Mary Gordon

Mary Louisa Gordon (1861 − 1941) was a British physician, prison inspector and writer. After graduating from the London School of Medicine for Women in 1890, Gordon worked at the East London Hospital for Children, the Evelina London Children's Hospital, and later had a private practice in Harley Street. While working as a physician, she made a number of public addresses and wrote publications on topics including the effects of prostitution and alcohol dependence on women. Gordon was appointed as the first British female prison inspector in 1908. During her time as prison inspector, she enacted a number of improvements including prison work allocation. She also supported the British suffragette movement, and secretly communicated with the Women's Social and Political Union about conditions in prisons. After retirement in 1921, she wrote the book Penal Discipline (1922), which advocated for reforms to the prison system, and the historical novel Chase of the Wild Goose (1936), based on the Ladies of Llangollen. Early life Gordon was born on 15 August 1861 in Seaforth, Lancashire, to James Gordon and his second wife Mary Emily Carter. Her father sold hide and tallow. She had six sisters and three brothers. Gordon also had an older stepsister and stepbrother, their mother Anne Barnsley Shaw had died from consumption in 1855. Gordon studied at the London School of Medicine for Women, and qualified as a doctor with the Triple Qualification in 1890. Career