Isabel Galloway Emslie was born in Edinburgh, in 1887. She was the eldest daughter of James Emslie, advocate and Deputy Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland. She was educated at Edinburgh Ladies' College. She enrolled at the University of Edinburgh and trained in the women's medical school, spending her hospital residence years at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In 1910, she graduated with a degree in medicine and, in 1912, was awarded her MD with a thesis titled "Wassermann sero-diagnosis of syphilis in 200 cases of insanity".
Career
While completing her thesis, she worked as a pathologist at the Stirling District Asylum, and then moved to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children before becoming the first woman to be appointed in charge of the women medicine of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. In 1915, she joined the Scottish Women's Hospitals Organisation and served in France and then with the Armee d'Orient in Salonika, distinguishing herself by leading the unit which accompanied the Serbian army during the First World War. Following the closure of the Serbian hospital where she worked, she took over Lady Muriel Paget's mission in Crimea. In this role, she brought several orphaned children to Constantinople and organised relief for Russian refugees. In 1928, she published With a Woman's Unit in Serbia, Salonika and Sebastopol, an account of these years. For her work during this period, she was awarded the Serbian orders of the White Eagle and St. Sava, the French Croix de Guerre, and the Order of St. Anna of Russia. On her return to Edinburgh in 1920, she was reinstated to her former post at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital but resigned the position after her marriage the following year to Major Thomas Hutton. She then moved to London, working as a researcher the Maudsley Hospital which led to a research paper with Sir Frederick Mott, and honorary consultancies at the Maudsley and the West End Hospital for Nervous Disease. In 1940, she published Mental Disorders in Modern Life, drawing on her experience from these roles. She moved to India in 1938 and undertook charity work, broadcasting and dispatches for the external affairs department, taking up the role of director of the Indian Red Cross welfare service, before returning to England in 1946. In 1948, she received a CBE. After becoming a senior consultant psychiatrist, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association. She died on 11 January 1960 and was buried with her parents in the Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh. The grave, sculpted by Pilkington Jackson, stands near the centre of the south-west extension.
Selected works
With a Woman's Unit in Serbia, Salonika and Sebastopol, 1928
Mental Disorders in Modern Life, 1940
autobiography, Memoirs of a Doctor in War and Peace, 1960.
Awards and honours
In 2015, a Serbian postage stamp was released to honour her work during the war.
