BDA Library
Normal opening hours: 9am to 6pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; 9am to 7pm Wednesday
Tel: 020 7563 4545 Fax: 020 7935 6492
Email: Library@bda.org

	Click on the picture to view slides on the early history of women in dentistry including some information on Lilian Lindsay who was the first woman to qualify as a dentist in the UK.

 

Our timeline begins in 1895 with Lilian Lindsay becoming the first woman to qualify as a dentist in the UK and shows the steady increase of women in the profession. By 2020 it is predicted that over 50% of all dentists in the UK will be women.

Lilian Lindsay was the first female member of the BDA. The Scottish Branch notified the Representative Board of the election of the first female member of their branch at the meeting of the Rep Board in November 1895. The branch presumed that they had acted correctly and the BDA confirmed that each branch had the right to elect members and confirmed this with legal advice. The Association’s solicitors commented:

The Interpretation Act of 1889 provides that in every Act passed after the year 1850, words importing the masculine gender shall include females, unless the contrary appears. Therefore under the bylaws of the BDA ladies are not either expressly or by implication disqualified for membership, and the rule of construction above quoted may therefore be held to apply to these bylaws.

The minutes then record the President and Board welcoming Lilian Murray nee Lindsay as the first lady member of the British Dental Association and to place the legality of her election on record. Further female members were slow to follow as English dental schools were not accepting women applicants at this point. It was not until 1912 that the first women qualified with LDS Eng.

US pioneers

"People were amazed when they learned that a young girl had so far forgotten her womanhood as to want to study dentistry" (Lucy Beaman Hobbs, 1884)

Emeline Robert Jones "The first woman to establish herself in a regular dental practice in the United States was Emeline Roberts Jones of Connecticut. In 1854, at age 17, she married a dentist, Daniel Albion Jones, and became "intensely interested" in his work. After watching her husband work, she began filling extracted teeth. She filled a two-quart jar with her work and then showed her husband what she had done. Reluctantly, in May 1855, he agreed to allow her to practice with him in his Danielsonville office. Finally, in 1859, he took her in as his partner. She enjoyed a reputation as "a skillful dentist"...she was the first woman to open her own office independently and offer her services to the public "as a competent dentist." (Hyson Jr, JM. Women dentists: the origins. CDA Journal 2002; 30 (6): 444-54)

Lucy Beaman Hobbs Taylor

Lucy Beaman Hobbs was the first woman in the world to graduate from a recognized dental school or college. Born in New York State on March 14 1833, and orphaned at the age of twelve, she worked as a seamstress for ten years before embarking upon her dental career. Graduating in February 1866, she was the first woman to receive the DDS degree.

Book in focus

	A short history of dentistry Lilian Lindsay Bale, Sons and Danielsson, 1933

William Clowes (1569-1604), who was successor to Vicary as surgeon to Elizabeth, was vigorous in his denunciation of quacks, calling tooth-drawers "stinking weeds". (p.41)

"A short history of dentistry" charts a fascinating journey from ancient Babylonia to the development of the profession in the Victorian era and early part of the twentieth-century (the book was written in 1933).

Lilian Lindsay was fascinated by the colourful and sometimes gruesome past of her chosen profession, from the widespread myth of the toothworm, to travelling toothdrawers and the growth of scientific methods. Although she does not document her own place in dental history, Lilian Lindsay’s book covers thousands of years worth of interesting facts in a concise and readable style.

This book is available to borrow from the BDA library on a four-week loan.

If you would like to know more about Lilian Lindsay you can read her obituary and also her role in the life of the BDA library.

	We have a number of items available for loan on the subject of women in dentistry. Have a look at the book list and if you would like to borrow anything please email us.