Ellen Wallis (1891–1947) is believed to have been the first female doctor in North East England.

Ellen lived with another woman, Ada, for all of her adult life. They were not related in any way. They did not care for each other, i.e. they did not have any explicit caring responsibilities towards one another. They shared common interests: suffrage, driving, theatre, etc. but they were not amorphous in their interests. Ada enjoyed activism outside of suffrage, for example. Ellen was a voracious reader, and a patron of the arts and crafts movement.

In a letter (LHA/1/3/2) in the Lord Harrington Archive (Liberal MP and Secretary for Agriculture), which consists solely of the personal correspondence, diaries, and scrapbooks of Mrs Lord Harrington (Baroness Gertrude Harrington), Mrs Lord Harrington describes ‘... going to dinner with Ellen Wallis and her wife’ on 2nd April 1923.

The Ellen Wallis Archive is largely ephemera relating to her role as Treasurer of the Northumbrian Pottery Guild, except for this undated photograph (uncatalogued) of Ellen and an unidentified woman (presumed Ada) in an open-top touring car. They wear hats ostentatiously and are smiling at each other in the photograph. Ellen holds a fist in the air, but her intent is unclear.

Ellen Wallis is best remembered for being believed to have been the first female doctor in North East England.

Editor’s note: the photograph that inspired this piece - and is used to illustrate it - can be found here: https://collectionscaptured.ncl.ac.uk/digital/collection/p21051coll27/id/7/rec/11