Lilian Lindsay

Oil painting of Lilian Lindsay by Kathleen Williams, in the BDA Library at Hill Street, 1959 (BDA Museum ref: 4207d)Photograph of Lilian Lindsay on the occasion of the presentation of her doctorate from Edinburgh University 1846 (BDA Musuem ref: 11562)Lilian Lindsay (1871-1960) blazed the trail for today’s women dentists, becoming the first qualified woman dentist and the first woman president of the BDA in 1946.

Refused entry to London schools for being a woman, she finally qualified in 1895 at Edinburgh. She practised until 1920, when her husband Robert became the BDA’s Dental secretary.

As the Honorary Librarian of the BDA, she established the Library and the Museum, helping to create today’s largest collection of dental literature and heritage in the UK.

She was also sub-editor of the British Dental Journal, winner of the Tomes Prize and the Colyer Gold Medal, and recipient of several honorary degrees.

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