Lady Hardinge Medical College is a medical college for women located in New Delhi, India. Established in 1916, it became part of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Delhi in 1950. The college is funded by the Government of India.

History

Nurses at Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital, 1921

When the national capital of India was shifted to Delhi, Lady Hardinge, the wife of the then Viceroy of India, Baron Charles Hardinge, decided to establish a medical college for women, as she recognized that the lack of such a college made it impossible for Indian women to study medicine. The foundation stone was laid by Lady Hardinge on 17 March 1914 and the college was named Queen Mary College & Hospital to commemorate the visit by Queen Mary in 1911-12. Lady Hardinge was actively involved in collecting funds for the college from the princely states and the public until her death on 11 July 1914.

The college was inaugurated on 7 February 1916 by Baron Hardinge in the Imperial Delhi Enclave area. On the suggestion of Queen Mary, the college and the hospital was named after Lady Hardinge to perpetuate the memory of its founder. The first principal was Dr. Kate Platt and the college admitted 16 students. As the college was then affiliated to University of the Punjab, the students had to sit their final examinations at King Edward Medical College in Lahore. The college became affiliated to the University of Delhi in 1950 and post-graduate courses were started in 1954. Dr. Ruth Young CBE, who as Ruth Wilson was the first Professor of Surgery at the College, served as Principal from 1936 until 1940. The Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, one of the two hospitals attached to the Lady Hardinge Medical College, was built in 1956.

Initially, the college was an autonomous institution managed by a Governing Body. In the year 1953, the Board of Administration constituted by the Central Government took formal charge of the management of the institution. In February 1978, the management was taken over by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India under an Act of Parliament. One of the director professors is chosen as the president of the college, the most senior post in the college.