Florence Stoney

Florence Ada Stoney (4 February 1870 – 7 October 1932) was an Irish physician who was the first female radiologist in the United Kingdom. During World War I she served abroad as head of the X-ray department and of staff in makeshift hospitals.

Early life

Stoney was born 4 February 1870 in Dublin to George and Margaret Sophia Stoney (30 September 1843 - 13 October 1872). Her father was a mathematical physicist who would later serve as Secretary of Queens University, and was an advocate for women's right to higher education in Ireland. His efforts are considered to be among the principal reasons that women could qualify for a medical license. Florence Stoney, who was of weak health as a child, was at first privately educated in the home, but then attended the Royal College for Science of Ireland with her sister Edith.

Career and role in World War I Stoney worked as an ENT clinical assistant at the Royal Free Hospital, as well as spending six years as a demonstrator in anatomy at the London School of Medicine for Women. The hospital came under fire and after enduring ongoing shellfire for 18 hours, the hospital was evacuated. The team walked to Holland, where they managed to cross the Scheldt River on buses carrying ammunition, 20 minutes before the bridge was blown up.

In March 1915, the Cherbourg hospital was no longer needed and Stoney moved back London. She began full-time work at the 1000-bed Fulham Military Hospital. a painful skin condition associated in modern times with radiation therapy as a treatment for cancer.

Stoney moved to the south coastal town of Bournemouth in England; here she was on the staff of two hospitals, practicing radiology part-time. She occupied the position of Honorary Medical Officer to the Electrical Department of the Royal Victoria and West Hants Hospital in Bournemouth. Stoney was the founder and president of the Wessex branch of the British Institute of Radiology. She served as the consulting actinotherapist at the Victoria Cripples Home.

During retirement she penned a number of articles in contribution to the medical literature of the time. She published research on topics such as fibroids, goitre, Graves' disease, soldier's heart, rickets and osteomalacia. Stoney retired from all of her hospital positions in 1928 at the age of 58. She, along with her older sister Edith, travelled in retirement. One trip was to India, where Stoney wrote her final scientific paper, the subject of which was osteomalacia (bone softening), in particular in relation to pelvic deformities in childbirth. She studied and investigated this topic overseas, and specifically the association between UV exposure, vitamin D and skeletal development. In India, she also used her expertise to advise on the use of UV light in hospitals.

Stoney died at the age of 62, on 7 October 1932. She was suffering from a long and painful illness, vertebral cancer, again largely attributed to her work in the presence of high levels of radiation. The British Journal of Radiology published her official obituary which spanned five pages, containing many warm personal testimonials. After her sister's death, Edith Stoney continued to travel and research.