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Dr Josephine Letitia Denny Fairfield CBE (1885-1974)
Dr. Letitia Fairfield (1885-1974), received her medical education at Edinburgh and spent most of her working life in London. She joined the London County Council in 1911, later becoming the LCC's first woman senior medical officer. During the First World War, Dr Fairfield became a medical area controller attached to the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). From 1918-1919, she was Inspector of Medical Services, Women's Royal Air Force, with the rank of Honorary Lieutenant Colonel. For these services she was created CBE in 1919. During the Second World War, she again joined up serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps and was Chief Medical Officer for the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service). Having reached the upper age limit for service she was retired in March 1942. Following her retirement from the RAMC, she was appointed a member of the Ministry of Health's Advisory Committee on the welfare of mothers and young children. In 1943 she was appointed to the Colonial Office committee set up to consider the treatment of venereal diseases in women and children. Her interest in this aspect of public health reflected work that she had carried out in the West Indies in 1920 and Malta in 1938. Earlier activities included the preparation of a report on women's lodging houses in 1927. Later that year she went to America, under the auspices of the Commonwealth Fund of New York, to study child guidance In her early years she was an active supporter of the Women's Suffrage Movement and a member of the Fabian Society. In 1930-32 she was president of the London Association of the Medical Women's Federation. Dr Fairfield was called to the Bar by Middle Temple and for many years regularly attended the meetings of the Medico-Legal Society of London, of which she was a vice-president. She was also co-editor of the Medico-Legal and Criminological Review. The Museum's Dept of Exhibits & Firearms holds items of uniform from her service in the RAMC during the Second World War (Ref: UNI 4306: UNI 8265). The Dept of Documents holds an important collection of papers covering her distinguished service as Medical Area Controller, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1917; as Inspector of Medical Services, Women's Royal Air Force, 1918 - 1919; and as Senior Woman Medical Officer with special responsibility for the ATS, 1940 - 1942; together with files on the advisory council of the ATS (of which she was a member), 1938 - 1939, a proposed scheme for national service for women, the recruitment and status of women practitioners in wartime, medical services for servicewomen, the dismissal of Miss Douglas Pennant as Commandant of the WRAF in 1919, welfare and public health in wartime, and the proceedings of the BMA central emergency committee, 1937 - 1940. (Ref: P372 - 373). Other papers, dealing mainly with the subject of compulsory sterilisation, in particular in relation to the Nazi eugenics policy; and to the views of the Catholic Church, of which Dr Fairfield was a member, may be found in the collections of the Weiner Library.
History note
Dr Josephine Letitia Denny Fairfield CBE (1885-1974)
Dr. Letitia Fairfield (1885-1974), received her medical education at Edinburgh and spent most of her working life in London. She joined the London County Council in 1911, later becoming the LCC's first woman senior medical officer. During the First World War, Dr Fairfield became a medical area controller attached to the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). From 1918-1919, she was Inspector of Medical Services, Women's Royal Air Force, with the rank of Honorary Lieutenant Colonel. For these services she was created CBE in 1919. During the Second World War, she again joined up serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps and was Chief Medical Officer for the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service). Having reached the upper age limit for service she was retired in March 1942. Following her retirement from the RAMC, she was appointed a member of the Ministry of Health's Advisory Committee on the welfare of mothers and young children. In 1943 she was appointed to the Colonial Office committee set up to consider the treatment of venereal diseases in women and children. Her interest in this aspect of public health reflected work that she had carried out in the West Indies in 1920 and Malta in 1938. Earlier activities included the preparation of a report on women's lodging houses in 1927. Later that year she went to America, under the auspices of the Commonwealth Fund of New York, to study child guidance In her early years she was an active supporter of the Women's Suffrage Movement and a member of the Fabian Society. In 1930-32 she was president of the London Association of the Medical Women's Federation. Dr Fairfield was called to the Bar by Middle Temple and for many years regularly attended the meetings of the Medico-Legal Society of London, of which she was a vice-president. She was also co-editor of the Medico-Legal and Criminological Review. The Museum's Dept of Exhibits & Firearms holds items of uniform from her service in the RAMC during the Second World War (Ref: UNI 4306: UNI 8265). The Dept of Documents holds an important collection of papers covering her distinguished service as Medical Area Controller, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 1917; as Inspector of Medical Services, Women's Royal Air Force, 1918 - 1919; and as Senior Woman Medical Officer with special responsibility for the ATS, 1940 - 1942; together with files on the advisory council of the ATS (of which she was a member), 1938 - 1939, a proposed scheme for national service for women, the recruitment and status of women practitioners in wartime, medical services for servicewomen, the dismissal of Miss Douglas Pennant as Commandant of the WRAF in 1919, welfare and public health in wartime, and the proceedings of the BMA central emergency committee, 1937 - 1940. (Ref: P372 - 373). Other papers, dealing mainly with the subject of compulsory sterilisation, in particular in relation to the Nazi eugenics policy; and to the views of the Catholic Church, of which Dr Fairfield was a member, may be found in the collections of the Weiner Library.
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