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By Sutherland, Duncan written on 29-Mar-2009
National Library Board Singapore

Comments on article: InfopediaTalk

Lee Choo Neo (Dr) (b. 7 September 1895, Singapore - d. 7 September 1947, Singapore) was the first woman medical doctor in Singapore. She overcame a level of cultural hostility to attain this distinction, and her concern for the status of other women led her to help establish the Chinese Ladies' Association of Malaya, in which she was active for many years. Lee was also a leading member of the Malayan Branch of the British Medical Association.

Early life
Lee was of Peranakan and Hakka descent; her father was Lee Hoon Leong (1871-1942), a managing director of the Heap Eng Moh Steamship Company Ltd. Lee was educated at the Chinese Girls' School, where she received prizes in English, Grammar and reading, then spent three years studying at Raffles Girls' School. 

As she wrote when she was eighteen years old, the life of a Chinese girl in the Straits Settlements was not an enviable one. They had very little contact with male company and their education beyond a rudimentary level was treated as unnecessary and even faced hostility, though Lee disagreed with conventional wisdom and thought that further education and English literacy would help them to become better wives. 

Major accomplishments
First woman doctor
Yet attitudes were evolving during the 1910s and against this backdrop Lee excelled in her studies. In 1911 she became the first Chinese girl to earn a Senior Cambridge certificate and in 1912 or 1913 she enrolled at the Straits and Federated Malay States Government Medical School (soon to be renamed the King Edward VII School of Medicine). There was some criticism from within the Chinese community over this but Lee's family remained supportive.

When she received her diploma as a licentiate in medicine and surgery in August 1919 she was Singapore's fourth female medical graduate in eight years, though for unknown reasons none of the others were registered here as doctors. Lee therefore made history in June of 1920 when she became Singapore's first woman medical practitioner. Her breakthrough remained rare, as only five other women graduated from medical school in the decade that followed.

Professional career 
Lee's first job was working for the local government service between 1919 and 1927, overseeing two women's wards at Singapore General Hospital. In 1930 she opened her own private practice on Bras Basah Road, where she lived, and seems to have specialised in maternity care, drawing a large clientele of women and children. Her practice, the Lee Dispensary, was successful enough that in 1939 she made plans to expand it. 

She joined the council of the Malayan Branch of the British Medical Association in 1936 and served for several years in the demanding role of honorary treasurer. During the Japanese occupation she kept the council's financial records safe and worked to rebuild the association's membership and funds once the war ended. After ten years on the council she stepped down for an extended vacation in Australia then resumed her clinical practice upon returning to Singapore.

Community service
Lee's experience of surmounting opposition and breaking barriers inspired her to encourage other women. With twenty-two others she was a founder of the Chinese Ladies' Association in 1915, serving for many years as its honorary secretary. The association (which as the Chinese Women's Association is the oldest women's group in Singapore today) taught domestic skills, supported girls' education, sponsored a rescue home for women, and raised $6000 for a British warplane during its first year. Lee, who as a doctor was keen to promote physical fitness, later added outdoor sports such as tennis and croquet to the association's program. 

She was also interested in culture and the performing arts. When she was just seventeen Lee wrote, produced and co-starred in a three-act Malay language comedy called Mustafa as part of a Chinese Red Cross fundraising event at the Victoria Theatre. 

In 1925 she was appointed to an official committee investigating the need for legislation governing Chinese marriage and divorce in the colony. Lee was one of the first three Chinese women, along with Lim Han Hoe and Lee Tian Siew, to serve as a member of a government commission in the Straits Settlements. Their report recommended a voluntary registry for Chinese marriages, and legal recognition for both traditional religious and newer civil marriages which met certain benchmarks.

All Singapore clubs and societies had been suspended during the Japanese occupation but two years after the war ended Lee and other former leaders of the Chinese Ladies' Association announced plans to re-establish it. However, before she could resume a role in the club Lee died at home on 7 September 1947, her fifty-third birthday, after a short illness. She was buried at Bukit Brown.

