Expertise and control: Childbearing in three twentieth-century working-class Lancashire communities

Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Volumn 78, Issue 2, 2004, Pages

  Beier, Lucinda Mccray ^a  

^a ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Childbirth; England; Midwives; Oral history; Pregnancy; Public health

Indexed keywords

EID: 3042693656     PISSN: 00075140     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/bhm.2004.0056     Document Type: Review

References (195)

1. See, e.g., Ann Oakley, The Captured Womb: A History of the Medical Care of Pregnant Women (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984); Edward Shorter, A History of Women's Bodies (Harmonds-worth: Penguin, 1984); Judith Walzer Leavitt, Brought to Bed: Child-bearing in America, 1750-1950 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); Kathleen Doherty Turkei, Women, Power, and Childbirth: A Case Study of a Free-Standing Birth Center (Westport, Conn.: Bergin and Garvey, 1966), pp. 4-5; Jan Williams, "The Controlling Power of Childbirth in Britain," in Midwives, Society and Childbirth.: Debates and Controversies in the Modern Period, ed. Hilary Marland and Anne Marie Rafferty (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 232-47.
2. See, e.g., Ann Oakley, The Captured Womb: A History of the Medical Care of Pregnant Women (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984); Edward Shorter, A History of Women's Bodies (Harmonds-worth: Penguin, 1984); Judith Walzer Leavitt, Brought to Bed: Child-bearing in America, 1750-1950 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); Kathleen Doherty Turkei, Women, Power, and Childbirth: A Case Study of a Free-Standing Birth Center (Westport, Conn.: Bergin and Garvey, 1966), pp. 4-5; Jan Williams, "The Controlling Power of Childbirth in Britain," in Midwives, Society and Childbirth.: Debates and Controversies in the Modern Period, ed. Hilary Marland and Anne Marie Rafferty (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 232-47.
3. See, e.g., Ann Oakley, The Captured Womb: A History of the Medical Care of Pregnant Women (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984); Edward Shorter, A History of Women's Bodies (Harmonds-worth: Penguin, 1984); Judith Walzer Leavitt, Brought to Bed: Child-bearing in America, 1750-1950 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); Kathleen Doherty Turkei, Women, Power, and Childbirth: A Case Study of a Free-Standing Birth Center (Westport, Conn.: Bergin and Garvey, 1966), pp. 4-5; Jan Williams, "The Controlling Power of Childbirth in Britain," in Midwives, Society and Childbirth.: Debates and Controversies in the Modern Period, ed. Hilary Marland and Anne Marie Rafferty (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 232-47.
4. See, e.g., Ann Oakley, The Captured Womb: A History of the Medical Care of Pregnant Women (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984); Edward Shorter, A History of Women's Bodies (Harmonds-worth: Penguin, 1984); Judith Walzer Leavitt, Brought to Bed: Child-bearing in America, 1750-1950 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); Kathleen Doherty Turkei, Women, Power, and Childbirth: A Case Study of a Free-Standing Birth Center (Westport, Conn.: Bergin and Garvey, 1966), pp. 4-5; Jan Williams, "The Controlling Power of Childbirth in Britain," in Midwives, Society and Childbirth.: Debates and Controversies in the Modern Period, ed. Hilary Marland and Anne Marie Rafferty (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 232-47.
5. See, e.g., Ann Oakley, The Captured Womb: A History of the Medical Care of Pregnant Women (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984); Edward Shorter, A History of Women's Bodies (Harmonds-worth: Penguin, 1984); Judith Walzer Leavitt, Brought to Bed: Child-bearing in America, 1750-1950 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); Kathleen Doherty Turkei, Women, Power, and Childbirth: A Case Study of a Free-Standing Birth Center (Westport, Conn.: Bergin and Garvey, 1966), pp. 4-5; Jan Williams, "The Controlling Power of Childbirth in Britain," in Midwives, Society and Childbirth.: Debates and Controversies in the Modern Period, ed. Hilary Marland and Anne Marie Rafferty (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 232-47.
6. Paul Starr, The Social Transformation of American Medicine (New York: Basic Books, 1982), pp. 9-21.
7. See, e.g., Dorothy Porter, Health, Civilisation and the State: A History of Public Health from Ancient to Modern Times (London: Routledge, 1999); Ann Hardy, The Epidemic Streets: Infectious Disease and the Rise of Preventive Medicine, 1856-1900 (Oxford; Clarendon Press, 1993); Bernard Harris, The Health of the Schoolchild: A History of the School Medical Service in England and Wales (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1995); Jane Lewis, What Price Community Medicine: The Philosophy, Practice and Politics of Public Health Since 1919 (Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books, 1986).
