Elizabeth Mary Wells

Elizabeth Mary Wells (1863–1918), also known as Elizabeth Hooper, was a Roman Catholic British physician and medical missionary. She worked for the Church Missionary Society in Equatorial East Africa, especially in Kahuhia and Jilore. In Kahuhia, she was instrumental in the long-lasting success of the hospital and served as the President at Kennaway Hall, leading the only training center for female missionaries at the time as well as leading two branch dispensaries. While in Jilore and Kahuhia, she dealt with a variety of medical conditions, primarily rheumatic gout, dysentery, and pneumonia.

Early life and education Elizabeth Mary Wells was born in 1863 in Clare, in Suffolk, England, to Philip and Adelaide Selina P. Wells. Her father was a private schoolmaster in Marylebone and she had a brother, Frederick, older by a year. The family lived at 1 Loudoun Road in St John's Wood, London, during Wells's childhood. She graduated as Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians (L.R.C.P) and as Licentiate of the Royal Faculty of Physicians & Surgeons (L.R.F.P.S.). During her training, she was given the chance of Christian Witness. Having begun her education when women were first being allowed into medicine, and in accordance with her faith, she chose to help other women achieve the same goal of entering the medical field. In conjunction with this, she also spread Christianity and its "power" to those who were not as familiar with Christianity.

Career

Jilore Wells met missionary Reverend Douglas Arthur Lownds Hooper of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in the early 1890s, quickly becoming engaged. Inspired by his work, and having expertise in the medical field they sought, she was inspired to also join the CMS as a medical missionary. Women were not commonly accepted as missionaries at the time, and were only allowed to join the Society as the wife of a missionary. Wells sought the permission of the Medical Board and the CMS' head physician, bolstered by her fiancé – who (among other things) had a reputation as one of the head leaders of a large group of missionaries from Cambridge University that was responsible for adding many missionaries to the CMS list – being established and respected in the organisation.

At the hospital in Kahuhia, Wells took responsibility of all the medical work, with Hooper there to ensure that the buildings and materials were suitable for her. The mission medical station was located five miles away from the closest CMS mission station and was nine miles away from Fort Hall, the government administrative centre. Being in such a highly populated district, the station was in need of more facilities. In 1913, its property had already extended over fifty acres, with more land gradually being cleared. The site included the couple's residence, the hospital buildings, and the general mission buildings. Hooper had been previously married in 1889, and was a widower with a four-year old son, Handley, when he and Wells met. He had been working in Uyui (part of what is now Tanzania), where he established his own station. There, his focus was on spreading his Christian religion and promoting conversion by performing many baptisms, eventually being ordained as a priest by bishop Alfred Tucker in 1890.

Death and legacy After Hooper died, Wells stayed in this position until July 1920. While she may not have been practicing medicine, she enjoyed personally teaching and influencing the recruit female missionaries, who would go on to amplify her work.