York: Exposition Press.

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  • Pechey, Edith Mary. 1877. Upon the constitutional causes of uterine catarrh with notes of personal observations. A Graduation thesis presented to the medical faculty of the University of Berne, 31 January 1877.

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  • Pechey, Edith. 1878. Inaugural address delivered by Edith Pechey, M.D., on 1 October 1878 at London School of Medicine for Women. London: McGowan’s Steam Printing Company Limited.

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  • Pechey, Edith M.D. 1880. Egypt as a winter residence for invalids. The Sanitary Record: A monthly Journal of Public Health and the Progress of Sanitary Science 12: 1–2.

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  • Pechey-Phipson, Edith. 1890. Address to the Hindoos of Bombay on the subject of child-marriage. Bombay: Times Press.

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  • Ramanna, Mridula. 2002. Western medicine and public health in colonial Bombay. Delhi: Orient Longman.

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Archives

  • Letters of Mrs Mary Edith Pechey-Phipson M.D., 1884–1892, Edinburgh University Library (Special collections).

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  • Wellcome Library papers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. S.N.D.T. College of Arts and S.C.B. College of Commerce and Science for Women, Mumbai, India

    Namrata R. Ganneri

  2. Department of History, University of York, York, UK

    Namrata R. Ganneri

Authors
  1. Namrata R. Ganneri
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Correspondence to Namrata R. Ganneri .

Section Editor information

  1. St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Emily Morris

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Ganneri, N.R. (2020). Pechey, Edith. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Victorian Women's Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02721-6_42-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02721-6_42-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-02721-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-02721-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

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