Oxford GP celebrated for pioneering work with blue plaque

Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board revealed the tribute to Dr Isabelle Little at 2 Holywell Street on July 6.

Dr Little was one of Oxford's first female GPs who, despite facing strong opposition, significantly advanced the establishment of family planning.

The blue plaque (Image: Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board)

She trained as a doctor in Edinburgh, graduating in 1912, and joined a female-run medical practice in Oxford in 1919.

By 1928, she had opened her own practice at 2 Holywell Street, where she remained until 1961.

Dr Little was influential in an initiative discussing the establishment of an Oxford birth control clinic in 1926.

Members of the Little family in front of the plaque (Image: Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board)

As a part of the Council of Oxford Family Welfare Association, Dr Little was one of two female doctors to volunteer at the clinic on two evenings a week.

In the early years the doctors faced intense hostility and condemnation, often being accused of doing the Devil’s work.

Dr Little also had an interest in psychiatry and served on the management committee of the Warneford and Park hospitals from 1951, where her personal dedication and understanding eased a complex period of hospital mergers.

In 1968, a year before she died, her work was recognised with an MBE. Her obituary in the British Medical Journal stated, "she is a doctor whom Oxford will never forget".