Your History: Dr Frances Hoggan nee Morgan [1843-1927]
Frances Elizabeth Morgan was born at 19 High Street Superior, Brecon, now part of Nicholls shop. Her father Richard Morgan was a curate. She was brought up and educated in Cowbridge, Glamorgan and later Windsor. She was the first British woman to receive a doctorate in medicine from any university in Europe.
Women could not take professional examinations in England, so she went to study in Paris, Dusseldorf and Zurich. She obtained her medical doctorate from Zurich in March 1870, having completed the six-year course in three years.
In 1874 she married Dr George Hoggan and she later practiced in London as a specialist in women’s and children’s diseases.They opened the first husband and wife general medical practice in the United Kingdom.
Frances Hoggan became a campaigner and social reformer and toured the USA lecturing. Particularly interested in racial issues, she spoke at the Universal Race Congress in London in 1911.
On their deaths, their cremated remains were buried in Woking cemetery.
In 2023, a plaque was placed on the wall of 19, High Street Superior, to celebrate her connection with Brecon.
Her married name is also commemorated in the name of the Brecon housing estate, Hoggan Park.
© Breconshire Local & Family History Society