Eliza Louisa Walker
Dr. Eliza Walker
Dr. Eliza Louisa Dunbar M.D.
Zurich 1868-1872
“Embolic der Hirn-Arterien”
“Embolism of the Cerebral Arteries”
From The Biological Dictionary of Women in Science
Scottish/British physician. Born in India. Educated Cheltenham Ladies' College; University of Zurich (M.D., 1872). Professional experience: Zurich cantonal hospital, first woman assistant (ca. 1867-1925?).
1845
Eliza Louisa Walker was born in India while her father, Dr. Alexander Walker was stationed with the Bombay Military Department. Originally from Aberdeenshire on the east coast of Scotland. Upon returning to England Eliza attended the Ladies’ College in Cheltenham which had been established in 1853 to provide a sound education for girls. She had some education at Frankfort-on-Main where she learned German.
She trained under Elizabeth Garrett at St. Mary’s Dispensary for Women.
1868
Eliza joined the girls in Zurich along with Maria, Susan and Marie.
In the obituary for her brother, Dr. Archibald Dunbar Walker, who died in Hampstead in 1928, it says he received his MD in 1871 from the University of Edinburgh. It’s ironic that brother and sister were attending medical school at the same time. He’s in Edinburgh during Sophia Jex-Blake’s attempt to get a degree. Did Eliza ever attempt to attend Edinburgh, did she have any conversation with her brother about women doctors? This had to be a point of difference between the two. (SEE BELOW for a link to newspaper reference)
Not much information on years in school other than it took her only 4 years to complete the 5 year program.
1872
She passed the final examination with special distinction and defended her thesis “Embolic der Hirn-Arterien” on the blockage of the arteries of the brain, directed by Biermer (was everyone directed by Biermer?). Her work was based on 14 cases she had seen while at the Zurich Clinic and throughout the current literature. While a student she became the first woman assistant in the Zurich cantonal hospital in the women’s ward.
1872 - Summer?
After graduation she traveled to Vienna (meeting up with a few other the other women) to complete a year of post-graduate work, including clinical courses.
1873
She returned to London where she took on the position of house-surgeon with Bristol Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
1874
Eliza along with Miss Read and other supports independence for women, founded Read Dispensary for Women and Children in Hotwells, Bristol. She takes on the name Dunbar -
1876
After the passing of Mr Russell Gurney’s Enabling Act which allowed all medical authorities in Britain to license any qualified applicant no matter their gender. One of the first institutions to adjust to the new change was the King’s and Queen’s College of Physicians in Ireland. Eliza and 4 other women sat for the qualifying exams allowing them to register her degree and diplomas in the Medical Register of the United Kingdom.
1877
Eliza officially registers as a medical doctor in the UK with full rights to practice medicine. She’s the first one to register.
1895
Eliza started the Bristol Private Hospital for Women and Children in Clifton
“Dr. Dunbar was a pioneer, and to the end of her career she showed as outstanding qualities courage, perseverance, and pluck. She gathered round her, and retained throughout her life, a devoted band of friends and supporters, by whom the news of her sudden death was received with deep regret.”
“Eliza Walker Dunbar, M.D., Senior Surgeon, Bristol Private Hospital For Women And Children.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 3376, 1925, pp. 496–97. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25446277. Accessed 11 Oct. 2022.