8. See, e.g., Dorothy Porter, Health, Civilisation and the State: A History of Public Health from Ancient to Modern Times (London: Routledge, 1999); Ann Hardy, The Epidemic Streets: Infectious Disease and the Rise of Preventive Medicine, 1856-1900 (Oxford; Clarendon Press, 1993); Bernard Harris, The Health of the Schoolchild: A History of the School Medical Service in England and Wales (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1995); Jane Lewis, What Price Community Medicine: The Philosophy, Practice and Politics of Public Health Since 1919 (Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books, 1986).
9. See, e.g., Dorothy Porter, Health, Civilisation and the State: A History of Public Health from Ancient to Modern Times (London: Routledge, 1999); Ann Hardy, The Epidemic Streets: Infectious Disease and the Rise of Preventive Medicine, 1856-1900 (Oxford; Clarendon Press, 1993); Bernard Harris, The Health of the Schoolchild: A History of the School Medical Service in England and Wales (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1995); Jane Lewis, What Price Community Medicine: The Philosophy, Practice and Politics of Public Health Since 1919 (Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books, 1986).
10. See, e.g., Dorothy Porter, Health, Civilisation and the State: A History of Public Health from Ancient to Modern Times (London: Routledge, 1999); Ann Hardy, The Epidemic Streets: Infectious Disease and the Rise of Preventive Medicine, 1856-1900 (Oxford; Clarendon Press, 1993); Bernard Harris, The Health of the Schoolchild: A History of the School Medical Service in England and Wales (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1995); Jane Lewis, What Price Community Medicine: The Philosophy, Practice and Politics of Public Health Since 1919 (Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books, 1986).
11. See, e.g., Richard Alien Soloway, Birth Control and the Population Question in England, 1877-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982); Wally Seccombe, Weathering the Storm: Working-Class Families from the Industrial Revolution to the Fertility Decline (London: Verso, 1993); Porter, Health, Civilization and the State (n. 3), chaps. 8 and 10.
12. See, e.g., Richard Alien Soloway, Birth Control and the Population Question in England, 1877-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982); Wally Seccombe, Weathering the Storm: Working-Class Families from the Industrial Revolution to the Fertility Decline (London: Verso, 1993); Porter, Health, Civilization and the State (n. 3), chaps. 8 and 10.
13. See, e.g., Richard Alien Soloway, Birth Control and the Population Question in England, 1877-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982); Wally Seccombe, Weathering the Storm: Working-Class Families from the Industrial Revolution to the Fertility Decline (London: Verso, 1993); Porter, Health, Civilization and the State (n. 3), chaps. 8 and 10.
14. This relationship is presumed in recent works, including Lara Marks, Model Mothers: Jewish Mothers and Maternity Provision in East London, 1870-1939 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), p. 9.
15. Helen Jones, Health and Society in Twentieth-Centuiy Britain (New York: Longman, 1994), p. 196; Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity (London: Norton, 1997), pp. 691-93.
16. Helen Jones, Health and Society in Twentieth-Centuiy Britain (New York: Longman, 1994), p. 196; Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity (London: Norton, 1997), pp. 691-93.
17. I owe these concepts to Michel Foucault and Robert Muchembled. For this paper's purposes, social control is the process by which the official public health and health-care systems controlled working-class behavior and bodies; acculturation is the process by which, through compulsory education, official health advice, and various types of popular media, traditional working-class health culture was virtually eliminated by the second half of the twentieth century.
18. See, e.g., Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Leavitt, Brought to Bed (n. 1); Jean Donnison, Midwives and Medical Men: A History of Inter-Professional Rivalries and Women's Rights (New York; Schocken, 1977); Doreen Evenden, The Midwives of Seventeenth-Century London (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
19. See, e.g., Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Leavitt, Brought to Bed (n. 1); Jean Donnison, Midwives and Medical Men: A History of Inter-Professional Rivalries and Women's Rights (New York; Schocken, 1977); Doreen Evenden, The Midwives of Seventeenth-Century London (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
20. See, e.g., Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Leavitt, Brought to Bed (n. 1); Jean Donnison, Midwives and Medical Men: A History of Inter-Professional Rivalries and Women's Rights (New York; Schocken, 1977); Doreen Evenden, The Midwives of Seventeenth-Century London (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
21. See, e.g., Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Leavitt, Brought to Bed (n. 1); Jean Donnison, Midwives and Medical Men: A History of Inter-Professional Rivalries and Women's Rights (New York; Schocken, 1977); Doreen Evenden, The Midwives of Seventeenth-Century London (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
22. See, e.g., Jane Lewis, The Politics of Motherhood: Child and Maternal Welfare in England, 1900-1930 (London: Croom Helm, 1980); Judy Giles, Women, Identity, and Private Life in Britain, 1900-1950 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995).
