In the history of medicine, Lilian Lindsay is one of the names that keeps returning.
The record lists Lilian Lindsay as British dentist (1871-1960), first qualified woman dentist in the UK.
Lilian Lindsay was born at Holloway in 1871. Her recorded nationality is United Kingdom. She trained at University of Edinburgh and The Camden School for Girls.
Anaesthesia, antisepsis and germ theory arrived within fifty years and made modern surgery possible for the first time.
Her posts were held at British Dental Journal.
The test of medical work is whether practice changed, not whether the argument was elegant.
Recognition followed: Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
That the work was done from United Kingdom matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
Lilian Lindsay died in 1960, aged 89. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- Held posts at British Dental Journal
