Queer Places:
University of London, Senate House, Malet St, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom
Highgate Cemetery East, Swain's Ln, London N6 6PJ, United Kingdom

Ethilda Budgett-Meakin Herford (December 6, 1872 - August 26, 1956) was a pioneering British gynaecologist, psychoanalyst, and early member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society.

Born on December 6, 1872, in Redhill, Surrey, she was part of an accomplished family as the daughter of Edward Ebenezer Meakin, founder of The Times of Morocco, and Sarah Anne Budgett, as well as the sister of journalist James Edward Budgett-Meakin and travel writer Annette Meakin. Educated at the North London Collegiate School, she prepared for a medical career by spending two years working with a mission charity in the slums of Glasgow. She then trained at the Royal Free Hospital school, earning her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from the University of London in 1899. After serving as an assistant medical officer in London institutions such as St Giles Infirmary in Camberwell and Grove Hospital in Tooting, she relocated to India in 1902. There, she directed the Zenana Mission Women's Hospital, acted as physician at the Coma Hospital in Bombay, and served as superintendent of the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children in Calcutta.

In 1907, she married German violinist and businessman Oscar Haarbleicher, with whom she had four children, two of whom also pursued medical careers. Following the outbreak of the First World War, the family settled in Reading in 1917 and legally changed their surname to Herford to avoid anti-German sentiment. In Reading, they aligned with the Society of Friends, embracing its pacifist principles, and supported the founding of Bembridge School. Dr Herford's professional focus shifted heavily toward the psychological toll of the era, drawing her deeply into the nascent field of psychoanalysis. She initially contributed to Jessie Murray’s Medico-Psychological Clinic in Brunswick Square, which offered crucial psychotherapy to individuals traumatized by World War I. Although her initial application to the British Psychoanalytical Society in 1920 faced resistance from Ernest Jones due to concerns over unorthodox training, she pursued rigorous further studies. She trained with John Carl Flügel in London, Karl Abraham in Berlin, and Sándor Ferenczi in Budapest.

These credentials secured her admission as an associate member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society in 1921, later attaining full membership in 1934. Alongside her clinical practice in Reading, she worked as a physician at the London Clinic of Psychoanalysis, directed the British Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders in Camden Town, and contributed to the Institute for the Scientific Treatment of Delinquency, while also translating several of Sigmund Freud's essays into English. Archival records indicate that she was a long-standing member of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and maintained ties to progressive medical and psychological reform circles during an era when alternative lifestyle networks frequently intersected with psychoanalytic and pacifist reform movements. Notably, historical documentation places her in collaboration with provincial facilities linked to the Institute for the Scientific Treatment of Delinquency in Reading by 1939, an organization that frequently engaged with contemporary debates surrounding sexual variance, social reform, and psychological non-conformity. Ethilda Budgett-Meakin Herford passed away on August 26, 1956, in Reading, and was interred in the family tomb at Highgate Cemetery East in London.

References:

Sex, Time and Place: Queer Histories of London, c.1850 to the Present Paperback – April 19, 2018 by Simon Avery and Katherine M. Graham

Other references:

• Obituary and Professional Journal Record: S. M. Payne, "Dr. Ethilda Budgett-Meakin Herford," International Journal of Psychoanalysis 38 (1957): 276–277.
• Biographical Compendia on Psychoanalysis: The biographical collection and research project Women Psychoanalysts in Great Britain (hosted via psychoanalytikerinnen.de), detailing her training with Karl Abraham and Sándor Ferenczi, and her involvement with the Medico-Psychological Clinic and the British Psycho-Analytical Society.
• Directories and Medical Registers: The Englishwoman's Year Book and Directory, documenting her early qualifications as an Assistant Medical Officer (M.B. London, 1898).
• Genealogical and Military Historical Archives: Unit histories and personnel records mapping the Herford family lineage, including details on her children and her marriage to Oscar Gabriel Haarbleicher (later Herford).
• Historical and Archival Studies on Women in Medicine: Works referencing early twentieth-century women medical pioneers in Britain and institutional healthcare in India, such as studies by Anne Marie Rafferty concerning women doctors who qualified in the 1890s.

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