Mary White

Frances Mary White, known as Mary, née Cottam, MBE (21 May 1925 – 30 March 2017) was an English general surgeon and chairwoman of the Bromsgrove Festival. She founded the Bromsgrove International Young Musicians Competition in 1980.

Life Frances Mary White was born Frances Cottam on 21 May 1925, in Whiston, South Yorkshire. She was the only child in a farming family, and after her father's death in 1927 was brought up by her mother and two aunts. White attended Leeds University, where she studied medicine, and met and married her husband there. She qualified in 1949, and went on to further study in obstetrics and gynecology. Later in life she specialised in surgery for the treatment of severe varicose veins. She retired from medicine in 1980.

White was also a district officer with St John’s Ambulance Brigade, and served on the council of the British Medical Association for more than ten years.