Mabel Eliza King-May (1874 – ) and Kate King-May Atkinson (1876 – 1933) [1] were English medical doctors who joined Mabel St Clair Stobart’s all-women medical expedition to Serbia during World War I.
The sisters were both educated at Leeds Girls’ Grammar School and the University of Manchester, where Mabel was vice-president of the Medical Students' Representative Council in 1906–7 and gained her MB ChB in March 1911. [2] Kate graduated in 1914. [3]
Along with her university friends Margrieta Beer, Eva Gore-Booth and Esther Roper, Kate campaigned against labour laws which excluded women from their historical trades. She spent a month working as a pit brow woman to prove that the work was not harmful for women, and published 'Statement of an Amateur Pit Brow Worker' about her experiences in 1911. [4] [5] [6]
In 1912, Kate married Charles Ernest Atkinson in Durban, South Africa.
After their graduation, Mabel was resident medical officer to Rochdale Municipal Maternity and Infants Hospital, [2] while Kate held resident appointments at Oldham Royal Infirmary and St Mary's Hospital, Manchester. [7]
Kate was a drill sergeant from 1909 to 1914. [8]
In April 1915, the sisters went to Serbia as part of Mabel St Clair Stobart’s 3rd Serbian Relief Fund Unit and worked at the camp hospital they established in Kragujevac. [9] Mabel, serving as senior surgeon, [2] returned to England from May to July to raise funds and acquire equipment. [10] [11] When Stobart had to leave Kragujevac after six months, Mabel remained in charge of the camp. [12] [13] [14] Their time in Serbia was recorded in Stobart's memoir and the diary of the hospital's head cook, Monica Stanley. The diary records the doctors working from tents, serving as a dispensary for civilians, and escaping an air-raid in June 1915. Kate attended to Stanley when she suffered from gastritis. [15] When fighting began again in 1916, the women evacuated, making a 300-mile trek across Kosovo and Montenegro in freezing temperatures. [16]
In 1916–7, Mabel was senior medical officer to the Unit for the Relief of Refugees in Russia and medical administrator to the Millicent Fawcett Hospitals there. [16] [2] Meanwhile, Kate worked on the Galician Front as senior medical officer to the 52nd Epidemic Hospital. [7]
After the war, Kate was assistant medical officer to the massage and electrical department at Manchester Royal Infirmary and house physician to Greengate Dispensary in Salford. [7] She was medical officer for child welfare in Manchester, [7] and Mabel was assistant medical officer for maternity and child welfare. [2]
Mabel Eliza King-May (1874 – ) and Kate King-May Atkinson (1876 – 1933) [1] were English medical doctors who joined Mabel St Clair Stobart’s all-women medical expedition to Serbia during World War I.
The sisters were both educated at Leeds Girls’ Grammar School and the University of Manchester, where Mabel was vice-president of the Medical Students' Representative Council in 1906–7 and gained her MB ChB in March 1911. [2] Kate graduated in 1914. [3]
Along with her university friends Margrieta Beer, Eva Gore-Booth and Esther Roper, Kate campaigned against labour laws which excluded women from their historical trades. She spent a month working as a pit brow woman to prove that the work was not harmful for women, and published 'Statement of an Amateur Pit Brow Worker' about her experiences in 1911. [4] [5] [6]
In 1912, Kate married Charles Ernest Atkinson in Durban, South Africa.
After their graduation, Mabel was resident medical officer to Rochdale Municipal Maternity and Infants Hospital, [2] while Kate held resident appointments at Oldham Royal Infirmary and St Mary's Hospital, Manchester. [7]
Kate was a drill sergeant from 1909 to 1914. [8]
In April 1915, the sisters went to Serbia as part of Mabel St Clair Stobart’s 3rd Serbian Relief Fund Unit and worked at the camp hospital they established in Kragujevac. [9] Mabel, serving as senior surgeon, [2] returned to England from May to July to raise funds and acquire equipment. [10] [11] When Stobart had to leave Kragujevac after six months, Mabel remained in charge of the camp. [12] [13] [14] Their time in Serbia was recorded in Stobart's memoir and the diary of the hospital's head cook, Monica Stanley. The diary records the doctors working from tents, serving as a dispensary for civilians, and escaping an air-raid in June 1915. Kate attended to Stanley when she suffered from gastritis. [15] When fighting began again in 1916, the women evacuated, making a 300-mile trek across Kosovo and Montenegro in freezing temperatures. [16]
In 1916–7, Mabel was senior medical officer to the Unit for the Relief of Refugees in Russia and medical administrator to the Millicent Fawcett Hospitals there. [16] [2] Meanwhile, Kate worked on the Galician Front as senior medical officer to the 52nd Epidemic Hospital. [7]
After the war, Kate was assistant medical officer to the massage and electrical department at Manchester Royal Infirmary and house physician to Greengate Dispensary in Salford. [7] She was medical officer for child welfare in Manchester, [7] and Mabel was assistant medical officer for maternity and child welfare. [2]