Dr Christine Murrell was born in 1874 in Clapham, London. She attended Clapham High School for Girls and the London School of Medicine for Women, receiving her medical degree in 1899. Her early career was spent in Northumberland and Liverpool before returning to London to work at the Royal Free Hospital, where she was only the second woman to serve as a house physician.
In 1903, she established a private practice in Bayswater, London. Murrell received an MD in Psychology and Mental Diseases from the University of London in 1905. From 1907, she led an infant welfare clinic run by the St Marylebone Health Society at Lisson Grove for 18 years.
Murrell the Activist
Dr Murrell was also an activist for women’s rights, and was involved in the women’s suffrage movement before the First World War. During the war, she served in and became chair of the Women’s Emergency Corps. She gave public lectures on women’s health for 20 years at the London County Council, and in 1923 she published a series of lectures under the title Womanhood and Health. In 1925, she and Letitia Fairfield conducted a survey of girls’ experiences of menstruation; the findings were published in The Lancet in 1930.
Dr Murrell served on various committees of the British Medical Association, and in 1924 she became the first woman elected to its Central Council; she sat on the council for nine years, until her death. She was the fifth president of the Medical Women’s Federation, from 1926 to 1928.
Dr Murrell represented the Medical Women’s Federation at the first Epsom College Conjoint Committee meeting in 1932. She was the first woman to sit on this committee which advised on medical welfare for the pupils and considered the applications for financially assisted places. With her colleague Dr Elizabeth Bolton, who succeeded her onto the committee, she ran a nationwide fundraising campaign to gather funds to support the College. In September 1933, she was the first female representative elected to the General Medical Council, but she died on 18 October 1933 before taking her seat.
Given Dr Murrell’s connection with the College and her inspirational life she was the first choice to name our newest girl’s day house in 2017. For its crest a design of oak leaves and acorns was chosen. Taken from traditional heraldry the design symbolises faith, strength and endurance to reflect renewal and growth within the College. The motto given: “Be of Good Courage” is the Murrell family motto and is taken directly from the Bible maintaining the link between the name and the Christian religion.
