Having a Baby in Nantwich during the Mid- to Late Seventeenth Century

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© Nantwich Museum, 2021


Sara Read, Loughborough University, and Janette Allotey, De Partu History of Childbirth Group and Nantwich Museum, will explore the role of midwives during the mid- to late seventeenth century, which includes the Civil War period. It will be described how one Nantwich midwife, Anne Knutsford, achieved local notoriety and subsequently spent many years trying to clear her name and regain her licence to practise midwifery.  Her case is well documented in archival records and has become of interest to modern-day social historians. 

Tickets can be purchased through the Museum’s website: https://nantwichmuseum.org.uk/product/midwifery-in-the-english-civil-war-webinar/

A TV researcher is currently looking for an ‘expert’ to advise on midwifery…

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A researcher is currently looking for an ‘expert’ to advise on midwifery and a midwife who practised between 1940-60:

‘I’m researching a potential story to do with midwifery for the series Who Do You Think You Are? The ancestor we are interested in qualifies in 1928 as a midwife, she works as a ‘municipal midwife’ and then as a district midwife (we think) as a domiciliary midwife in London for the LCC from around 1942 – 1958. We would really like to speak with an expert to ask questions about her role and how she would have coped during the war, and what difficulties midwives faced”.

Does anyone know of a possible midwife interviewee?

Please contact Janette if you are able to help at: jcadepartu.org.uk

The Foundling Hospital: Big with child on stage – fictional and real occurrences of pregnancy in the Thespian world of around 1700

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Hear about fictional and real occurrences of pregnancy in the Thespian world of around 1700.

Wednesday 21st April 13:00 | Online via Zoom, free but must be booked in advance

Researcher Anita Sikora uncovers the intriguing world of pregnancy on the London stage in the early 18th century. English actor Ann Oldfield and Italian opera singer Margherita Durastanti both continued to perform well into advanced pregnancy. Come and discover what reactions this caused – and how pregnancy was depicted in the theatre during this period.

A new online feature on George Spratt’s Obstetrical Tables (1833) by Dr Rebecca Whiteley

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Dr Rebecca Whiteley writes, ‘By studying Spratt’s tables alongside comic and satirical mobile prints, obscene and pornographic prints, and “fine art” nudes, this article demonstrates how medical images can be addressed as rich and complex resources for histories that are medical, visual, and cultural’.

Get access

A funded PhD studentship: ‘Public Understandings of Fertility, Pregnancy or Post-Natal Health: A Cultural History’

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The topic is Public Understandings of Fertility, Pregnancy or Post-Natal Health: A Cultural History; the supervision is split between Birkbeck’s School of Arts and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Students are asked to define their project, specifying a period of history, and a specific health topic within maternity health, broadly conceived.

Details here

 

Scottish Society of the History of Medicine Symposium (12–13 March 2021)

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The Scottish Society of the History of Medicine will be holding a special symposium on “Teaching anatomy from Classical to modern times” – Friday 12th and Saturday 13th March 2021.

Download the brochure and registration form.

Introduction

This two day symposium is being organised by the Scottish Society of the History of Medicine, in association with the British Society for the History of Medicine and the History Society of the Royal Society of Medicine. The aim is to explore the development of anatomy teaching from the earliest times to the present day.

Presentations will cover the ways in which anatomical knowledge has been acquired, portrayed and taught. We will examine the evolution of techniques used in the teaching of anatomy through the ages and its relevance not only to surgery and medicine, but also to art and society in general.

The programme includes keynote lectures, invited speakers and short papers. We welcome short papers from a range of perspectives including historical, social, cultural and modern innovations.

Symposium Topics

  • The rise and fall of comparative anatomy
  • Cadaveric model
  • Wax and paper models
  • Anatomy textbooks
  • The rise and fall of the private anatomy schools
  • The role of anatomy museums
  • Modern technologies
  • Anatomy in art
  • Leonardo’s anatomy
  • Anatomy potpourri: Humour/mnemonics/cartoons etc.

Venue

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Nicolson Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9DW

Interesting paper ‘Reviewing the Womb’

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In the current issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics, Dunja Begovi, Elizabeth Chloe Romanis and Alexandra Mullock suggest in an open access article ‘Reviewing the womb‘ that women’s reproductive freedom is under threat in many ways as the uterus becomes more accessible and amenable to medical management. It discusses some of the associated ethical and legal dangers which have emerged from developments in reproductive technology, and reflects on the historical notions of woman as the (sometimes incompetent) vessel for the nurturing of the male seed, where the focus lies on the fruit of the womb, on the fetus rather than the mother.