Hilda Lloyd

Dame Hilda Nora Lloyd, DBE (née Shufflebotham; 1891–1982) was a British physician and surgeon. She was the first woman to be elected (in 1949) as president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Born in Birmingham, the younger of two daughters, she attended King Edward VI High School, Edgbaston before entering Birmingham University (Interc BSc Pure Science, 1914, MBChB Medicine, 1916).

Personal life

In 1930, she married Arthur Lloyd, a pathologist who became professor of forensic medicine in Birmingham University two years later; they had no children.

Career

After house officer posts in London, she returned to Birmingham University as resident in obstetrics and gynaecology, passed her FRCS in 1920. She was particularly concerned with the problems of urban poor women, such as STDs and illegal abortions. The "flying squads" she pioneered helped to save the lives of mothers and babies who would otherwise have died. She became a lecturer in 1934, professor in 1944, and chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1946. 1950, she became the first woman on the General Medical Council. (Although Christine Murrell had been elected to the GMC in 1933, Murrell never took seat due to her death on 18 October 1933.)

External links

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Index# 101061394