The first Australian female surgeon to perform procedures in a Russian hospital, Laura Forster spent her final years navigating the front lines of World War I. Trained as both a physician and nurse, she crossed continents to provide medical care in high-conflict zones, operating under constant bombardment until her health failed in 1917.
Early Education and Medical Training
Born in Ryde in 1858, Forster was the daughter of William Forster, a former Premier of New South Wales. After leaving Sydney, she relocated to Europe to pursue formal medical education. In 1887, she enrolled at the University of Bern in Switzerland, where she spent 12 semesters researching muscle spindle fibers at the Pathological Institute. She completed her medical degree in 1894 and received certification to practice in the United Kingdom the following year.
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Forster established a professional presence in England, working as a medical officer at the Cutler Boulter Dispensary in Oxford. Her investigative interests included ovarian diseases in mentally ill women and the study of tubercular lymphatic glands. Between 1910 and 1911, she furthered her expertise at the laboratory of Santiago Ramón y Cajal in Madrid. Under his guidance, she applied neurofibrillary techniques to birds, producing a significant research paper that established her as a pioneer in neurohistology.
Wartime Service Across Europe and Asia
Forster’s wartime experience began in 1912 in Epirus during the First Balkan War. In 1914, she joined the British Red Cross at the Belgian Field Hospital in Antwerp. Following evacuations under heavy fire, she moved to France and later to Russia. In Petrograd, she conducted surgical work before volunteering with the Russian Red Cross in the Caucasus. In Erzurum, Turkey, she oversaw a 150-bed infectious diseases hospital, treating typhus cases among refugees and soldiers.
Final Assignments and Death
In 1916, she joined a hospital unit funded by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, managing facilities in Zalishchyky. There, she treated civilian refugees and wounded soldiers suffering from dysentery, scarlet fever, and typhoid. Her duties, combined with exposure to frequent shelling, severely impacted her physical condition. At age 58, she died in Zalishchyky in 1917 after a week of illness caused by influenza.
Fast facts
- Born: 1858, Ryde, Australia
- Died: 1917, Zalishchyky
- Primary Occupations: Physician, surgeon, nurse
- Medical Education: University of Bern
- Specialization: Neurohistology
- Notable Research: Nerve fiber degeneration in birds
- War Service: Belgium, France, Russia, Turkey
- Citizenship: Australian
Questions readers ask
Was Laura Forster allowed to serve as a physician in all combat zones?
No. During the First Balkan War, she was restricted to working as a nurse because women were not permitted to serve as physicians at the front.
What caused the death of Laura Forster?
She died from heart failure in 1917, following a week-long struggle with influenza exacerbated by the exhaustion of her wartime duties.
