North London Collegiate School

(1880-1958, North London Collegiate 1894 - 1899)

‘I am afraid Madam; you are taking the bread out of some poor fellow's mouth'.

These were the words of Sir Henry Johnlittle when he heard of Lillian's desire to become a dentist. Yet despite these and many other criticisms Lillian Lindsay overcame the odds and went on to become the first woman to qualify as a dentist in the United Kingdom.

Born in 1871 to professional organist James Robertson and Margaret Amelia Murray, Lillian Lindsay was the third of eleven children. Education was an essential part of her childhood and she was educated at the Camden School for Girls before being awarded the Frances Mary Buss Scholarship at North London Collegiate School in 1886 which entitled her to two years of free education. At North London Lillian flourished and one of her school mates stated that Lillian was ‘clever with sensitive fingers...and seemed indicated as a pioneer'.

It could be said that Lindsay's road to dentistry began with a conversation between herself and North London Collegiate founder Frances Mary Buss. At Lindsay's refusal to become a teacher to the deaf and dumb the autocratic Miss Buss stated ‘then I will prevent you doing anything else', to which Lillian defiantly replied ‘you cannot stop me from becoming a dentist', and revoked Lillian's scholarship. Lillian herself cited this experience as the catalyst that inspired her to pursue her dreams of dentistry.

After leaving North London, Lillian began a three year apprenticeship, before applying to the National Dental School in London in 1889. As a woman, Lillian was prevented from even crossing the school's threshold, and was told to apply to Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Determined to defy the odds this is exactly what she did, and so in 1892 Lillian left her family and departed for Scotland to begin her studies.

Edinburgh proved no different to London. As she was not allowed entry into the male classrooms, Lillian was forced to take lessons at the Medical College for women, studying under Dr Sophia Jex-Blake, one of the first qualified female doctors in the United Kingdom. Whilst at Edinburgh, Lillian defied her critics and obtained a Silver Medal for Dental Surgery (1893) and a Watson Medal in 1894. Lillian also met her future husband, fellow dentist Robert Lindsay, and graduated in 1895 as the first female to qualify as a dentist in the United Kingdom.

Throughout her life Lillian won many accolades for her contribution to dentistry. In 1920 she became librarian to the British Dental Association, transforming the library beyond recognition. It was in 1931, after the death of her husband of twenty five years, that Lillian became sub-editor of the British Dental Journal and in 1933 she was the first female president of the Metropolitan Branch of the British Dental Association. Lillian Lindsay truly was a pioneer and in 1946 she was appointed CBE, and became the first and only female president of the British Dental Association. The Lillian Lindsay club was set up in her honour in 1962.

Lillian stated in her autobiography that ‘the debt I owed to my profession was of equal importance to the debt I owed as a citizen' and it was this desire to help and influence society and change social attitudes towards women that is an indicator of the remarkable woman that Lillian Lindsay was.

Written & researched by Stephanie Adeyemi (Yr 12)