23. See, e.g., Jane Lewis, The Politics of Motherhood: Child and Maternal Welfare in England, 1900-1930 (London: Croom Helm, 1980); Judy Giles, Women, Identity, and Private Life in Britain, 1900-1950 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995).
24. The reports of Medical Officers of Health were available for most years for Barrow from 1883 to 1968; for Lancaster from 1907 to 1960; and for Preston from 1878 to 1970. Regarding oral history informants: Elizabeth Roberts interviewed approximately 160 people in the course of projects funded by the Social Science Research Council in 1974-76 and 1978-81. With support from the Economic and Social Research Council, Dr. Roberts and I interviewed an additional 98 informants between 1987 and 1989. Transcripts of 250 interviews were consulted for this paper. Interview tapes and transcripts are housed at the Centre for North-West Regional Studies at Lancaster University.
25. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
26. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
27. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
28. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
29. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
30. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
31. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
32. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
33. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
34. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
35. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
36. See, e.g., Ann Cartwright, Parents and Family Planning Services (New York: Atherton Press, 1970); Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1); Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Joanna Bornat et al., eds., Oral History, Health and Welfare (London: Routledge, 2000); Maureen Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught": A Study of Sexuality, Superstition and Death in Women's Lives in Lincolnshire during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s (Stamford, U.K.: Watkinds, 1992); Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, eds., The Midwife's Tale: An Oral History from Handywoman to Professional Midwife (London: Scarlet Press, 1993); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Jocelyn Cornwell, Hard-Earned Lives: Accounts of Health and Illness from East London (London: Tavistock, 1984); Sophie Laws, Issues of Blood: The Politics of Menstruation (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990); Kate Fisher, '"She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made': Gender and Birth Control in Britain, 19201950," Past & Pres., 2000, 169: 161-93; Lucinda McCray Beier, "Contagion, Policy, Class, Gender, and Mid-20th-Century Lancashire Working-Class Health Culture," Hygiea Internat. (Linköping University Press, Sweden), 2001, 2(1): 7-24; idem, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's and Get the Proper Thing': Twentieth-Century Health Care Choices in Lancashire Working-Class Communities," in Splendidly Victorian: Essays in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British History in Honour of Walter L. Amstein, ed. Michael H. Shirley and Todd E. A. Larson (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2001), pp. 221-41.
37. Paul Thompson, The Voice of the Past: Oral History, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 1-21.
38. Penny Summerfield, Reconstructing Women's Wartime Lives: Discourse and Subjectivity in Oral Histories of the Second World War (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998), p. 11.
39. Alessandro Portelli, The Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997), p. 4.
40. By accepting informants' self-identification as working-class, Elizabeth Roberts and I took an approach similar to that adopted by Joanna Bourke in Working-class Cultures in Britain 1890-1960: Gender, Class and Ethnicity (London: Routledge, 1994).
41. This issue is discussed at length in Summer-field, Reconstructing Women's Wartime Lives (n. 13), p. 17.
42. Portelli, Batik of Valle Giulia (n. 14), p. 17.
43. Michael Anderson, Family Structure in Nineteenth-Century Lancashire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971), p. 18.
44. Elizabeth Roberts, A Woman's Place: An Oral History of Working-Class Women, 1890-1940 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984), pp. 6-7; idem, Women and Families: An Oral History, 1940-1970 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995), pp. 3-4. Barrow's population was 51,712 in 1891; 66,202 in 1931; and 63,460 in 1970. Lancaster's population was 31,038 in 1891; 43,383 in 1931; and 48,500 in 1970. Preston's population was 107,573 in 1891; 119,001 in 1931; and 100,140 in 1970. It is worthy of remark that Trevor Griffiths, The Lancashire Working Classes, c. 1880-1930 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, reveals additional variations in Lancashire working-class life by consulting the records of a colliery relief fund serving families in Bolton and Wigan.
45. Elizabeth Roberts, A Woman's Place: An Oral History of Working-Class Women, 1890-1940 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984), pp. 6-7; idem, Women and Families: An Oral History, 1940-1970 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995), pp. 3-4. Barrow's population was 51,712 in 1891; 66,202 in 1931; and 63,460 in 1970. Lancaster's population was 31,038 in 1891; 43,383 in 1931; and 48,500 in 1970. Preston's population was 107,573 in 1891; 119,001 in 1931; and 100,140 in 1970. It is worthy of remark that Trevor Griffiths, The Lancashire Working Classes, c. 1880-1930 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, reveals additional variations in Lancashire working-class life by consulting the records of a colliery relief fund serving families in Bolton and Wigan.
