This South Asian Heritage Month we celebrate the life and work of Sri Lanka’s first woman doctor, Dr Alice de Boer.

Born in 1872 in Colombo, Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka), Alice was raised in a Burgher family of Sri Lankan, Dutch, and Belgian heritage. Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka of dual Sri Lankan and European descent. Alice was the youngest of five daughters, born to Henry de Boer, an officer in the Colonial Medical Service, and Eliza Van Geyzel. At the time of her birth, Ceylon was part of the British Empire and going through education reform for women. These advancements however, remained constrained by the conservative Victorian ideology of believing women should stay at home as housewives and mothers.

Many of the early leading professionals in Ceylon, were Burghers, including lawyers, doctors, engineers and government servants and that modernising, pioneering spirit extended to the Burgher women. Although tradition dictated that a woman’s studies should end with secondary education followed by marriage, many Burgher women transgressed these gendered expectations. They demanded equality in education and employment, and proceeded to trailblaze across various professional fields, for example as teachers, governesses, nurses, clerks, and doctors. For Alice, it was venturing this new path that appealed to her.

Across the British Empire, women were forging a path into the male dominated medical institutions. Having made provisions for separate facilities on the basis of sex, for example in the dissection room, Ceylon Medical College opened their doors to women in 1892. Henrietta Keyt and Evelyn Davidson, both from the Burgher community, created history by being the first women medical students in Ceylon. The following year, Alice joined Ceylon Medical College.

Ceylon Medical College, 1880. Source: Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. 

Over five years, Alice completed a medical curriculum of theoretical and practical courses under several teachers, including Dr Murugesar Sinnetamby, Dr Mary Rutnam and Dr Harvey Hilliard. In 1898, over a decade after the first Indian women became doctors including Dr Kadambini Ganguli and Dr Anandibai Joshi, Alice successfully passed her final exams. Although Alice was not among the first women students to enter the Ceylon Medical College, she became the first to receive the Licentiate of Medicine and Surgery (LMS) from this college, and in the country. 

The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Line engraving by W. Read after W.H. Playfair, 1825. Source: Wellcome Collection. 

Having ranked first in her final exams, Alice was awarded a government scholarship to study in Britain. In 1899, she became the first local woman to travel to Europe for higher studies. A few months after arriving in Edinburgh, Alice successfully obtained her ‘Scottish Triple’ Qualification from the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh), Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) and the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons (Glasgow). 

Dr Alice de Boer’s entry on the Licentiate Register of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 1899. Source: The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Archives.

Meanwhile, in Ceylon there was a growing need for women doctors, foreign or local. In 1893, Lady Havelock set up a Committee to collect funds for a women’s hospital run by women. The hospital was set up to improve women’s health, but also to further extend the European medical practice. In 1896, the Lady Havelock hospital for women was opened. The new 40 bed hospital was staffed by women, and included an outdoor dispensary and training school for nurses. The hope was that the hospital would support women whose caste and religious practices prohibits them from seeking medical treatment from male doctors.

Having achieved her colonially approved qualification, Alice was offered a job at the Lady Havelock Hospital, and in time was placed in charge. Energetic as she was, Alice also built a thriving private practice where she was called upon by women, particularly from the Muslim communities. From what little is known of Alice’s life, her devotion to the medical profession seems to emanate from her. So much so, that she tended to patients at home during her off duty times, and welcomed being called to the hospital to assist patients at night. 

The Lady Havelock Hospital, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Photograph by Skeen & Co, 1910. Source: BT Options, Explore Sri Lanka publication.

As an educator at the hospital, Alice de Boer played a pivotal role in supporting and promoting women in medical training and practice, offering valuable opportunities at the Lady Havelock Hospital. Dr. May de Rivera (later Ratnayake), Chief surgeon, recalls the support she received from Dr de Boer early in her medical career: 

“In 1921 a vacancy occurred for a house officer at the Lady Havelock Hospital. I was too senior for the post but decided to accept it in order to work with Catherine Anderson, a brilliant surgeon. The next year the generous Alice de Boer waved her magic wand and created for me the post of assistant female medical officer, Outpatient Department, entitled to private practice. Because of the kindness of Catherine Anderson and Alice de Boer my surgical experience continued. It was no small sacrifice for Alice de Boer to release me from the crowded outpatient department for an hour of two, two days a week.” (D.Brohier, 1994).

 

Dr. Alice de Boer at her home in England with nieces (left to right) Alma Brohier (a nurse) and Essie de Boer and nephew Dr. Henry de Boer (1951). Source: D.Brohier (1994).

Throughout her life, Alice was also devoted to her sisters and her many nephews and nieces. She never married, but did adopt her eldest nephew Henry Speldewinde de Boer, who followed in her footsteps and became a doctor. In 1926, Alice retired from her successful medical career and moved to England to raise her two great-nephews (Charles Henry de Boer, John Reginald de Boer), the children of Henry and his wife Essie who were posted in Kenya at the time. Following Henry’s retirement from the Colonial Medical Service, he and Essie joined Alice and settled in England. In 1955, Alice passed away at home at the age of 83. Following in the family tradition, many of the de Boer descendants have pursued a profession in the medical field. 

Medical students (April 1905). The women, from left to right are Sylvia Ebert, Claribel Van Dort, Helen Kiddle and Rachel Christoffelsz. Source: D.Brohier (1994).

Alice de Boer led a courageous life, turning away from the world as she knew it, toward a world she knew must be created so that women could become doctors. Her legacy lies in the further Burgher women who graduated from Ceylon Medical College in the 1890s (see image above), as
well as the women from other Sri Lankan communities who later graduated in medicine. Today, over two thirds of medical students in the training pathway in Sri Lanka are women. In these women doctors, Alice’s legacy lives on.

~ Dr Theeba Krishnamoorthy, Guest blogger

Sources used in writing this post:

• Altendorff, DV, Genealogy of the family of de Boer of Ceylon, The Journal of the
Butch Burgher Union, 1945, 34(3):  78-80.

• Brohier, D, Alice de Boer and the Pioneer Burgher Women Doctors. Colombo: Social
Scientists’ Association, 1994

• de Boer, A, Final Examination: Schedule of the course of study for the joint
qualifications in medicine and surgery, Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh Archives, 1899

• Jayawardena, K, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World. London: Zed Books
Ltd, 1986

South Asian Heritage Month (SAHM) first took place in 2020 and runs from the 18th of July to the 17th of August each year.

SAHM seeks to commemorate, mark and celebrate South Asian cultures, histories, and communities.

The month seeks to understand the diverse heritage and cultures that continue to link the UK with South Asia.

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