We start with a Victorian Charity Hospital for Women, across from which lived a famous Crimean nurse. We then follow the story of Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson, seeing en-route the old hospital where she trained, the Hospital for Women which she founded and the amazing Victorian architecture of what was the London School of Medicine for Women, for which she worked. And in wonderful contrast, we walk past the 21st century Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Wing of University College Hospital. You also hear of Elizabeth’s medical contemporaries such as Elizabeth Blackwell and Sophia Jex-Blake, and hear of her work for women’s rights within the Langham Place Group and Kensington Society. We also see a Macmillan Nurses centre, a fine memorial to another pioneering woman doctor and the spot where doctors saved lives after the 7/7 bus bombing. And you’ll also hear how a woman passed herself off as a man in order to become a doctor and was in fact the first woman doctor, long before Miss Garrett! We also see Marie Stopes centres (outside of which will probably be a protester – we’ll explain), and we walk past the spot where a brave nurse became one of the few women to win the George Cross.

Start Walk: Tottenham Court Road underground station
Finish Walk: Russell Square underground station
Shorter Walk alternative: Same start and finish points but a shorter route