46. Elizabeth Roberts, A Woman's Place: An Oral History of Working-Class Women, 1890-1940 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984), pp. 6-7; idem, Women and Families: An Oral History, 1940-1970 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995), pp. 3-4. Barrow's population was 51,712 in 1891; 66,202 in 1931; and 63,460 in 1970. Lancaster's population was 31,038 in 1891; 43,383 in 1931; and 48,500 in 1970. Preston's population was 107,573 in 1891; 119,001 in 1931; and 100,140 in 1970. It is worthy of remark that Trevor Griffiths, The Lancashire Working Classes, c. 1880-1930 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, reveals additional variations in Lancashire working-class life by consulting the records of a colliery relief fund serving families in Bolton and Wigan.
47. Soloway, Birth Control (n. 4), pp. 8, 13; Seccombe, Weathering the Storm (n. 4), pp. 157-58. See Roberts, Woman 's Place (n. 19), p. 85, for fertility rates for Barrow and Preston.
48. Soloway, Birth Control (n. 4), pp. 8, 13; Seccombe, Weathering the Storm (n. 4), pp. 157-58. See Roberts, Woman 's Place (n. 19), p. 85, for fertility rates for Barrow and Preston.
49. Soloway, Birth Control (n. 4), pp. 8, 13; Seccombe, Weathering the Storm (n. 4), pp. 157-58. See Roberts, Woman 's Place (n. 19), p. 85, for fertility rates for Barrow and Preston.
50. Interviewees were promised confidentiality; thus, the names used in this paper are fictitious. References to interview transcripts (housed at the Centre for North-West Regional Studies, Lancaster University) are given by the informant's code number and transcript page number: Barrow informants are indicated by the suffix "B," Lancaster informants by the suffix "L," and Preston respondents by the suffix "P." For the information provided here, the reference is Mrs. D2B, pp. 1-2.
51. Mr. TIP, p. 42. See also Mrs. M1P, p. 47.
52. Mrs. W1L, p. 7. See also Mrs. D2B, p. 19; Mrs. M1P, p. 47.
53. Mrs. DIP, p. 31. See also Mrs. H4P, born 1903, whose mother refused to sleep with her father after discovering his infidelity (p. 46).
54. Mrs. S2B, p. 29. Mr. R3L, born in 1890 and one of only two children, said his father "didn't want a big family due to economic conditions of the day"; he associated larger families with poverty (p. 57).
55. Mrs. W2L, p. 14.
56. See, e.g., Barbara Brookes, Abortion in England 1900-1967 (London: Croom Helm, 1988); Seccombe, Weathering the Storm (n. 4), pp. 158-59; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil(n. 11), pp. 104-6.
57. See, e.g., Barbara Brookes, Abortion in England 1900-1967 (London: Croom Helm, 1988); Seccombe, Weathering the Storm (n. 4), pp. 158-59; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil(n. 11), pp. 104-6.
58. See, e.g., Barbara Brookes, Abortion in England 1900-1967 (London: Croom Helm, 1988); Seccombe, Weathering the Storm (n. 4), pp. 158-59; Ellen Ross, Love and Toil(n. 11), pp. 104-6.
59. Mrs. H4P, pp. 31, 38.
60. Mrs. M3P, p. 13. See also Mrs. H8P, p. 37; Mr. W6P, p. 1; Mrs. P1P, p. 68; Mr. M10L, pp. 67-68.
61. Mrs. D3P, p. 30.
62. See, e.g., Brookes, Abortion in England (n. 27); Jones, Health and Society (n. 6), p. 67; James Thomas and A. Susan Williams, "Women and Abortion in 1930s Britain: A Survey and Its Data," Soc. Hist. Med., 1998, 11: 283-309. Among younger oral history informants, Mrs. F1L, born in 1921, remembered "back street abortions," but said; "I think really more of that went on Victorian than when we were younger . . . . We hardly ever heard of it, did we?" She remembered people getting "pills" that never worked from a herbalist (p. 31). Mr. M10L, born to a very large traditional family in 1948, remembered gossip about a girl who was "commonly thought to have visited an illegal abortionist" (p. 67). Mrs. H5L, born in 1931, was the only respondent to talk about having had an early legal abortion in 1971 (p. 111).
63. See, e.g., Brookes, Abortion in England (n. 27); Jones, Health and Society (n. 6), p. 67; James Thomas and A. Susan Williams, "Women and Abortion in 1930s Britain: A Survey and Its Data," Soc. Hist. Med., 1998, 11: 283-309. Among younger oral history informants, Mrs. F1L, born in 1921, remembered "back street abortions," but said; "I think really more of that went on Victorian than when we were younger . . . . We hardly ever heard of it, did we?" She remembered people getting "pills" that never worked from a herbalist (p. 31). Mr. M10L, born to a very large traditional family in 1948, remembered gossip about a girl who was "commonly thought to have visited an illegal abortionist" (p. 67). Mrs. H5L, born in 1931, was the only respondent to talk about having had an early legal abortion in 1971 (p. 111).
