Kate Adie remembers a pioneering woman in a war zone

Journalist Kate Adie has thrown the spotlight on a female pioneer celebrated abroad but largely forgotten in her native Britain.

In a talk given on behalf of the Open University in Scotland,  she highlighted the achievements of Elsie Inglis who, like Adie, rose to prominence through her work in war zones.

Inglis (pictured right) battled against the male establishment – first to qualify as a doctor, and then to establish the Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service Committee, an organisation which provided all-female staff hospitals in France, Serbia and Russia during the First World War and helped provide better conditions for the wounded.    

Kate Adie (pictured below) first heard about Elsie Inglis from her Serb translator as they took shelter from a bombardment during the Bosnian war. 

Despite being celebrated overseas and being given a state funeral in Scotland, Inglis is one of a number of remarkable women whose names have been largely forgotten in their own country, she said.

Her lecture, entitled My good lady, go home and sit still!, was given on 21 February to a packed theatre at the National Gallery of Scotland, as part of the annual Edinburgh Lecture Series.

The Open University in Scotland participates in the Edinburgh Lecture Series with the other universities in Edinburgh, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government. 

The theme of this year’s series is ‘Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Events’ and the series will conclude with a lecture in June by the Dalai Lama.