Sophia Jex-Blake died on 7 January 1912 at her home in Rotherfield, Sussex, aged 71.
Sophia Jex-Blake died on 7 January 1912 at her home, Windydene, in Rotherfield, Sussex, at the age of 71. She had retired from medical practice around 1899 and spent her final years living with her long-term companion, Margaret Todd, who would later write Jex-Blake's biography, published in 1918.
By the time of her death, the landscape she had fought to transform was profoundly altered: hundreds of women were qualified doctors in Britain, multiple medical schools admitted women, and the legal and institutional barriers she had battled against had been substantially dismantled, though full equality remained a work in progress. Her obituaries recognized her as a foundational figure in opening the medical profession to women, even as her combative personality and unyielding tactics had made her a controversial figure among both opponents and some allies.
Her legacy endures through the institutions she helped found — the London School of Medicine for Women and the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women — and through the example of the Edinburgh Seven, whose story became emblematic of the broader struggle for women's access to higher education and the professions. In 2019, the University of Edinburgh posthumously awarded medical degrees to the Edinburgh Seven, 150 years after their matriculation, a symbolic act of restorative justice for Jex-Blake and her companions.