Mrs Isabella Elder, LL.D., pioneer and philanthropist

Mrs Isabella Elder contributed much during her lifetime to further the education of women of all ages and of all levels of attainment. She gifted North Park House to Queen Margaret College in Glasgow as a home in 1884. With her encouragement a medical school for women in Glasgow was opened in Queen Margaret College in 1890. The standard was high and when women were admitted to the Universities in 1892, the first Queen Margaret medical students were able to graduate in 1894. She pioneered a system of teaching home economics in Govan, assisted the development of a district nursing service and built the Elder Cottage Hospital.