64. See, e.g., Brookes, Abortion in England (n. 27); Jones, Health and Society (n. 6), p. 67; James Thomas and A. Susan Williams, "Women and Abortion in 1930s Britain: A Survey and Its Data," Soc. Hist. Med., 1998, 11: 283-309. Among younger oral history informants, Mrs. F1L, born in 1921, remembered "back street abortions," but said; "I think really more of that went on Victorian than when we were younger . . . . We hardly ever heard of it, did we?" She remembered people getting "pills" that never worked from a herbalist (p. 31). Mr. M10L, born to a very large traditional family in 1948, remembered gossip about a girl who was "commonly thought to have visited an illegal abortionist" (p. 67). Mrs. H5L, born in 1931, was the only respondent to talk about having had an early legal abortion in 1971 (p. 111).
65. Ross, Love and Toil(n. 11), p. 103; Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught" (n. 11).
66. Ross, Love and Toil(n. 11), p. 103; Sutton, "We Didn't Know Aught" (n. 11).
67. Roberts, Women and Families (n. 19), pp. 76-81.
68. See, e.g., Borough of Preston: Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Healthfor 1902, 1903, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, and 1918. Tides of the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health differ in minor ways from year to year. Citations in this paper will appear as follows: "Community" MOH Report, Year, page. For percentages of women at work in the period 1891-1931, see Roberts, Woman's Place (n. 19), p. 206.
69. See, e.g., Borough of Preston: Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Healthfor 1902, 1903, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, and 1918. Tides of the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health differ in minor ways from year to year. Citations in this paper will appear as follows: "Community" MOH Report, Year, page. For percentages of women at work in the period 1891-1931, see Roberts, Woman's Place (n. 19), p. 206.
70. Preston MOH Report, 1912, p. 15.
71. Birth control was generally viewed as immoral before the interwar period. Civilians obtained barrier devices (cap, condom, pessary, etc.) by mail order, from "rubber goods" shops, or clandestinely from barbers and chemists. See, e.g., Audrey Leathard, The Fight for Family Planning: The Development of Family Planning Services in Britain 1921-74 (London: Macmillan, 1980).
72. County Borough, of Barrow-in-Fumess Report of the Medical Officer of Health, 1938, p. 18.
73. See Lewis, What Price Community Medicine (n. 3), for an overview of public health provision in the period. Ann Oakley (Captured Womb [n. 1]) remains the authority on antenatal care. Irvine Loudon's research on infant and maternal mortality assesses the factors contributing to incidence, including socioeconomic conditions and quality of assistance at deliveries; see, e.g., "On Maternal and Infant Mortality 1900-1960," Soc. Hist, Med., 1991, 4:29-74.
74. See Lewis, What Price Community Medicine (n. 3), for an overview of public health provision in the period. Ann Oakley (Captured Womb [n. 1]) remains the authority on antenatal care. Irvine Loudon's research on infant and maternal mortality assesses the factors contributing to incidence, including socioeconomic conditions and quality of assistance at deliveries; see, e.g., "On Maternal and Infant Mortality 1900-1960," Soc. Hist, Med., 1991, 4:29-74.
75. See Lewis, What Price Community Medicine (n. 3), for an overview of public health provision in the period. Ann Oakley (Captured Womb [n. 1]) remains the authority on antenatal care. Irvine Loudon's research on infant and maternal mortality assesses the factors contributing to incidence, including socioeconomic conditions and quality of assistance at deliveries; see, e.g., "On Maternal and Infant Mortality 1900-1960," Soc. Hist, Med., 1991, 4:29-74.
76. Celia Davies, "The Health Visitor as Mother's Friend: A Woman's Place in Public Health, 1900-14," Soc. Hist. Med., 1988, 1:39-58.
77. Barrow MOH Report, 1908, pp. 198-99; 1910, p. 251; Lancaster MOH Report, 1910, p. 26; Preston MOH Report, 1902, p. 12.
78. Barrow MOH Report, 1908, pp. 198-99; 1910, p. 251; Lancaster MOH Report, 1910, p. 26; Preston MOH Report, 1902, p. 12.
79. Barrow MOH Report, 1908, pp. 198-99; 1910, p. 251; Lancaster MOH Report, 1910, p. 26; Preston MOH Report, 1902, p. 12.
80. Barrow MOH Report, 1908, pp. 198-99; 1910, p. 251; Lancaster MOH Report, 1910, p. 26; Preston MOH Report, 1902, p. 12.
81. Preston MOH Report, 1901, p. 17.
82. Preston MOH Report, 1896, p. 10.
83. Ibid. See also, e.g., Preston MOH Report, 1898, p. 7; 1899, p. 14; 1900, p. 13; 1902, pp. 10-12;1906, pp. 8-9; 1911, pp. 10-11.
