Helen Boyle

British physician and psychologist Helen Boyle

Helen Boyle (1869 – November 1957)[1] was an Irish-British physician and psychologist. She was Brighton's first female general practitioner, and the first female president of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association (now the Royal College of Psychiatrists).

Early life

Helen Boyle was born in Dublin, Ireland, and studied in France and Germany, before moving to England in 1887.[1][2] She studied at the London School of Medicine for Women from 1890 to 1893.[1] She completed a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree in Brussels in 1894.[1]

Career

From 1894 to 1897, Boyle worked at Claybury Hospital, where she focused on neurological disorders, as well as the Canning Town Mission Hospital. During her time in the East End of London, she was shocked by the way patients had to deal with emotional stress.[1][2][3][4] In 1897, she moved to Hove, East Sussex, where she and Mabel Jones set up the Lewes Road Dispensary for Women and Children, a GP surgery in Roundhill Crescent. In doing so, Boyle became the first female general practitioner in Brighton and Hove.[1][5][6][4]

In 1905, Boyle set up the Lady Chichester Hospital in Brighton for women suffering with mental diseases. The practice later relocated to Hove, and was founded to counter the problem of mentally ill women being sent to asylums.[3][2][5] The facility was the only one in Brighton to provide inpatient care.[7] In 1910, she was the only female to speak during a discussion organised by Farquhar Buzzard about anxiety, depression and cyclothymia.[8] During the First World War, she worked in Serbia with James Berry, and after the war, she was awarded the Queen Elisabeth Medal.[3][5]

In 1939, Boyle became the first female president of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association (now the Royal College of Psychiatrists), and in 1955 the association held their spring meeting in Brighton, to commemorate 50 years of the Lady Chichester Hospital.[1][9] She was also involved in the creation of the Guardianship Society, the Medical Women's Federation, the International Medical Women's Federation, and the National Association for Mental Health (now known as Mind).[1][7]

Death and legacy

In 1929, Boyle moved to Pyecombe, West Sussex and she died there in November 1957.[3][5] In 2015, a blue plaque at Aldrington House was erected for her, and a Brighton & Hove bus has been named in her honour.[2][6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Dr Helen Boyle of Brighton (1869-1957)" (PDF) (pdf). Royal College of Psychiatrists. June 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Pierce, Lucy (14 November 2015). "Nostalgia: One of the most remarkable women ever to have lived and worked in Brighton and Hove Dr Helen Boyle". The Argus. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Dr. HELEN BOYLE 1869 - 1957". Women of Brighton. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  4. 1 2 Gaston, Harry. "Lady Chichester Hospital". My Brighton & Hove. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Kisby, Anna (1 March 2011). "Helen Boyle (1869-1957)". Brighton Museums. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  6. 1 2 Drury, Jennifer (7 September 2015). "Blue Plaque: Dr Helen Boyle". My Brighton & Hove. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  7. 1 2 Westwood, L. (December 2001). "A quiet revolution in Brighton: Dr Helen Boyle's pioneering approach to mental health care, 1899-1939.". Soc Hist Med. 14: 439–457. PMID 11811188. doi:10.1093/shm/14.3.439.
  8. ↑ Berrios, G.E. (April 1996). The History of Mental Symptoms: Descriptive Psychopathology Since the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Kis, Mark (9 March 2016). "7 historic Brighton women you should already know". B Journal. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
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