Barnes, (Alice) Josephine (Mary Taylor) (1912–1999)

English obstetrician and gynaecologist. The first woman president of the British Medical Association 1979–80, she has also held appointments at the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the National Association of Family Planning Doctors. As a member of national and international committees, she has worked with the Royal Commission on Medical Education 1965–68, the Committee on the Working of the Abortion Act 1971–73, and the Advertising Standards Authority 1980–93. In 1974 she was created DBE.

Barnes was born in Shorlingham, Norfolk. She read physiology at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, before completing her clinical training at University College Hospital, London in 1937. After various appointments in London and Oxford, she became deputy academic head of the Obstetric Unit of University College Hospital 1947–52, and surgeon to the Marie Curie Hospital 1947–67. She has published extensively on obstetrics, gynaecology, and family planning.