Sarah Winstedt

Background

Sarah Mary Josephine Winstedt, née O’Flynn (Dr) (b. 4 April 1886, Six Mile Bridge, County Clare, Ireland–d. 9 September 1972, Havant, Hampshire, England), addressed as Lady Winstedt from 1935, was one of the first women doctors in Malaya. She pioneered modern infant care in rural Malaya through home visits, became head of Singapore’s first paediatrics ward as well as one of the colony’s leading surgeons, and wrote respected textbooks on tropical hygiene.

Education and early life
Sarah O’Flynn was educated at convent schools in Ireland and France before entering the University of Edinburgh. In 1912, she received her bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery degrees and then went to London’s Royal Free Hospital as an obstetrical assistant. During this time, she became a militant supporter of the campaign for women’s right to vote and frequently demonstrated. After attempting to storm parliament with other suffragettes demanding to see the prime minister, she was arrested and spent a week on hunger strike.

Career in Malaya and wartime service
O’Flynn joined the Colonial Medical Service in 1913 and was posted to Malaya. She was later described as the first female physician in Malaya, although the appointment of two other women medical officers to Malaya was announced simultaneously and female missionaries were already performing medical work there. Women doctors were still viewed sceptically by some of their colleagues but female patients welcomed them.

She worked in a number of places including Pahang, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. While in Kuala Pilah in 1915, she treated a raja’s wife. The patient’s family was characteristically suspicious of Western medical science and refused to allow life-saving surgery, but were persuaded of its safety after the district officer, Richard Olaf Winstedt (or R. O. Winstedt, as he was better known), showed them his own surgical scars. The surgery went ahead and local midwives came to watch O’Flynn operate. The young woman’s recovery deeply impressed the local people, and the Yang di Pertuan Besar (Head of State) of Negeri Sembilan hoped the experience would increase support for two new women’s hospitals in his state. O’Flynn reportedly helped establish one of the first women’s hospitals in Malaya.

Most of her patients were of humbler backgrounds and many lived in remote locations. To reach them, she sometimes cycled as far as 20 miles, walked through jungles and paddy fields and spent nights in kampong (village) dwellings. She operated on kitchen tables and devised a new method of diagnosing ruptured spleens in malaria victims. With her knowledge of the Malay language, she overcame their wariness and was one of the first people to bring modern infant welfare work to the Malayan countryside.

She left Malaya in 1916, the year the War Office appealed for women doctors to help cope with increasing casualties in Europe. Hundreds of women responded, even though they would not be commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps until after World War II. Many, like Winstedt, were sent to Malta, Salonika and Serbia to treat the injured and acquitted themselves with distinction. After the war ended, she travelled to northern Russia on a medical mission in 1919. Back in Singapore in the 1920s, she assisted with the Remembrance Sunday poppy appeal to commemorate fallen soldiers and was elected first president of the Singapore Women’s Branch of the Malaya Ex-Services’ Association.

Career in Singapore
In early 1921, she returned to Malaya to marry R. O. Winstedt and joined the surgical unit of the Singapore General Hospital. She was described as one of the government medical service’s most capable surgeons and was praised by Kenneth Black, surgery professor at the King Edward VII College of Medicine and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, for the unsurpassed skill she demonstrated while helping him perform innumerable difficult operations. In 1929, she was entrusted with attending then Governor Hugh Clifford’s gravely ill wife during the latter’s month-long journey to Britain for treatment.

Throughout her time at the hospital, she was also responsible for child patients. They were initially admitted to the women’s ward, but in 1932 the hospital opened Singapore’s first separate paediatric ward with Winstedt as its head. She was later acknowledged as one of the earliest pioneers of paediatrics as a distinct branch of medicine in Singapore.

From 1931, she had to balance her work responsibilities with hosting duties and a busier social schedule after her husband became general advisor to the state of Johor. Known as Paddy, she was vivacious and had a racy sense of humour that shocked some women but amused men. She retired from Singapore General Hospital in 1933 and wrote a set of primary school textbooks on tropical hygiene. The first volume was praised by the colony’s former principal medical officer as the most practical book of its kind he had read and the textbooks were reprinted as late as 1961. While living in Johor Bahru she voluntarily established the first paediatric unit at its general hospital.

Post-Singapore life
In 1935, the Winstedts returned to Britain and both were awarded King George V’s Silver Jubilee Medal for their public service. Later that year, she was an expert witness in an important English trial, vouching for the merit of a controversial sex manual which became the first non-fiction book in decades to be banned for obscenity. Winstedt joined Hampstead’s Marie Curie Cancer Hospital for women, where she enjoyed being part of an all-female environment, and became assistant director. However this was interrupted during World War II when she served as medical officer in a munitions factory.

The Winstedts were involved with the Malay Society of Great Britain, frequently met Malayan visitors to London, including royalty, and hosted a Malay student in their home. 

