[3] There were 190 members to begin with, including Jane Harriett Walker, Ethel Williams, Catherine Chisholm, Florence Barrett, and Louisa Aldrich-Blake.

[4] At the outset they considered accepting members living outside the British Isles and reported receiving enquiries from Canada, Tasmania, Australia and India.

[6] The Federation collected testimonies and excellent records, but despite their petitioning and campaigning the War Office remained reluctant to grant women equal status.

An early campaign of the Federation included a 1918 protest against London County Council's decision to return to a pre-war refusal to employ married women.

Issues included venereal disease,[8] nutrition, lunacy law reform, the fitness of women to pilot commercial aeroplanes, the menopause, and guidance on the hygiene of menstruation (a Federation pamphlet on this subject sold 10,000 copies in a single year).

The federation also lobbied government on issues including equal pay, the birth rate, nursery school provision, and the employment of women in the Diplomatic Services.

[7] In 1944, the Goodenough committee strongly advocated changes to medicine including mixed medical schools and called for open competition for all hospital appointments.

[7] From the end of the Second World War, the Federation played an increasingly influential role in British Medicine due to its representation on other medical bodies.

[15] 1920-1922 Mary Sturge 1922-1924 Florence Barrett 1924-1926 Frances Ivens 1926-1928 Christine Murrell 1928-1930 Catherine Chisholm 1930-1932 Louisa Martindale 1932-1934 Mabel L. Ramsay 1934-1936 Ethel Williams 1936 Mona Chalmers Watson 1936-1938 Ellen Orr 1938-1940 Elizabeth Bolton 1940-1942 Janet Aitken 1942-1944 Clara Stewart 1944-1946 Janet Mary Campbell 1946-1948 Mary Lucas Keene 1948-1950 Gertrude Herzfeld 1950-1953 Doris Odlum 1953-1954 Mary Esslemont 1954-1955 Annis Gillie 1955-1956 Mona MacNaughton 1956-1957 Kate Harrower 1957-1958 Jean Mackintosh 1958-1959 Katharine Lloyd-Williams 1959-1960 Georgiana Bonser 1960-1961 Sylvia Guthrie 1961-1962 Joyce Cockram 1962-1963 Patricia Shaw 1963-1964 Dorothy McNair 1964-1965 Mary Crosse 1965-1966 Margaret Methven 1966-1967 Josephine Barnes 1967-1968 Marian Maxwell Reekie 1968-1969 Beryl Corner 1969-1970 Catherine Gray 1970-1971 Agnes Nutt 1971-1972 Albertine Winner 1972-1973 Jean Hallum 1973-1974 Catrin Williams 1974-1975 Josephine Williamson 1975-1976 Joan Sutherland 1976-1977 Jean Lawrie 1977-1978 Mary Jones 1978 Mary Duguid 1979-1980 Romola Dunsmore 1980-1981 Amelia Marrow 1981-1982 Ruth Bowden 1982-1983 Rosemary Rue 1983-1984 Dorothy Ward 1984-1985 Jean Scott 1986-1987 Beulah Bewley 1987-1988 Lotte Newman 1988-1989 Margaret Sprackling 1989-1990 Nuala Sterling 1990-1992 Liz Shore 1992-1993 Wendy Savage 1993-1994 Gillian Markham 1994-1995 Chitra Bharucha 1995-1996 Judith Chapman 1996-1997 Fleur Fisher 1997-1998 Anne Rennie 1998-1999 Joan Trowell 1999-2000 Fiona Subotsky 2000-2001 Kate Ward 2001-2002 Ilora Finlay 2002-2003 Pauline Brimblecombe 2003-2004 Melanie Jones 2004-2005 Selena Gray 2005-2006 Bhupinder Sandhu 2006-2007 Melanie Davies 2007-2008 Sue Ward 2008-2010 Helen Goodyear 2010-2012 Clarissa Fabre 2012-2014 Fiona Cornish 2014-2016 Sally Davies 2016-2018 Parveen Kumar 2018-2020 Henrietta Bowden-Jones 2020– 2021 Neena Modi 2021 - 2023 Chloe Orkin