



Produced by KD Weeks, MWS and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)






------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          Transcriber’s Note:

This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.

Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs or quotations in
which they are referenced.

Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Only the
most egregious of these have been corrected if they occur within quoted
text, particularly juvenile matter. Please see the transcriber’s note at
the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual
issues encountered during its preparation.




                      THE LIFE OF SOPHIA JEX-BLAKE




                          _By the same Author_

                  ------------------------------------

                              MONA MACLEAN
                           FELLOW TRAVELLERS
                               WINDYHAUGH
                           THE WAY OF ESCAPE
                                 GROWTH

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Illustration:

  _Samuel Laurence pinx._         _Emery Walker ph. sc._
  _Sophia Jex-Blake_
  _at the age of 25_
]

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                              THE LIFE OF

                            SOPHIA JEX-BLAKE

                                   BY

                          MARGARET TODD, M.D.

                            (GRAHAM TRAVERS)








                       MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
                      ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON
                                  1918








                              _COPYRIGHT_








                GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
                    BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD.








                              TO ALL THOSE
                    MENTIONED IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES
                             OR PASSED OVER
                    FROM IGNORANCE OR WANT OF SPACE,
                        WHO LENT A HELPING HAND
                   TO A BRAVE AND UNSELFISH FIGHTER,
                              THIS BOOK IS
                          GRATEFULLY DEDICATED








                                PREFACE


There are several reasons why it has seemed worth while to write the
life of Sophia Jex-Blake at some length.

1. She was one of the people who really do live. In the present day a
woman is fitted into her profession almost as a man is. Sixty years ago
a highly dowered girl was faced by a great venture, a great quest. The
life before her was an uncharted sea. She had to find her self, to find
her way, to find her work. In many respects youth was incomparably the
most interesting period of a life history.

2. S. J.-B. has left behind her (as probably no woman of equal power has
done) the record of this quest. She was a born chronicler: almost in her
babyhood she struggled laboriously to get on to paper her doings and
dreams; and she was truthful to a fault. We have here the kind of thing
that is constantly “idealised” in present day fiction,—have it in actual
contemporary record,—with the added interest that here the story begins
in an old-world conservative medium, and passes through the life of the
modern educated working girl into the history of a great movement, of
which the chronicler was indeed _magna pars_. The reader will see how
more and more as the years went on S. J.-B.’s motto became “Not me, but
us,” till one is tempted to say that she _was_ the movement, that she
stood, as it were, for women.

3. That, so to speak, was her “job”; but she never grew one-sided; never
forgot the man’s point of view. No woman ever took a saner and wider
view of human affairs.

4. In spite of the heavy strain thrown by conflicting outlook and ideals
on the relation between parents and child, the reader will see in the
following pages how that relationship was preserved. This is perhaps the
most remarkable thing in the whole history, and it is full of
significance and helpful suggestion for us all in these critical days.

5. And lastly, it proved impossible to write the life in any other way.
When S. J.-B. was a young woman, Samuel Laurence was asked by her
parents to make a crayon drawing of her. After some hours’ work, he
threw down his pencil. “I must get you in oils or not at all,” he said.

Those words have often been in the mind of the author of this book.




                                CONTENTS

                                _PART I_

                               CHAPTER I
                                                              PAGE
      CHILDHOOD                                                  1
         Birth, parentage and descent—Early influences—
           “Sweet Sackermena.”

                               CHAPTER II
      SCHOOL LIFE                                               11
         A “terrible pickle”—Home letters—Holidays—“Poems”—
           A confession.

                              CHAPTER III
      SCHOOL LIFE—_Continued_                                   24
         Indifferent health—Various educational
           experiments—S. J.-B.’s character as seen by her
           schoolfellows.

                               CHAPTER IV
      SCHOOL LIFE—_Concluded_                                   35
         Leaves school abruptly—Fresh start—Illness of her
           mother and sister—Letter from her father—
           Confirmation.

                               CHAPTER V
      LIFE AT HOME                                              50
         Friendship with her mother—Dreams of authorship—
           Self-centred life—Makes acquaintance of Norfolk
           cousins.

                               CHAPTER VI
      LIFE AT QUEEN’S COLLEGE                                   62
         Comes into touch with Feminist movement—Goes to
           Queen’s College—Friction—Hunt for lodgings—Is
           appointed mathematical tutor—Correspondence with
           her father as to accepting payment for her work—
           Certificate won “with great credit.”

                              CHAPTER VII
      FRIENDSHIP                                                78
         All-round development—Capacity for friendship and
           service—Friendship with Miss Octavia Hill.

                              CHAPTER VIII
      A STEP BEYOND                                             95
         Confidence in her mother—Fresh dedication of her
           life.

                               CHAPTER IX
      FIRST EXPERIENCE OF EDINBURGH                            103
         The problem of realizing the vision—Goes to study
           educational methods in Edinburgh—Chequered
           experiences—Church-going and religious
           difficulties—Consults Rev. Dr. Pulsford—Letters
           from her mother—An “increasing purpose.”

                               CHAPTER X
      GERMANY                                                  117
         Miss Garrett’s efforts to obtain medical
           education—Comes to prospect in Edinburgh—She and
           S. J.-B. go canvassing together—Disappointment—
           S. J.-B.’s desire to study educational methods
           farther afield—Germany—Göttingen—Mannheim—
           Appointed English teacher at Grand-ducal
           Institute.

                               CHAPTER XI
      LIFE AS A TEACHER AT MANNHEIM                            129
         Letters to her mother—Success of her work—
           Transient wave of unpopularity—Letter to her
           mother on Biblical criticism.

                              CHAPTER XII
      VARIOUS PROJECTS AND VENTURES                            147
         Return home delayed by scarlet fever—Death of a
           college friend—Mr. Plumptre recommends S. J.-B.
           as founder and Lady Principal of modern Girls’
           School at Manchester.

                              CHAPTER XIII
      A VISIT TO SOME AMERICAN SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES            159
         Opposition of parents—Goes to Boston—Makes
           acquaintance of Dr. Lucy Sewall—R. W. Emerson—
           Dinner at the Emersons—Visits Niagara—Inspects
           various colleges (Oberlin, Hillsdale, St. Louis,
           Antioch) and schools—Correspondence with her
           brother—Views on American education.

                              CHAPTER XIV
      QUESTIONINGS                                             172
         Gets to know women doctors in Boston—Assists with
           dispensing in New England Hospital for Women—
          