Dr Ruth Nicholson

Dr Ruth Nicholson was born at 32 Kenilworth Road, Elswick, on December 2, 1884. Today a plaque commemorating her life can be seen at this address.  

Ruth started her education at Newcastle Church High School then enrolled at Newcastle College of Medicine aged 19. Her decision to study medicine came after her father, a vicar, took her to see an exhibition on medical missionary work.  

She was the only female student in her graduating class five years on, although her youngest sister later followed her into the profession becoming a General Practitioner.  

Ruth began her medical career working at a dispensary and then moved to Bruntsfield Hospital in Edinburgh as assistant to Dr Elsie Inglis who founded the Scottish Womens’ Hospitals and was a renowned doctor and suffragist.  

She then decided to undertake missionary work at a field hospital in Gaza as an opportunity to gain surgical experience and prove herself to her male peers.  Her family were devout, and faith driven which also influenced her decision to pursue missionary work in her early career.  

At the start of the First World War Ruth was accepted by the War Office to start work as a Field surgeon. However just before their departure the doctor in charge of the voluntary unit she had joined refused to take a female doctor with him. 

Hurt by this rejection but determined to join the war effort, Ruth then got in touch with Elise Inglis and was offered a position at her all-female staffed hospital unit at Royaumont Abby, Paris. This unit was supported by the French Government after the British had rejected Elise Inglis’ offer of devoting her female run hospitals to the war effort.  

 From December 1914 Ruth became one of the principal surgeons at the unit, taking on the bulk of the major surgical workload and working tirelessly to tend to those in need. She played a vital role in treating soldiers injured in the Battle of the Somme. Over one 8 day period she managed just 16 hours of sleep..   

The hospital at Royaumont treated over 10000 during the war and had better mortality rates than other military run hospitals. For her remarkable services she was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille d’Honneur des Epidemies by the French Government.  

She also proved to be an extremely popular leader and impressed her team with her sense of fun. She was well remembered for performing scarf dances at hospital festivities and taking on the role of the Big Bad Wolf in the hospital pantomime.  

After the war she began a career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, becoming a founder member of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1929 and a Fellow of the college two years later.  

She was appointed Clinical Lecturer and Gynaecological Surgeon at the University of Liverpool in 1930 and later she became the first woman president of the North of England Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.  

Ruth Nicholson passed away in 1963, aged 79.