Partner Elizabeth Willard "Bessie" Greene
Queer Places:
130 E Main St, Washington, NC 27889, United States
University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zürich, Switzerland
151 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116, USA
Dimock Community Health Center, 55 Dimock St, Roxbury, MA 02119, USA
Forest Hills Cemetery and Crematory, 95 Forest Hills Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02130 United States
Saint Peters Episcopal Cemetery, 101 N Bonner St, Washington, NC 27889, United States
Dr. Susan Dimock (April 24, 1847 - May 8, 1875) was a pioneering American physician and one of the first female surgeons in the United States. While some accounts have
incorrectly placed her birth in Washington, D.C., she was born in Washington, North Carolina.
Born on April 24, 1847, Dimock was the daughter of Henry and Mary Malvina Dimock. Henry Dimock, a native of Maine, was the editor of the North State Whig. He married Mary Malvin, the daughter of the local sheriff, and they purchased the Lafayette Hotel in Washington. Susan was raised in the hotel.
From a young age Dimock was associated with Solomon Samson Satchwell, who lived across the street. Dr. Satchwell was a very strong influence on Dimock, allowing her to attend to patients and make house calls with him, eventually inspiring Dimock to pursue the medical profession.
The Dimocks were living in the Lafayette Hotel when Union soldiers invaded Washington, and some of the troops stayed at the Lafayette with fellow New Englander Dimock. Henry Dimock died early in the war though, at which time Susan and her mother moved to Sterling, Massachusetts, to live with Henry Dimock’s sister. Susan Dimock continued her education briefly in Sterling, having been taught previously by her mother and at a Washington girls school. At age seventeen she began teaching at an academy in Hopkinton.
Dimock’s interest in medicine was sparked early, and she was encouraged by Elizabeth "Bessie" Greene, the daughter of the Boston reformer William Batchelder Greene.
The relationship between Dr. Lucy Ellen Sewall and Dr. Susan Dimock represents one of the most pivotal, personal, and tragic professional bonds in 19th-century American medicine.
Together, they helped build the institutional foundation for women in surgery and nursing in the United States.
When Susan Dimock—a brilliant young woman from North Carolina—arrived in Boston seeking a medical education, major American medical schools (including Harvard) flatly refused to admit women.
Dr. Lucy Sewall, already established as Resident Physician at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, took Dimock under her wing. Recognizing Dimock’s extraordinary talent, Sewall provided private instruction, clinical exposure at the hospital, and personal backing.
Realizing American institutions would not grant Dimock a medical degree, Sewall encouraged her to look to Europe. With the support of Sewall and the New England Hospital network, Dimock applied to the University of Zurich—one of the few institutions in the world granting full M.D.s to women.
Dimock graduated in 1871 with high honors, specializing in surgery and obstetrics.
Upon Dimock’s return to Boston in 1872, her bond with Sewall deepened into a close cohabitation and shared professional partnership:
Dr. Sewall purchased the home at 151 Boylston Street in Boston’s Back Bay. She invited Dimock to live with her and share the space as a combined home and private medical practice.
While Sewall served as attending physician and held administrative leadership, Dimock was appointed Resident Physician and Chief Surgeon at the New England Hospital for Women and Children.
Working closely together, they established the hospital’s training school for nurses—graduating Linda Richards (widely recognized as America's first professionally trained nurse) in 1873.
After three years of relentless clinical work, Dimock planned a trip to Europe in May 1875 for much-needed rest and medical observation.
In May 1875, while on a leave of absence to tour Europe with her close friends, Bessie Greene and Caroline Crane, Dimock boarded the steamship SS Schiller. On May 7, 1875, the ship struck the Retarrier Ledges in heavy fog off the Isles of Scilly, England. Dimock, Greene, and nearly everyone else on board perished.
Devastated by the loss, Dr. Sewall arranged for Dimock's body to be recovered from England and brought back to Boston.
Sewall personally helped organize the funeral services, attended by Boston’s leading medical and reform figures. Dimock was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.
Her loss was widely lamented by the medical community, who considered her a uniquely talented surgeon whose place would be difficult to fill. Reflecting the depth of the bond between Dimock and Greene, a biographer later wrote: "They were lovely in their lives, and in death they were not divided".
Susan Dimock is buried in Massachusetts at Forest Hills Cemetery and Crematory. In 1996, the marble marker at her Boston grave was replaced with a more durable granite duplicate, and the original moved to her home town of Washington, NC, where it was erected as a cenotaph in the Saint Peters Episcopal Cemetery. She is also remembered, along with other victims of the shipwreck of the SS Schiller, at St. Mary's Old Town Churchyard on the island near the site of the wreck.
The New England Hospital later renamed its primary campus building the Dimock Building in her memory (now the Dimock Center). Sewall continued her work at the hospital for years after, carrying on the institutional vision they had shared.
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