84. Ibid. See also, e.g., Preston MOH Report, 1898, p. 7; 1899, p. 14; 1900, p. 13; 1902, pp. 10-12;1906, pp. 8-9; 1911, pp. 10-11.
85. Ibid. See also, e.g., Preston MOH Report, 1898, p. 7; 1899, p. 14; 1900, p. 13; 1902, pp. 10-12;1906, pp. 8-9; 1911, pp. 10-11.
86. Ibid. See also, e.g., Preston MOH Report, 1898, p. 7; 1899, p. 14; 1900, p. 13; 1902, pp. 10-12;1906, pp. 8-9; 1911, pp. 10-11.
87. Ibid. See also, e.g., Preston MOH Report, 1898, p. 7; 1899, p. 14; 1900, p. 13; 1902, pp. 10-12;1906, pp. 8-9; 1911, pp. 10-11.
88. Ibid. See also, e.g., Preston MOH Report, 1898, p. 7; 1899, p. 14; 1900, p. 13; 1902, pp. 10-12;1906, pp. 8-9; 1911, pp. 10-11.
89. Ibid. See also, e.g., Preston MOH Report, 1898, p. 7; 1899, p. 14; 1900, p. 13; 1902, pp. 10-12;1906, pp. 8-9; 1911, pp. 10-11.
90. Preston MOH Report, 1969, p. 4.
91. Barrow MOH Report, 1913, p. 282.
92. Barrow MOH Report, 1922, p. 338.
93. Lancaster MOH Report, 1913, p. 88.
94. See, e.g., Mr. GIF, p. 60; Mrs. H4P, p. 16; Mrs. M1P, p. 50; Mrs. A3B, p. 51; Mrs. B5P, p. 48.
95. Mr. B9P, p. 10.
96. Mrs. DIP, p. 21. See also Mrs. C7L, p. 34.
97. See, e.g., Mrs. M1P, p. 50; Mrs. W4P, p. 20; Mrs. M11B, pp. 8-9.
98. See, e.g., Mrs. S3B, p. 75; Mrs. C8L, p. 17.
99. Mrs. J1B, p. 64. See also Mrs. L3L, p. 53; Mrs. W4L, p. 40; Mrs. Y1L, p. 52; Mrs. G5P, p. 45.
100. Mrs. H3P, p. 43. See also Mrs. B2B, p. 50.
101. Oakley, Captured Womb (n. 1), pp. 17, 277-79.
102. Preston MOH Report, 1933, p. 93. Beginning in the 1930s, Preston's expectant mothers also attended antenatal clinics at Preston Royal Infirmary and Sharoe Green Hospital. Oral history accounts indicate that women increasingly received regular antenatal care from their general practitioners as well.
103. Preston MOH Report, 1934, p. 98. It is noteworthy that these free clinics detected a range of health problems widely present in the working-class female population of the time and offered pregnant working-class women health screening that their nonpregnant contemporaries often could not afford before the introduction of the National Health Service. See Margery Spring Rice, Working-Class Wives: Their Health and Conditions, 2nd ed. (London: Virago, 1981), for information about working-class women's health collected by a survey begun in 1933.
104. Preston MOH Report, 1934, p. 98. It is noteworthy that these free clinics detected a range of health problems widely present in the working-class female population of the time and offered pregnant working-class women health screening that their nonpregnant contemporaries often could not afford before the introduction of the National Health Service. See Margery Spring Rice, Working-Class Wives: Their Health and Conditions, 2nd ed. (London: Virago, 1981), for information about working-class women's health collected by a survey begun in 1933.
105. Preston's consultative antenatal clinic opened in April 1954.
106. Mr. P6B, p. 51.
107. Mrs. S3B, p. 75.
108. Mrs.W4L, p. 38.
109. For example, Mrs. S1L, born in 1898, had her first baby in 1929. She said: "I was very ill and Dr. Kay was coming sixpence a week. He sent a bill for one pound one"; she had her husband enclose the radio in a cupboard "because I didn't want the doctor to know we have one" (p. 28).
110. I have discussed this at greater length in Lucinda McCray Beier, "'We Were Green as Grass': Learning about Sex and Reproduction in Three Working-class Lancashire Communities, 1900-1970," Soc. Hist. Med., 2003, 16:461-80.
111. Mrs. C5P, p. 30. See also Mrs. M6P, p. 31; Mrs. P2P, p. 23.
112. Preston MOH Report, 1931, p. 85.
113. See, e.g., Mr. R3B, p. 57; Mrs. H6L, p. 43; Mrs. L3L, p. 52; Mrs. W6L, p. 82; Mrs. C8P, p. 151; Mrs. G5P, p. 44; Mrs. K2P, p. 106; Mrs. R1P, p. 65.
