On leaving the hospital, she was refused entry to Oxford, Cambridge and other medical schools but, having privately studied anatomy and physiology, was able to obtain a medical licence from the Society of Apothecaries, which was bound by its rules not to reject students on the basis of their gender.

Garrett Anderson set up the first hospital run by women

Despite having excellent marks when studying, no hospital would allow Garrett to work as a physician. So in 1865, at the age of 29, she set up her own practice. Although patients were sceptical at first, the outbreak of cholera later that year outweighed any prejudice as people struggled to find medical help.

Despite running the practice, which would eventually become the New Hospital for Women and Children, she continued to campaign on behalf of women, arguing fiercely against medical theories that claimed educating women would become exhausted and less able to have children.

In 1873, the then Mrs Garrett Anderson joined the British Medical Association, which had not even considered that a woman could join their ranks, and so had no law banning it.

As soon as she joined, though, the BMA passed a rule banning any future female members, which stood until 1892.