12 Facts About Gertrude Herzfeld

Gertrude Marian Amalia Herzfeld was an English surgeon, one of the first female surgeons to work in Scotland and the first woman paediatric surgeon.

The second female fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, and the first practicing female fellow, Herzfeld chaired the Edinburgh city branch of the British Medical Association from 1960 to 1962, and was National President of the Medical Women's Federation from 1948 to 1950.

Gertrude Herzfeld was born in Hampstead, London, in 1890; her parents were Jewish immigrants from Austria.

Gertrude Herzfeld was to spend much of her professional career in Edinburgh.

Gertrude Herzfeld became a consultant surgeon at the woman-run Bruntsfield Hospital for Women and Children, a position that she held until 1955.

Gertrude Herzfeld was appointed as the first female honorary assistant surgeon at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children, where she would serve until 1945 after becoming a full surgeon there in 1925.

Gertrude Herzfeld helped found the Edinburgh School of Chiropody, where she was a lecturer, and served as a medical advisor to the Edinburgh Cripple Aid Society and to the Trefoil School for Physically Handicapped Children.

Gertrude Herzfeld sat as the National President of the Medical Women's Federation from 1948 to 1950.

Gertrude Herzfeld was a particularly welcome presence at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, where she was affectionately known by the nickname 'Gertie'.

Early in her career, Gertrude Herzfeld worked as house surgeon to Harold Stiles, who had developed the first modern treatment for infants with inguinal hernia in 1910.

Gertrude Herzfeld died in May 1981, at the age of 91; her obituary in the British Medical Journal contained a tribute in which she was lauded as being "a large woman in heart [and] mind" who had "always longed to be a doctor":.

Gertrude Herzfeld's wards attracted patients with conditions that we had never seen as students.