Alice Maude Sorabji Pennell Biography 
Alice Maude Sorabji Pennell was a physician and writer from Maharashtra who lived during the period, July 17, 1874 – March 7, 1951. She is the first woman in India to earn a Bachelor of Science degree. She belongs to a family of intellectuals and female members with good education and also rose to prominent positions in the society in the pre-independent India. She was married to Theodore Leighton Pennell, a Christian missionary and doctor who lived among the tribes of Afghanistan.
She was the youngest daughter of Christian missionary Reverend Sorabji Karsedji and his wife, Francina Sorabji, a woman activist and educator. She was born in Belgium into a family with Parsi roots. She is the sibling of well-known figure Cornelia Sorabji is a prominent name, who was India’s first female lawyer and graduate from Bombay University. She was also the first woman to practice law in Britain and India, apart from earning law degree from Oxford University. Well-known educator Susie Sorabji was her sister while Philosopher Sir Richard Sorabji is her nephew. She had 8 siblings, of whom two died young. Her father was a missionary who advocated for girl child education and a key figure to play an important role in admitting girls as students to Bombay University. The children were brought up in a progressive environment.
Alice’s school education was done at Pune, where she was brought up. Later she earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Wilson College in Bombay, thus becoming the first woman to earn that degree in India. Later she was trained as a physician in London, and she also received from her sister Cornelia Sorabji, who has already set a great example among Indian woman, through the academic degrees she earned. She completed her medical studies in 1905 and worked at the Zenana Hospital in Bahawalpur. She was also an author of a few books, including the biography of her husband, which she published soon after his death. She lost him 4 years after marriage in 1908. She lived till 76 years and died in 1951.
Published: February 03, 2019
Updated: February 03, 2019
