Iza Frances Josephine Coghlan MB MS (1868 - 1946)

Born 1868 in Redfern, New South Wales (Australia)

Ancestors

Died 1946 at about age 78 in Moore Park, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Elizabeth Freney [send private message]

Biography

Iza Coghlan MB MS is Notable.

Iza Coghlan MB MS was born in the Colony of New South Wales (1788-1900)

Iza Coghlan MB MS has Irish ancestors.

Iza Frances 'Fanny' or 'Fan' Coghlan was born in 1868 in Redfern, New South Wales (Australia). She was the daughter of Thomas Coghlan and Dorcas Jordan. ^[1] She was educated at William Street Public School (Sydney) and Sydney Girls' High School (Moore Park). Her father passed away whilst she was in her mid-teens.

Fan was one of the first two women to graduate in medicine in the University of Sydney, along with Grace Robinson (later Boelke), in 1893. Fan attained both a Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and a Master of Surgery (MS). She immediately established a medical practice in Liverpool Street, becoming the first female medical graduate of the university to begin a private practice in the city. The following year she was appointed a medical referee for the AMP Office, examining women applying for life insurance.

In 1910, Fan was appointed a consulting physician for the federal public service, examining candidates seeking admission. From 1915 she was a medical officer with the NSW Department of Public Instruction. Throughout her life Fan served the community, by supporting the Sydney Medical Mission, a charitable venture formed to provide medical services to the city’s poor, which also became a place for female medical graduates to gain clinical experience. She was also the first president of the NSW Medical Women’s Society, which she had helped to found. At the Balmain Ladies’ Swimming Club she formed the first women’s lifesaving class in the state. She also gave lectures to first aid and home nursing classes organised by the St John Ambulance Association.

She retired from the public service in February 1930 and went to live with her sisters Dorcas and Lucy at Collaroy, in Sydney's northern beaches. Fan and Dorcas. The ladies later went their separate ways, Fan to Moore Park in Sydney's inner east, Dorcas to the majestic Blue Mountains and Lucy to Killara in Sydney's leafy northern suburbs.

Aged about 78 years, Fan passed away in a private hospital in Moore Park in 1946. ^[2] Whilst she never married, she found time for an active social life, her name regularly appearing on the lists of guests at various social functions published in the local press.

"... death went almost unremarked, with scant notice taken of her groundbreaking achievements. But she had carved a path to success in a profession still in the process of being opened to women. As for so many women in those years, that path was not a straight one, but she managed to find both professional success and a means of making a living, while helping to open the way for others. Her achievement—and the strength of mind and perseverance it undoubtedly required—deserves to be remembered." – Karen Fox ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #3897/1868
2. ↑ New South Wales Death Index #14665/1946
3. ↑ Fox, Karen. 'Coghlan, Iza Frances (1868–1946)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 14 Apr 2024

See also:

• Bygott, Ursula and Cable, Kenneth J. 'Pioneer Women Graduates of the University of Sydney 1881–1921', Sydney University Monographs, 1985.
• Coghlan Family History by descendant Beatrice Proust
• Fox, Karen. 'Coghlan, Iza Frances (1868–1946)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 14 Apr 2024.
• Webb, Nina. 'Women and the Medical School', in 'Centenary Book of the University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine', Sydney University Press, 1984.