1 As a pioneering doctor and distinguished surgeon, Daisy Bennett McGregor is known as a leader in her field and one of Glasgow’s World War One medical heroes, working tirelessly in the city to treat injured servicemen home from the front. But there is a heartbreaking story behind her early death in 1928, aged just 54.
2 Daisy was the daughter of a Glasgow merchant who lived in Langside. She graduated from Queen Margaret College in 1898, a leading light at a time when women had to fight against prejudice and discrimination to get a degree, and a job.
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3 She was one of the first women in Scotland to obtain a postgraduate qualification when she graduated in 1904 as a Doctor of Medicine. By the time the First World War broke out she was a distinguished doctor and surgeon working at the 4th Scottish General Hospital, Stobhill, treating casualties sent home from the Front.
4 Stobhill, which was requisitioned by the military authorities just after the outbreak of war, treated hundreds of servicemen. Like many women, Daisy was keen to step up during wartime to offer her services. This photograph from Glasgow City Archives, was taken by nurse Ethel Aikman, who also served at Stobhill during the First World War.
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5 Daisy married fellow doctor Andrew Nicholson MacGregor in 1899 and the couple lived in Woodside Place after the war. Sadly, she died just a few days after her birthday, in January 1928, in tragic circumstances. The Glasgow Times’ sister newspaper The Herald reported it under the heading: “Lady Doctor’s Death: Tragic Discovery in Glasgow” the following day. Daisy had fallen from a set of steps while cleaning high windows in her front room, and the newspaper reported she had died of shock.
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