Queer Places:
Brompton Cemetery, Fulham Road, West Brompton, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Greater London SW10 9UG England
Matilda Charlotte Chaplin (later Matilda Chaplin Ayrton, 22 June 1846 - 19 July 1883) was born on June 22, 1846, in Honfleur, France, to English parents. Her early education was dedicated to the visual arts, which she studied at South Kensington and the British Museum. However, in 1867, at the age of 21, she decided to shift her focus to medicine.
She initially spent two years studying at the Ladies' Medical College in London. In 1869, she passed the preliminary scientific examination at Apothecaries' Hall but was denied permission to take the subsequent professional exams solely because of her gender.
Seeking an alternate path, she joined Sophia Jex-Blake and five other pioneering women to formally matriculate at the University of Edinburgh in October 1869. As part of this historic group, known as the Edinburgh Seven, she became one of the first female undergraduate students at a British university.
Despite securing high honors in anatomy and surgery through extramural examinations, institutional barriers and a final legal ruling in 1872 ultimately prohibited women from completing their degrees at the university. Undeterred, Chaplin moved to Paris to finish her higher education, earning degrees as a Bachelier ès-Sciences and Bachelier ès-Lettres from the University of Paris.
In 1872, she married her cousin, the noted scientist and electrical engineer William Edward Ayrton. The couple relocated to Japan from 1873 to 1877, where Matilda pursued anthropological research, opened a school for Japanese midwives, and contributed heavily to periodicals like The Scotsman. In 1880, she finally obtained her license to practice medicine from the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland. Tragically, after a long battle with tuberculosis, she died in London on July 19, 1883, at just 37 years old.
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