Margaret Williamson Menzies Campbell FDS FRCSE (née Shirlaw; 21 July 1893 – 1990) was a Scottish surgeon and general practitioner, who is known for her work as an historian of women's medical education and practice and dentistry.
On her birth record, her father is listed as the manager of Carfin Farm, however, by the 1911 census, the family had moved to Darlington, County Durham.
[1][2] One of her cases made the newspapers, showcasing the pressure the medical profession was under at the time, when a young woman, Elizabeth Pawson, died suddenly "whilst under an anaesthetic, during an operation for appendicitis".
They added a rider that no blame should be attached to Shirlaw, nor any of the other hospital staff, but suggested that in future a medical practitioner be called in to administer the anaesthetic.
[7][8] She married John Menzies Campbell, a dentist also based in Buckingham Terrace, on the 23 December 1924 at St. George's Presbyterian Church, Darlington.
In 1977, she was awarded an honorary Fellowship of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons for her work on the history of dentistry.