114. Mrs. J1B, p. 12.
115. See, e.g., Mrs. P5B, p. 40; Mrs. C7L, p. 34; Mrs. C8P, p. 151; Mrs. T2L, p. 54; Mrs. H3P, p. 43.
116. Mrs. L3B, p. 24.
117. I b i d.
118. See, e.g., Roberts, Woman's Place (n. 19) and Women and Families (n. 19); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Beier, "'We Were Green as Grass'" (n. 63).
119. See, e.g., Roberts, Woman's Place (n. 19) and Women and Families (n. 19); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Beier, "'We Were Green as Grass'" (n. 63).
120. See, e.g., Roberts, Woman's Place (n. 19) and Women and Families (n. 19); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Beier, "'We Were Green as Grass'" (n. 63).
121. See, e.g., Roberts, Woman's Place (n. 19) and Women and Families (n. 19); Giles, Women, Identity (n. 9); Beier, "'We Were Green as Grass'" (n. 63).
122. Mr. C1B, p. 25.
123. Mrs. W1P, p. 11. See also Mrs. B11P, born in 1936, who compares a long lonely stay in hospital with her first birth to the neighborhood management of her subsequent four confinements (p. 47).
124. Mrs. D1B, p. 19.
125. Mrs. M11B.p. 7.
126. Mrs. C7L, p. 57.
127. Mrs. F1L, p. 85.
128. See, e.g., Lewis, Politics of Motherhood (n. 9), p. 147.
129. Mrs. A3B, p. 4.
130. Mr. T2P, p. 37.
131. Mrs. H3B, p. 60.
132. Mrs. G1B, p. 13. See also Mrs. D3P, p. 28; Mr. T3P, p. 45.
133. Mrs. P1L, p. 77.
134. Mrs. M3B, p. 3.
135. Preston M.OH Report, 1905, p. 33. For an account of the process of registering and examining midwives in another northern English community, see Joan Mottram, "State Control in Local Context: Public Health and Midwife Regulation in Manchester, 1900-1914," in Marland and Rafferty, Midwives, Society and Childbirth (n. 1), pp. 134-52.
136. Preston M.OH Report, 1905, p. 33. For an account of the process of registering and examining midwives in another northern English community, see Joan Mottram, "State Control in Local Context: Public Health and Midwife Regulation in Manchester, 1900-1914," in Marland and Rafferty, Midwives, Society and Childbirth (n. 1), pp. 134-52.
137. Barrow MOH Report, 1910, p. 250.
138. According to Marks, Model Mothers (n. 5), p. 98, this was also true elsewhere in Britain.
139. Mrs. H2L, p. 39.
140. Mr. G1F, p. 67. See also Mrs. N1L, p. 2; Mrs. W2L, p. 14; Mrs. W1P, p. 7; Miss T4P, p. 39.
141. Roberts, Woman's Place (n. 19), p. 107.
142. Preston MOH Report, 1918, p. 12.
143. Mr. G1F, p. 7. See also Jones, Health and Society (n. 6), p. 27.
144. Lewis, Politics of Motherhood (n. 9), p. 128; Lancaster MOH Report, 1920, pp. 27-28; Preston MOH Report, 1920, p. 73. The figure for Barrow is not provided in the MOH report for 1920.
145. Lewis, Politics of Motherhood (n. 9), p. 128; Lancaster MOH Report, 1920, pp. 27-28; Preston MOH Report, 1920, p. 73. The figure for Barrow is not provided in the MOH report for 1920.
146. Lewis, Politics of Motherhood (n. 9), p. 128; Lancaster MOH Report, 1920, pp. 27-28; Preston MOH Report, 1920, p. 73. The figure for Barrow is not provided in the MOH report for 1920.
147. Lancaster MOH Report, 1920, p. 28.
148. Lancaster MOH Report, 1926, p. 42.
149. Preston MOH Report, 1937, p. 106.
150. Barrow MOH Report, 1951, p. 12. See also Preston MOH Report, 1947, p. 47; Preston MOH Report, 1948, p. 40.
151. Barrow MOH Report, 1951, p. 12. See also Preston MOH Report, 1947, p. 47; Preston MOH Report, 1948, p. 40.
152. Barrow MOH Report, 1951, p. 12. See also Preston MOH Report, 1947, p. 47; Preston MOH Report, 1948, p. 40.
153. See Williams, "Controlling Power" (n. 1), for a useful discussion of trained midwives' participation in the power structure of official institutionalized medicine.
