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Princess Anne unveils plaque for UK's first female neurosurgeon

Andy Gill,in Liverpooland
Angela Ferguson,North West
Handout A black-and-white photo shows a man and a woman standing alongside one another. Both are wearing white coats. The man has a cigarette in his mouth. They both appear to be looking at something in front of them, which is to the right of the photo.Handout
Diana Beck trained under neurosurgeon Professor Hugh Cairns in Oxford at a time when it was a relatively new specialty, a Walton Centre spokesperson said

The Princess Royal has visited the Walton Centre to unveil a plaque honouring a pioneering Cheshire woman who became the UK's first female neurosurgeon.

Princess Anne unveiled a plaque to Diana Beck, who was born in Chester in 1902, at the Walton Centre in Liverpool.

The hospital is also honouring the surgeon by renaming its theatre to The Beck Theatre Department.

Beck's achievements during her career included carrying out lifesaving brain surgery on Winnie-the-Pooh author A A Milne after he had a stroke in 1952.

Beck, a former pupil of the Queen's School in Chester, is being honoured by the Walton Centre on the 70th anniversary of her death, at the age of 55, in 1956.

The Princess Royal's visit also marked the 1000th life-changing thrombectomy procedure for stroke patients, at what is the UK's only specialist neurosciences hospital.

Thrombectomy involves using guide wires and specialist equipment to remove blood clots from arteries in the brain following a stroke.

Getty Images A black-and-white photo shows a man wearing a suit and bow tie and holding a pipe to his mouth while sitting in an armchair. A small boy with blond hair is sitting on his lap and looking at the camera. A range of ornaments can be seen on the window sill and on a small table nearby.Getty Images
Diana Beck is credited with saving the life of Winnie-the-Pooh author A A Milne, pictured here with his son Christopher Robin, at their home in 1925

Alex Hills, whose grandmother was Diana Beck's cousin, said he and his family were "incredibly proud" to have travelled to Liverpool from London for the unveiling.

Hills said it was "quite remarkable" that she was able to achieve all that she did, including being trained by one of the pre-eminent neurosurgeons of the time.

"She took up residence in Middlesex Hospital, where she led a team there and was incredibly well liked and very much a people person, dedicated to her work," he said.

A man with short brown hair, wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt and pale blue tie is pictured smiling while standing in a room in a hospital.
Family member Alex Hills said Diana Beck was a "remarkable woman"

Catherine Gilkes, a consultant neurosurgeon at the Walton Centre, researched Beck's achievements while training at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital.

She said Beck "effectively became the first female neurosurgeon in western Europe and North America and I think, probably, the world".

Gilkes said becoming established in this area of medicine at that time would have been "exceptionally difficult", highlighting how there were only two medical schools in London which accepted women students at that stage.

She said that "surgery was very much a male domain" back then and Beck was "trailblazing in neurosurgery in very difficult circumstances".

Beck "advocated for neurosurgery throughout her career".

"* think she's a fine example for us and it's very fitting that the theatres are named after her," she said.

The Princess Royal is standing next to a plaque which says 'To commemorate the visit of HRH The Princess Royal to the Walton Centre on 9 October 2026'. She is wearing a red jacket, a brown pleated skirt and a lilac, green and blue scarf ; her brown hair is worn up, in a bun. A man in a dark blue suit and a woman in a blue dress stand to her right.
The Princess Royal unveiled the plaque during a visit to the Walton Centre in Liverpool

A tribute to Beck in the Cheshire Observer on 10 March 1956 referenced a quote from her obituary in The Times which noted that "comparatively few women take up surgery as a speciality, and most of those who do become gynaecologists".

"Miss Beck's remarkable success in this difficult and exclusive department of practice may be judged by the appointments which she held and by her research work and publications in the field of neurosurgery," the obituary continued.

Phyllis Bliss/The Queen's School A painting of a woman with tied back brown hair. She is smiling and wearing a white blouse, a burgundy coloured jacket, a pearl necklace and earrings.Phyllis Bliss/The Queen's School
Diana Beck was a former pupil of The Queen's School in Chester, with fellow alumnus Phyllis Bliss producing this portrait of her

A Walton Centre spokesperson said that Beck was "a pioneering neurosurgeon whose skill, determination and innovation helped shape the development of modern neurosurgery".

They said she made "significant contributions to the treatment of brain injuries and neurological conditions during, and after, World War Two".

In 1947 she became the first woman to be appointed as a consultant neurosurgeon at a London teaching hospital.

"Her clinical excellence, research achievements and trailblazing leadership paved the way for future generations of women in surgery and neuroscience," the spokesperson said.

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