Family
Husband: Teo Koon Lim. They were married in September 1922.
Paternal grandparents: Lee Bok Boon and Seow Huan Neo.
Children: one son and two daughters. 



Author
Duncan Sutherland



References
Announcement [Microfilm: NL 498]. (19 September 1922) The Straits Times, p.8.

Blueprint for proposed maternity clinic for Dr Lee Choo Neo [Microfilm: CBS 75, 381/39]. Singapore: National Archives of Singapore.
(Not available in NLB holdings)

Chen, B. (2002). CWA spans more than eight decades. The Chinese Women's Association Journal Annual 2002, 6-7.
(Call no.: RSING 369.5095957 WSJ)

Chinese Ladies' Association [Microfilm: NL 521]. (1924, August 12). The Straits Times, p.8.

Chinese personalities: Dr. Lee Choo Neo [Microfilm: NL 2361]. (1935, November 24). The Sunday Times, p.15.

Chinese Red Cross Society [Microfilm: NL 360]. (1912, March 8). The Straits Times, p.6.

Chinese topics in Malaya [Microfilm: NL 312]. (1908, January 25). The Straits Times, p.8.

Chinese women to re-open club [Microfilm: NL 2419]. (1947, August 3). The Straits Times, p.7.

Crowded out: Development of Chinese Girls School [Microfilm: NL 359]. (1912, February 10). The Straits Times, p.9.

Death [Microfilm: NL 5183]. (1947, September 9). The Straits Times, p.6.

Flanagan, R. (1994, October-December). The Chinese Ladies' Association and Singapore society, 1915-1994. The Chinese Women's Association Journal, 11.
(Call no.: RSING 369.5095957 WSJ) 

Gillis, E. K., & Tan, K. (2006). The book of Singapore firsts (p.58). Singapore: Singapore Heritage Society.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 GIL)

Government Gazette (GN no. 1622 - List of medical practitioners registered, pp.747-763). (1947, August 1). Singapore:  [s.n.].
(Call no.; RCLOS 959.57 SGG)

Lim, C.G.S. (2003). Gateway to Peranakan culture (p.20). Singapore: Asiapac.
(Call no.: RSING 305.8951 LIM)

Muir, C.S., & Wong, P.K. (Eds.). (1965). Sixty years of medical education, 1905-1965 (p.74). Singapore: Stamford Press.
(Call no.: RCLOS 610.711 MUI)

Obituary notices: Dr. Lee Choo Neo (1947, September). The Medical Journal of Malaya, 2(1), 81.
(Call no.: RCLOS 610.5 MJM)

Song, O. S. (1984). One hundred years history of the Chinese in Singapore (pp.352-3). Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no: RSING 959.5757SON)

Results of the recent mid-term examinations [Microfilm: NL 375]. (1913, September 5). The Straits Times, p.9. 

Rudolph, J. (1998). Reconstructing collective identities: The babas of Singapore. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 28(2), 221. Retrieved January 20, 2009, from ProQuest 5000 International database.

Singapore book of records (p.226). (2008). Singapore: Singapore book of records club.
(Call no.: R SING q959.57 SBR-[HIS])

Straits Settlements Chinese marriage committee. (1926). Report (p.2, 7, 9) [Microfilm: NL 5560]. Singapore. Government Printing Office. Retrieved January 20, 2009, from http://sgebooks.nl.sg/opendoc.aspx?doc=shc/nlbhb/020000215.pdf

Women's festival tomorrow, A [Microfilm: NL 1508]. (1936, February 6). The Straits Times, p.iii.


List of images
Song, O. S. (1984). One hundred years history of the Chinese in Singapore (p.352). Singapore: Oxford University Press.
(Call no: RSING 959.5757SON)



The information in this article is valid as at 2009 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.