Dr Mary [Murdie] Murdoch, doctor, suffragist, dog lover, car enthusiast, social and educational campaigner

In 2020, the naming of a footbridge, crossing the A63, which connects Hull city centre to the Marina, Waterfront, and Fruit Market, 'Murdoch’s Connection' raised questions with certain members of the public. Some people saying they had never heard of her; others questioning why a non-native of Hull was honoured in this way.

Dr Mary Murdoch deserves all the recognition and plaudits that the City of Hull gives her and it is up to organisations and institutions such as the Hull History Centre to highlight her amazing contribution to the people of Hull.

Although Mary Murdoch was born in Scotland, she had a life-long association with Hull. She was the first woman doctor in the City, a social campaigner and was a suffragist too.

Murdoch was born on 28 September 1864 in Elgin, Scotland into a privileged family.  Her father was a solicitor.  She was given a very good education – initially by governesses before attending Weston House School, Elgin.  Her family was in a position to send her to school in London and then Lausanne, Switzerland. Mary Murdoch returned to Elgin to take care of her widowed and invalided mother who died in 1887.  Perhaps taking care of her mother led to her desire to study medicine – she regarded medicine as the “love of her life”. With encouragement from the family doctor, Dr Adams, she went on to study at the London School of Medicine for Women.  This was financed by money that her mother had left to her.  It was extremely unusual for women to enter the field of medicine at this time.  She returned to Scotland to complete her studies.

In 1893, after graduating, she began her association with Hull with her first appointment as a House Surgeon at the Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in Park Street in Hull. She had a brief spell in London working at the Tottenham Fever Hospital before returning to Hull in 1896 as the city’s first female GP. Murdoch believed passionately that women should be able to be seen by a woman doctor if they so desired.  In an address she gave to students back at the London School of Medicine for Women in 1904 she said that she dreamt of a future in which it would be seen as

 'One of the barbarisms of a past age that a medical man should ever have attended a woman'.

The former Victoria Hospital for Sick Children, Park Street, Hull 

Dr Murdoch was a real fire cracker – she fought “tooth and nail” to improve the living conditions of so many of the residents of Hull. She was ahead of her time – she founded the first crèche in Hull as well as a school for mothers.  Murdoch was a visionary – she knew that social and economic problems faced by many such as bad hygiene, poor housing, meagre diet, uncertain employment and lack of education were all linked and she recognised that social and economic reasons were just as important to people’s health and well-being as any actual medicine she could administer. 

She realised that the “bigger picture” of society had to be addressed not just the basic medical needs. Murdoch also understood the valuable role a father could play in the development of a child and actively encouraged male dock workers to have a more active role in looking after their children which was a very avant-garde idea. As far as Dr Murdoch was concerned, she was never “off –duty” saying:

“From the day you put up your brass plate never refuse a piece of work”.

Despite her heavy work load, Murdoch was a passionate believer in the Suffragette movement.  In 1904, Murdoch founded “The Hull Women’s Suffrage Society” which was part of the Millicent Fawcett’s National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). However, Murdoch became disillusioned with this group after the national body decided not to support any militant campaign methods and Murdoch joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) who did encourage militant protests.  Despite their differences, Murdoch and Fawcett remained friends and Murdoch was chosen as Fawcett’s representative at the International Council of Women in Stockholm in 1911.

Incidentally it was Millicent Fawcett’s sister, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, who was the co-founder of the London School of Medicine for Women which Dr Murdoch studied at for her medical qualification.  Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first woman to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon and, like her sister and Dr Murdoch, was a passionate suffragist.

Dr Mary Murdoch was the driving force behind the Suffragette movement in Hull and it was her house on Beverley Road that the suffrage committee would meet one evening a week.  Despite her many long hours as a GP, Dr Murdoch would visit local towns and villages to give speeches in support of the movement. Her enthusiasm and belief in the movement was inspirational and ten local women stood for election as Poor Law Guardians while another member stood for election as city councillor. 

Mary Murdoch was not just the first woman GP in Hull but also the first woman in Hull to own a car –a De Dion.  She achieved a reputation for driving around the area at great speed.  In 1914, there are a couple of newspaper articles regarding Dr Murdoch appearing in court on the charges of dangerous driving and speeding. One of these incidents, in Beverley, the policeman claimed that the doctor was going at between 18mph and 20mph [the speed limit being 5mph] – a speed the prosecutor at Beverley police court, Mr Paley, described as “suicidal”! Mr Paley Scott added that “Nobody but a lunatic would think of going at such a speed”.

Mary Murdoch at her writing desk [Ref: L.610]

In her defence it seemed that each time she was caught for a driving misdemeanour, it was because she was attending a medical emergency.  With the onset of the First World War, Hull was subjected to zeppelin raids and the people of Hull turned even more to the services of Dr Murdoch.  Hope Malleson’s book, “A Woman doctor, Mary Murdoch of Hull” [Ref: L.610 F], gives a poignant account in Dr Murdoch’s own words of a night when a hundred bombs fell on Hull:

“The poor have suffered the most, in their crowded tenements, and one big drapery establishment was entirely gutted. We have no casualties, so I got out my car and drove about town for some hours, without light, to try and pick up the injured. Our School for Mothers had every window blown out, and several ceilings fell, but we got the Sister-in-Charge and the cook uninjured. I was in no danger myself, though I saw the bombs thrown out, and feared one had struck the Children’s Hospital. However, they were all safe when I went to them.”

Murdoch died of influenza at her home in Hull in 1916 after returning through snow from seeing an emergency patient and thousands of mourners lined the street for her funeral procession, which was led by her car. She was cremated and her urn was placed in the Lady Chapel of All Saints church in Hull.

Dr Murdoch was born into a life of privilege but rather than taking a backseat or settling for an “easy life”, she pursued a career in medicine which, at that time, was a male dominated profession. She used her compassion, intelligence, tireless energy and tenacity to help those far less fortunate than herself.  As a suffragette, she promote the role and importance of women in society.

Justifiably, Hull has recognised and honoured people not born in this fair city but have made a huge and lasting impression on Hull- Philip Larkin [born in Coventry] with the Toad Trail and Clive Sullivan [born in Cardiff] with the Clive Sullivan Way. The naming of the Mary Murdoch Footbridge is a fitting tribute to this remarkable lady who did love her motor car and was passionate about Hull and its wonderful people.

To find out more about this incredible, inspirational doctor, you can read Jill Liddington’s “Rebel Girls – their fight of the Vote” (Ref: L.324(4)) or Hope Malleson’s “A Woman doctor, Mary Murdoch of Hull” (Ref: L.610 F). The University of Hull Archives also has archival material – Ref: U DLB/5/59 – Mary Charlotte Murdoch – 1864-1916.

Caoimhe West, Reader Assistant, Unlocking the Treasures Project