Lydia Manley Henry

Lydia Manley Henry DSc was born on 30 June 1891, she was the first female graduate in medicine from the University of Sheffield and the first woman to work as a hospital doctor in Sheffield. 

Lydia was born in Macduff, Scotland. Her father died when she was two and her month relocated to Sheffield, leaving Molly to be brought up by an Aunt in Macduff. She moved to Sheffield aged 14, and was educated at Sheffield High School. In 1909, she was one of the first female students to enrol at the Sheffield University Medical School.

in June 1916, she graduated with an MB ChB, and alongside fellow student Florence Millard, became the first woman to receive a medical degree from the University of Sheffield. She immediately began working as a hospital doctor (house officer) in Sheffield, the first woman to do so. 

During World War I, as many male doctors were serving in the Armed Forces, there were more opportunities for female doctors to work in hospitals at home. As a House Officer, Lydia worked at the Sheffield Royal Hospital and Sheffield Royal Infirmary. Her intern year proved exceptionally onerous due to Zeppelin raids and accidents in the local munitions works. She also became the first woman to work in the Royal Infirmary's female venereal disease clinic.

Once fully qualified to practice medicine, Lydia enlisted in the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service (SWH), which provided female doctors to serve in France. She served as an assistant surgeon in the hospital set up in the Abbey de Royaumont, north of Paris, within reach of the Western Front. She was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Government. 

After the war, Henry worked on her MD thesis, which was on gangrene, based on her experiences with the condition at Royaumont. With this thesis, in 1920 she graduated from the University of Sheffield with the degree of MD, the first woman to do so and only the second ever MD awarded at Sheffield. She was then appointed as assistant medical officer for Blackburn. Her success in this post led to her being appointed as Head of the Social Services Department at the King's College for Women at the University of London, and she went on to become a member of its Senate. 

In 1925, she emigrated to Canada, where she married, becoming Mrs J. Stewart Henry. She stopped practising as a physician. During World War II, she provided clothing for the minesweeper crews and Free French sailors operating out of north-east Scotland. 

In 1978, at the 150th anniversary of the Medical School in Sheffield, she received an honorary DSc degree from her old University.

She died in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada on 27 March 1985. A memorial to her memory was erected in her birthplace, Macduff, Scotland.