Elizabeth Gemmell
BMJ 2006; 332 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.332.7535.240 (Published 26 January 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;332:240
Data supplement
Elizabeth Gemmell
Former consultant psychiatrist (mental handicap) Sheffield (b Edinburgh 1914; q Edinburgh 1939; DTM&H, DPM, MRCPsych), died from cancer of the lung on 11 November 2005.Elizabeth Gemmell, Betty to her family, Liz to her friends and colleagues, was the second youngest of a large family. She attended school in Edinburgh and studied medicine at the university there. The second world war was starting as she became a junior doctor in Hull, where she was at the receiving end of the Blitz and its casualties. She went to India, becoming the medical superintendent at Gamesch Das Hospital in Shillong, specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology. Later she moved to Sarawak, where her impressive work was featured in short BBC documentaries.
On returning to the United Kingdom Liz held several junior hospital posts before doing psychiatry in Sheffield and gaining her DPM. She became a consultant in mental handicap and a founder member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. She was enthusiastic in the care and rehabilitation of her patients.
Liz never married, and in retirement gardening became an obsession. Her former friends and colleagues remember endless stories about her incorrigible chain smoking. [Ray Kerry]