Winstedt passed away on 9 September 1972 in England. In 2014, the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations inducted her into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.

Family
In 1921, she wed R. O. Winstedt, who went on to become director of education, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, and later general advisor to the state of Johor.



Author
Duncan Sutherland



References
Arora, M. (2007). Women’s activism and reform in colonial Singapore. In M. Arora (Ed.), Small steps, giant leaps: A history of AWARE and the women’s movement in Singapore (pp. 35-37). Singapore: Association of Women for Action and Research.
(Call no.: RSING 305.42095957 SMA)

Craig, A. (1937). The banned books of England (pp. 62, 74). London: G. Allen & Unwin.
(Not available in NLB holdings)

Deaths. (1972, September 12). The Times, p. 22. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from Times Digital Archive.

Ex-Services Association. (1927, October 20). The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved May 3, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Field, C. E. (1962, April). The development of paediatrics in Singapore. Journal of the Singapore Paediatric Society, 3(1), 1-2.
(Call no.: RCLOS 618.92 JSPS)

Fraser, H. (1918). Women and war work (p.18). Retrieved June 20, 2011, from http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=ntQm-HMrQyEC

Full list of Jubilee Medal Awards in S.S. and Malay States. (1935, May 24). The Singapore Free Press, p. 1. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Hacker, C. (2001). The indomitable lady doctors (p. 178). Retrieved July 4, 2011, from  http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=ect9febDdsMC

Harrison, M. (2004). Medicine and victory: British military medicine in the Second World War (p. 34). Retrieved July 4, 2011, from  http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=mn4aI-boeR0C

Hoops, A. L. (1936). Foreword. In S. Winstedt, Tropical hygiene part I. Singapore: Malaya Publishing House. Retrieved on May 1, 2011, from  http://mms.elibraryhub.com/SHC/NLBHB/020000739.pdf

Lady Clifford on board. (1929, October 18). The Straits Times, p. 11. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Lady Winstedt. (1972, September 13). The Times, p. 14. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from Times Digital Archive.

Lady Winstedt in Mayfair. (1936, January 9). The Straits Times, Women’s Supplement, p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Lest we forget. (1923, October 23). The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Mainly about Malayans. (1933, February 19). The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Malay Regiment for the F.M.S. (1931, November 19). The Straits Times, p. 11. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

New letter series today. (1947, July 19). The Straits Times, p. 5. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Obituary notices. (1972, September 30). British Medical Journal, 3(5890), 834. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1786277/pdf/brmedj02224-0072.pdf

Page 8 Advertisements column 2. (1921, March 7). The Straits Times, p.8. Retrieved May 3, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Prof. K. Black says goodbye to college friends. (1934, July 4). The Straits Times, p.6. Retrieved June 23, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Romney, H. (1951, January 15). British Malay Society is very strong now. The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved June 23, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Sarah Winstedt, death certificate (1972), General Register Office for England and Wales, Southport, United Kingdom.
(Not available in NLB holdings)

Sidney-Wilmot, W. (1954, February 28). Malay magic in Putney. The Straits Times, p. 6. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Singapore Council of Women's Organisations. (n.d.). Sarah Mary Josephine Winstedt. Retrieved from Singapore Women's Hall of Fame website: http://www.swhf.sg/the-inductees/18-health/151-sarah-mary-josephine-windstedt

Social and personal. (1913, July 16). The Straits Times, p. 8. Retrieved May 3, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Social and personal. (1915, August 6). The Straits Times, p. 6. Retrieved May 3, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Untitled. (1914, May 8). The Singapore Free Press, p. 6. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Untitled. (1925, December 24). The Singapore Free Press, p. 16. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from NewspaperSG.

Winstedt, R. O. (1969). Start from alif, count from one: An autobiographical memoire (p. 153). Kuala Lumpur; New York: Oxford University Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.505 WIN)

Winstedt, S. (1945, June 23). A lesser operative procedure. British Medical Journal, 1(4407), 888. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2057796/pdf/brmedj03890-0026d.pdf


Further resources
Gunatilaka, S. D., & Winstedt, S. (1935). Tropical hygiene part II [Microfiche: MFC NL0007/60-62, MFC NL0014/141-143]. Singapore: Malaya Publishing House.
(Call no.: RRARE 372.37095951 WIN)

Gunatilaka, S. D., & Winstedt, S. (1957). Tropical hygiene part III. Singapore: Malaya Publishing House Ltd.
(Call no.:  RCLOS 372.37095951 WIN)

Winstedt, S. (1933). Tropical hygiene part I [Microfiche: MFC NL0007/58-59, MFC NL0015/044-045]. Singapore: Malaya Publishing House.
(Call no.: RRARE 372.37095951 WIN)



The information in this article is valid as at 2015 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.