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Dr. Josephine Letitia Denny Fairfield
d.1 Feb 1978
Facts and Events
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Biographical Summary
- the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia
Josephine Letitia Denny Fairfield CBE (10 March 1885 – 1 February 1978) was a doctor, a lawyer, a war-worker, and the first ever female Chief Medical Officer for London. She received a CBE for her outstanding achievements in medicine following her contributions in World War I, despite initially having been rejected by the War Office. Fairfield went on to work for the London County Council, where she campaigned for the initiation of new Public Health departments relating in particular to women's and children's health, and defending who she believed were the most vulnerable members of society. She was a feminist and a Fabian, and during her later life became a convert to Roman Catholicism and a believer in witchcraft.
Authored Publications
Letitia Fairfield authored the following books on aspects of medicine and terrorism.
Image Gallery
 Letitia Fairfield at Barrow House – Fabian Summer School (1912 or 1913)  Dr. Letitia Fairfield in British Army Uniform (1917)  Letitia Fairfield in British Army uniform (1918) References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Letitia Fairfield, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
Retrieved 25 February 2015.
Fairfield was born in Melbourne in 1885, and was the oldest of three daughters, the youngest of whom, Cicily, is known as the famous novelist Rebecca West. Fairfield and her two sisters entered the George Watson's Ladies College, after which Fairfield was accepted into the Edinburgh Medical College for Women, an extramural school for the University of Edinburgh. In 1907, Fairfield graduated MB ChB, and was awarded her MD degree in 1911.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Fairfield, Dr Josephine Letitia Denny, MS (Edin), DPH (Lon), ChB, CBE, in Google Books - Women, A Modern Political Dictionary by Cheryl Law
Pages 61-62, 2000.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 L. Fairfield, in The Lesbian History Sourcebook: Love and Sex Between Women in Britain by Alison Oram
Pages 212-215, 2001.
Chapter 7 - Social Perceptions; Example 8 L. Fairfield, 'Homosexuality in Woman', Medico-Legal Journal, Vol.15, No.1 (or No.11), 1947, pp.18-20,22-3. "At its meeting on 23 January 1947 the Medico-Legal Society discussed 'The Sociological Aspects of Homosexuality'. There were two women contributors. Letitia Fairfield was qualified as a barrister as well as in medicine. She served as a doctor in both World Wars I and II, and was a senior medical officer to the London County Council until 1948. She presented this paper and Helena Normanton (the first woman barrister to be made a KC), contributed to the discussion." The 4-page article follows the introduction.
- ↑ Letitia Fairfield, in NCBI PubMed: Josephine Letitia Denny Fairfield (1885-1978) pushing the boundaries of medicine by E. Garrett
22 Nov 2014.
Letitia Fairfield - doctor, lawyer, public health worker, feminist and war worker - was a woman of surprising contradictions. She displayed some eccentric tendencies that sometimes did not sit comfortably with her role as a medical professional; she was, for example, a believer in witchcraft and a convert to Roman Catholicism. However, she made great contributions to medicine throughout her active career and did so during a period in which female access to medical education was limited. Few of her female or male peers received such respect or oversaw such change. Despite pushing contemporary professional boundaries and reaching a level of seniority unusual for female doctors of her era, however, Letitia was, whether through choice or through convention, channelled into traditionally female areas of medicine. Thus, her medical success arguably was due not only to her motivation and capability but also because she represented no real competition to men.
- ↑ Letitia Fairfield, in Wellcome Library: A Woman of Some Importance by Emily Garrett
14 Oct 2014.
University College London medical student Emily Garrett explains why her research into the archival papers of Letitia Fairfield left her so inspired by this pioneering 20th century doctor.
- ↑ Dr. Letitia Fairfield, in Google Books: Ireland and the Irish in Interwar England by Mo Moulton
Page 281, 3 Apr 2014.
"The Catholic Church was particularly prominent in the effort to deal with unmarried Irish mothers under the leadership of Arthur Hinsley, who became cardinal in 1935 at the age of 70. Hinsley appointed a social worker to "undertake work for Catholic unmarried mothers and women and girls in moral danger in Westminster diocese" in 1936. This Office for Social Work for Women and Girls was headed by Dr. Letitia Fairfield, a public health physician and social reformer who had converted to Catholicism in 1922; it produced significant amounts of data and analysis about Irish immigrants to London and also explored avenues for co-operation with the Free State."
- ↑ Fairfield, Josephine Letitia Denny, in West, Rebecca. Selected Letters of Rebecca West. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000)
9 Feb 2000.
"Fairfield, Josephine Letitia Denny, "Lettie" (1885-1978), the eldest of the three Fairfield daughters - nearly eight years Rebecca's senior. Like Rebecca, Lettie was a member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and the Fabian Society. She was a Catholic convert. Lettie received her M.D. degree from Edinburgh University and School of Medicine for Women in 1911. While serving as house surgeon at the Jewish Hospital in Manchester (1908-1909) and as resident officer at Children's Hospital, Nottingham (1909-1910), she lived away from the family. After the family returned to London, she joined the London County Council as an assistant medical officer in 1912, rising to senior medical officer in 1930. As a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Air Force during World War I, she supervised the corps of women doctors in the WRAFS. After the war, she became one of the first women to be called to the bar. In 1920, she was the educational commissioner for the National Council for Combatting Venereal Diseases (NCCVD), touring the West Indies under the auspices of the Colonial Office. She was the author of a study on epilepsy, did research on genealogy and witchcraft, and like Rebecca, delighted in reading crime fiction."
Biography of Letitia Fairfield 
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