Elsie Inglis

For World Women’s Day 2023, we held an event in memory of Elsie Inglis, sitting in silence in the Holy Cross Aisle, reflecting on the amazing work she achieved in her short life She was only 52 when she died in 1917

A doctor when no woman could qualify in Edinburgh, a surgeon, a social reformer, a champion of medical care for women and children, a suffragist: her final years were spent setting up and administering hospitals for the soldiers of the Great War in France, Serbia and Russia When the general at Edinburgh Castle spurned her offers of female medical volunteers, telling her to “go home and sit still”, he succeeded only in galvanising her into heroic action which is an inspiration to this day

Our vigil in the church where she had been a member and where her state funeral was held, was a fund-raiser to support former Lord Provost Frank Ross’s campaign to erect a statue, long overdue, to honour her on the Royal Mile

Now we are happy to announce that the designs for a statue by the King’s Sculptor, Sandy Stoddart, are before the planning department of the Council. Sandy Stoddart designed and executed the memorial to the late Rev Gilleasbuig MacMillan

We look forward to a bronze statue of Dr Elsie Inglis materialising in the High Street, opposite where her hospice for women and children offered free medical care that was decades ahead of its time She will have come back to her own parish