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Career / Role in WW1
Florence Stoney worked as an ENT clinical assistant at the 'Royal Free Hospital' as well as spending 6 years as a demonstrator in anatomy at the London School of Medicine for Women. After this she spent a short amount of time in the Victoria Children's hospital in Hull and then went on to establish an x-ray department in the 'Elizabeth Garrett Anderson hospital' for women in London in 1902 where she carried out a variety of work. Knowledge on radiology and the equipment involved in the practice was still in its developmental stages at the time and she was forced to work in poor conditions with badly ventilated rooms and a lack of space for x-ray work. Stoney was given no assistance and had to do the majority of the work on her own. Furthermore she was excluded as a member of the medical staff and from the x-ray department committee. Stoney left the hospital at the start of the war.

By the time WW1, Stoney had 13 years of experience in her field. She offered her assistance and equipment to the British Red Cross at the London War Office but because she was a woman; was declined by Sir Frederick Treeves. She, alongside Mrs. St. Clair Stobart and the Women's Imperial Service League, organized an all women’s voluntary unit to aid the British and Belgian soldiers in Brussels. Stoney was appointed as the head of the medical staff and radiologist and the team converted the music hall in Antwerp into a hospital. The hospital came under fire and Stoney and her team had to evacuate the patients and retreat. They walked to Holland where they managed to cross the Scheldt river on buses carrying ammunition, 20 minutes before the bridge was blown up.

She continued working in a hospital near Cherbourg in France, mainly dealing with cases relating to compound fractures and locating bullet fragments in wounds. In this time, Stoney became experienced in recognizing dead bone and discovered that removing it would speed up recovery.

In March 1915, the Cherbourg hospital was no longer needed and Stoney moved back London. She was one of the first women doctors to receive a full time position under the War Office at Fulham hospital. She worked as the Head of the X-ray and Electrical Department and remained there till 1918.

She moved to Bournemouth where she worked at both the Royal Victoria and West Hants hospital as Honorary Medical Officer and as a consulting actinotherapist at the Victoria Cripples home. In addition to this, Florence also served as the President and Founder of the Wessex branch of the British Institute of Radiology.

Category:Florence Stoney