The inscription reads : "To the love of God and in memory of Flora Murray, C.B.E., M.D., B.S. Durham, D.Ph. Cambridge. Daughter of Commander John Murray, R.N., of Murraythwaite, Dumfriesshire. Born 8th. May 1869, died 28th. July 1923. She commanded the Military Hospital in Endell Street, London, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel 1915-1919. God gave her strength to lead, to pity, and to heal." Buried along with her friend, Louisa Garrett Anderson (q.v.).
The concept of the Women's Hospital Corps was created and instituted in 1914. Previously met with hostility by officials, Doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson decided to bypass the British government by going directly to the French Red Cross with their offer to run a military hospital in Paris, France. Their idea was accepted and they were granted work permits to travel to France. In less than two weeks, Murray and Anderson were able to recruit enough medically trained women to staff an entire hospital; doctors, nurses, orderlies, and clerks. The women created uniforms and raised funds for the supplies needed. Before returning to London in 1915 they opened another hospital at The Chateau Mauricien near Boulogne. The Paris hospital closed in January 1915 when injured soldiers started being treated in England rather than in France.
By May 1915 Murray and Anderson had moved to London and, drawing experience and staff from the hospital in France, the Endell Street Military Hospital was established in London as a Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) hospital under the War department. Leading the hospital, Murray was named Doctor in Charge and Anderson was named Chief Surgeon. Murray was an anesthetist, and she and Anderson operated together. The hospital had a staff of 180 women who referred to them both as 'the C.O.s'. While working under the authority of the War Office, women doctors at the Endell Street Military Hospital received the pay and benefits of military grades from lieutenant to lieutenant colonel, but they had no rank and could not command men. The hospital was unique in that it was the only hospital to be entirely run by women. The Endell Street hospital had 573 beds, allowing for some 26,000 patients to be cared for during the five years it was active. Several auxiliary Voluntary Aid Detachment hospitals with a total of 150 beds were attached to the Endell Street hospital. At times of pressure when billeting of convalescent men was allowed, the numbers of registered patients was as high as 800. The hospital adopted the motto, "Deeds not words", which was also the motto of the WSPU (Women's Social and Political Union). The women hoped that eventually the hospital and their deeds would prove women's equality and their ability to fulfil their duties as citizens. Despite skepticism by the RAMC in the women's medical staff ability to run a hospital, Endell Street received high feedback from patients, recognition in professional medical journals, and the successful treatment of a large number of soldiers during its operation. Endell Street hospital was amazingly successful and one of the reasons for this was their attention to the psychological needs of the soldiers. Great emphasis was placed on creating a calming and home-like environment with fresh flowers in every room, brightly colored blankets, standard lamps for reading, and 'our gentle merry young orderly girls who feed them with cigarettes, write to their mothers and read to them.' The hospital closed shortly after the end of the war in December 1919, treating large numbers of influenza patients in the last months.
After the war, Anderson and Murray moved to their co-owned property in Penn. Anderson and Murray fought tirelessly for the rights of women to vote, receive military rank, and get the same benefits as their male counterparts in the military.
Contributor: cbreckenr (48723143)