Editing Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (section)

== Early education ==
There was no school in Aldeburgh, so Garrett learned reading, writing, and arithmetic from her mother. When she was 10 years old, a governess, Miss Edgeworth, a poor gentlewoman, was employed to educate Garrett and her sister. Mornings were spent in the schoolroom; there were regimented afternoon walks; educating the young ladies continued at mealtimes when Edgeworth ate with the family; at night, the governess slept in a curtained off area in the girls' bedroom. Garrett reportedly despised her governess and sought to outwit the teacher in the classroom.<ref>Manton, pp. 32–33</ref> When Garrett was 13 and her sister 15, they were sent to a private school, the Boarding School for Ladies in [[Blackheath, London]], which was run by the step aunts of the poet [[Robert Browning]].<ref>Manton, p. 33</ref> There, English literature, [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[German language|German]] as well as [[deportment]], were taught.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women in Science: Antiquity Through the Nineteenth Century: a Biographical Dictionary with Annotated Bibliography|last=Ogilvie|first=Marilyn B|publisher=MIT Press|year=1986}}</ref>

[[File:Eganderson.jpg|thumb|left|A portrait of Garrett in the 1860s]]
Later in life, Garrett recalled the stupidity of her teachers there, though her schooling there did help establish a love of reading.<ref name="Manton, pp. 35–36">Manton, pp. 35–36</ref> Her main complaint about the school was the lack of science and mathematics instruction.<ref name=Ogilvie /> Her reading there included works of [[Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson|Tennyson]], [[Wordsworth]], [[John Milton|Milton]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Coleridge]], [[Anthony Trollope|Trollope]], [[Thackeray]] and [[George Eliot]]. Elizabeth and Louie were known as "the bathing Garretts", as their father had insisted they be allowed a hot bath once a week.<ref name="Manton, pp. 35–36"/> However, they made what were to be lifelong friends there. When they finished in 1851, they were sent on a short tour abroad, ending with a memorable visit to the [[Great Exhibition]] in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]], London.<ref name=Ogilvie />

After this formal education, Garrett spent the next nine years tending to domestic duties, but she continued to study Latin and arithmetic in the mornings and also read widely. Her sister Millicent recalled Garrett's weekly lectures, "Talks on Things in General", when her younger siblings would gather while she discussed politics and current affairs from [[Garibaldi]] to [[The History of England from the Accession of James the Second|Macaulay's ''History of England'']].<ref>Manton, p. 44</ref> In 1854, when she was eighteen, Garrett and her sister went on a long visit to their school friends, Jane and Anne Crow, in [[Gateshead]] where she met [[Emily Davies]], the early feminist and future co-founder of [[Girton College]], Cambridge. Davies was to be a lifelong friend and confidante, always ready to give sound advice during the important decisions of Garrett's career. It may have been in the ''[[English Woman's Journal]]'', first issued in 1858, that Garrett first read of [[Elizabeth Blackwell]], who had become the first female doctor in the United States in 1849.<ref name=Ogilvie /> When Blackwell visited London in 1859, Garrett travelled to the capital. By then, her sister Louie was married and living in London. Garrett joined the [[Society for Promoting the Employment of Women]], which organised Blackwell's lectures on "Medicine as a Profession for Ladies" and set up a private meeting between Garrett and the doctor.<ref>Manton, pp. 50–52</ref> It is said that during a visit to Alde House around 1860, one evening while sitting by the fireside, Garrett and Davies selected careers for advancing the frontiers of women's rights; Garrett was to open the medical profession to women, Davies the doors to a university education for women, while 13-year-old Millicent was allocated politics and votes for women.<ref>Manton, p. 72</ref> At first Newson was opposed to the radical idea of his daughter becoming a physician but came round and agreed to do all in his power, both financially and otherwise, to support Garrett.<ref>Manton, pp. 73–76</ref>