Keefe hosts reception to mark naming of British residency

BELGRADE - Ambassador of Great Britain in Serbia Denis Keefe hosted a reception to mark the designation of the name of the British residence in Belgrade after Scottish doctor Elsie Inglis, and on this occasion he and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic also revealed a memorial plate bearing Inglis' name.

Addressing the guests at the reception hosted late on Thursday within the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I and the International Women's Day, Keefe underscored that Elsie Inglis was only one out of 600 British ladies that stayed in Serbia during World War I as part of the Allied Medical Service.

Elsie Inglis was one of the first women holding a university degree in Scotland and she was also a pioneer in medicine, Keefe said and added that Inglis fiercely fought prejudice and advocated social and political emancipation of women in Britain. She was a tireless volunteer, a brave organiser of women's hospitals in Scotland and a devoted humanitarian activist, Keefe said.

He noted that Elsie Inglis did not live to see the end of the war and the triumph of some of her ideas, but she had an immense impact on social developments.

She became a doctor in Scotland and in Serbia, she turned a saint, Keefe said.

In the course of World War I, Inglis actively assisted the Serbian army in the hospitals in Kragujevac, Mladenovac, Lazarevac, Krusevac, Valjevo, Thessalonika, Corsica and Odessa. She died in November 1917 upon her return to Britain from a German prison, the Embassy of Great Britain in Serbia released.

The reception in the British residence was attended by President Nikolic and his wife Dragica, U.S. Ambassador in Serbia Michael Kirby, Italian Ambassador Giuseppe Manzo, Indian...