The Midwife

The midwife: medical professional, friend in a woman's hour of greatest need, potent social and cultural symbol. Though the role of midwife has existed since time immemorial, it is only since the Victorian era that it has been a recognised and regulated profession. This book, from social history expert Susan Cohen, looks at midwifery in Britain from ancient times up to the present, paying particular attention to its incredible medical and social advances of the last 150 years. It is a fully illustrated tour that takes in fictional midwives such as Dickens' Sarey Gamp, the founding of the Royal College of Midwives in 1881, the Second World War, the forming of the NHS and the Central Midwives Board, and looks at the increasing medicalisation of childbirth and the countervailing trend for giving birth at home.

Susan Cohen is an historian with a wide interest in twentieth-century British social history and refugee studies. She has written and lectured widely on a variety of subjects. She has written The District Nurse, The Women's Institute and Medical Services in the First World War for Shire.

The Early Days / A New Era Dawns / The First World War and Beyond / A New Training Regime / The Second World War / Post-war and the National Health Service / The 1960s Onwards / The Twenty-first Century / Further Reading / Index