154. Mr. B1B, p. 24.
155. Mr. T2P, p. 37.
156. Mrs. T2L, p. 27.
157. Mrs. B1P, p. 45.
158. Mr. E1P, p. 42.
159. Mr. N2L, p. 60. See also Mrs. T2L, p. 55; Mrs. B11P, p. 47; Mrs. C8P, p. 150.
160. Lewis, Politics of Motherhood (n. 9), quotation on p. 119; see also p. 117.
161. Lewis, Politics of Motherhood (n. 9), quotation on p. 119; see also p. 117.
162. Lewis, What Price Community Medicine (n. 3), p. 1.
163. Barrow MOH Report, 1922, p. 346.
164. Lancaster MOH Report, 1925, p. 24; Lancaster MOH Report, 1928, p. 37.
165. Lancaster MOH Report, 1925, p. 24; Lancaster MOH Report, 1928, p. 37.
166. Lancaster MOH Report, 1931, pp. 10-11.
167. Preston MOH Report, 1919, p. 43.
168. Preston MOH Report, 1928, pp. 107-8. It is noteworthy that patients had been delivered at Sharoe Green Hospital since 1926, although the number of deliveries was not reported before 1928.
169. Barrow MOH Report, 1938, pp. 4, 17; Barrow MOH Report, 1947, pp. 8, 10.
170. Barrow MOH Report, 1938, pp. 4, 17; Barrow MOH Report, 1947, pp. 8, 10.
171. Lancaster MOH Report, 1943, p. 10.
172. Preston MOH Report, 1940, pp. 38-39; Preston MOH Report, 1957, p. 33.
173. Preston MOH Report, 1940, pp. 38-39; Preston MOH Report, 1957, p. 33.
174. Mrs. B2B, p. 49. See also Mrs. R3B, p. 55; Mrs. G1B, p. 13.
175. Mr. B4B, p. 54.
176. Mrs. H5L, p. 65. See also Mrs. B4L, p. 66.
177. Mrs. B3B, p. 63.
178. Mrs. O1B, pp. 24-25.
179. Mrs. B1P, p. 25.
180. Mrs. N3L had her first child out of wedlock in the Lancaster Workhouse. When, after marriage, she chose to have her second baby in the same facility, her husband was furious, feeling she had shamed him. Mrs. N3L, p. 65; Mr. N3L, pp. 136-37.
181. Preston MOH Report, 1946, p. 3.
182. See, e.g., Barrow MOH Report for 1938, 1944, 1946, and 1947: hospital deliveries rose from 279 in 1938 to 822 in 1947. See also Lancaster MOH Report for 1940 and 1942: in 1940, 184 births occurred in the Royal Lancaster Infirmary; 254 births occurred there in 1942-an increase that "has led to a greatly increased strain on the accommodation available" (p. 6).
183. See, e.g., Barrow MOH Report for 1938, 1944, 1946, and 1947: hospital deliveries rose from 279 in 1938 to 822 in 1947. See also Lancaster MOH Report for 1940 and 1942: in 1940, 184 births occurred in the Royal Lancaster Infirmary; 254 births occurred there in 1942-an increase that "has led to a greatly increased strain on the accommodation available" (p. 6).
184. Preston MOH Report, 1936, p. 6.
185. Preston MOH Report, 1960, p. 35.
186. Preston MOH Report, 1963, p. 24.
187. I b i d.
188. Lewis, Politics of Motherhood (n. 9), pp. 119-41, provides an excellent discussion of mid-twentieth-century trends in official thinking about the desirability of hospital versus home birth. Enid Fox, in "Powers of Life and Death: Aspects of Maternal Welfare in England and Wales between the Wars," Med. Hist., 1991, 35: 328-52, argues that the medicalization and institutionalization of midwifery changed midwives' professional identity and relationships with both patients and physicians.
189. Lewis, Politics of Motherhood (n. 9), pp. 119-41, provides an excellent discussion of mid-twentieth-century trends in official thinking about the desirability of hospital versus home birth. Enid Fox, in "Powers of Life and Death: Aspects of Maternal Welfare in England and Wales between the Wars," Med. Hist., 1991, 35: 328-52, argues that the medicalization and institutionalization of midwifery changed midwives' professional identity and relationships with both patients and physicians.
190. See, e.g., Mrs. P1P, p. 18; Mrs. Y2P, p. 7; Mrs. B11P, p. 39.
191. Mrs. M11B, p. 7.
192. Mr. K2P, p. 13.
193. Mrs. H6L, p. 63. See also Mr. P5B, p. 51.
194. Mrs. M11B, p. 6; Mrs. O1B, p. 25; Mrs. W5B, p. 22; Mrs. W6B, p. 80; Mrs. H5L, pp. 65-66; Mrs. L3L, p. 52. Barrow's Medical Officer of Health noted dramatic increases in "surgical work" performed in the late 1940s; at Risedale Maternity Hospital in 1947, there were 467 normal deliveries, 91 cesarean sections, 51 inductions, 45 forceps deliveries, 5 sterilizations following delivery, and 4 hysterectomies (Barrow MOH Report, 1947, pp. 12-13).
195. I discuss traditional working-class health culture at greater length in Beier, "'I Used to Take Her to the Doctor's" (n. 11).