Mary Scharlieb 1845 - 1930

Born Mary Dacomb Bird, Scharlieb was a physician and a gynaecologist in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. She moved with her husband, William Scharlieb, to India in 1865. While there, she became aware of the lack of medical care available for women during childbirth. As a result, she went on to train as a pupil midwife. So she did not have to leave her young family to study in England, she was one of the first four women admitted to study medicine at Madras Medical College, where she gained her licentiate in Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery.

returning to England in 1878, she enrolled at the London School of Medicine for Women, and in 1882, received a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree, and was awarded a Gold Medal and scholarship in obstectrics. In 1883, she returned to Madras and became a lecturer in midwifery, and became chief gynaecologist in 1902. She also practiced on Harley Street for nearly 40 years from the late 1880s.