Beyond Chloroform: James Young Simpson & the Women Who Changed Medicine

The name James Young Simpson appears in many places around Edinburgh, from a plaque inside St Giles’ Cathedral to a statue in Princes Street Gardens. But what did he do to deserve these honours? 

The answer is...mind-numbing. Literally. 

James Young Simpson pioneered chloroform anaesthesia in the 19th century. 

James Young Simpson, left

 

Simpson, Chloroform and Childbirth

Simpson was a professor of midwifery at the University of Edinburgh. Always a bit of a free thinker, he liked to experiment with different substances to see if they had anaesthetic properties. 

After some questionable experimentation on himself, he settled on chloroform. Specifically, its use in childbirth. 

Though some protested to this kind of pain management, Simpson eventually gained the most powerful ally: the Queen. Official physician to Queen Victoria, Simpson administered chloroform as she gave birth to her eighth child in 1853. 

With the royal approval, anaesthesia in childbirth became widely accepted, even fashionable. 

But it wasn’t only childbirth that chloroform could be used for. It also revolutionised surgery. Surgeons could finally focus on precision and patients didn’t need to fear the pain anymore. They could simply go to sleep and wake up healed. 

Chloroform was eventually replaced by less toxic substances, but it’s safe to say that medicine owes a lot to Sir James Young Simpson. 

But there’s another important story behind this one: the story of seven women. 

 

Hidden History, Revealed 

Simpson, though remembered for his pioneering approach to obstetrics, was also a character in another important story. If we look beyond chloroform, we uncover his interest in education. Specifically, women’s education. 

To tell this story, we must turn to Edinburgh, 1869. Seven women are attempting to matriculate at the University of Edinburgh, the first women to do so at any British university.  

After receiving pushback from the university council, powerful figures within the school began taking sides. Eventually, so did the newspapers and the public. 

James Young Simpson supported these women and argued in favour of their admittance to the university. He was forgetful, and sometimes unreliable, but he was an ally. 

It may seem like a low bar, but this was a time when professors like Robert Christison threatened to quit should the university admit women. 

Eventually, the Edinburgh Seven were admitted, though charged higher fees than the men.  

In November 1869, Sophia Jex-Blake, Isabel Thorne, Edith Pechey, Matilda Chaplin, Helen Evans, Mary Anderson and Emily Bovell became the first women to matriculate in a British university. 

After their admittance, the Edinburgh Seven benefitted from the support of professors like James Young Simpson and alumni like Charles Darwin. 

Matriculation Roll © The University of Edinburgh 

Simpson’s Legacy 

Unfortunately, Simpson passed away only seven months after the Edinburgh Seven began their studies. 

They went on to face trials and tribulations during their studies, from the Surgeons’ Hall Riot to everyday vitriol from their fellow classmates. Four years later, the university refused the Edinburgh Seven their degrees in the same breath they decided to refuse other women the right to enrol.  

Sophia Jex-Blake, leader of the group, mourned that Simpson’s ‘strong sense of justice would have made him always [their] strenuous supporter in the councils of the University.’ 

‘Had he been spared,’ Jex-Blake wrote the editor of The Times in 1873, ‘it is, indeed, more than possible that the whole history of the past four years would have been different.’ 

Though we most often remember James Young Simpson as a pioneer of women’s medicine, history tends to forget he was also a pioneer of women in medicine. When we remember him, we must also remember the Edinburgh Seven. 

Learn more about the story behind the story this March on our featured tour: Talking Statues. Hear history from a range of diverse and underrepresented backgrounds as you visit the statues that exist and explore those that are missing. 8 March 2025.