Frances Hoggan MD 1843 – 1927

Frances Hoggan

Frances Elizabeth Hoggan (née Morgan) was the first British woman to receive a doctorate in medicine.  She was also one of the speakers at the first Universal Race Congress in London in 1911.

            Frances Hoggan was born in Brecon, Wales and studied in Paris and Dusseldorf before receiving her medical degree from the University of Zurich in 1870, after completing a six year course in just three.  In mid-victorian Britain, women were not permitted to become university trained doctors, but an undeterred Frances passed the entrance exam to Zurich, which was the only university in Europe at the time to accept female medical students.  This led to her becoming not just the first Welsh woman, but also the first British woman to become a fully qualified doctor.

            Frances returned to London, where she specialised in women’s and children’s diseases.  Later she set up a general medical practice with her husband, Dr George Hoggan, whom she married in 1874.  Theirs was the first husband-wife medical practice in the UK.

            An active campaigner and social reformer, Frances also toured the United States giving lectures on racial issues, as well as campaigning against the lynching of Negroes in the south of the United States.  During this time, she also wrote several articles about the situations faced by the Afro-American people.  The most significant article she wrote was entitled, ‘American Negro women during the first fifty years of freedom.’  When the first Universal Race Congress was held in London, 1911, Frances Hoggan was one of the key speakers.

            Frances Hoggan was a determined woman who went after what she wanted, despite the odds being stacked against her, and was not afraid to speak out for the rights of others.  She died in 1927 and her cremated remains are buried in Woking besides those of her husband.