I am always interested in how the past is used in advertising. Whether that’s in a trade name (when I grew up, ‘Vim’ was used for scrubbing all sorts of surfaces and it was fun when I started to study Latin and found out it meant ‘Force’) or in an image (Greek columns as signifying… Continue reading When Agnodice became a handbag…
Category: midwives
Agnodice: down and dirty?
The gestation of a book is an odd thing... So there I was watching a superb drag burlesque act, The Down and Dirty Show, featuring The Gentleman King and Foxy Tann, the scheduled entertainment at the 2011 Berkshire Conference for Women Historians. And the sky opened. Sometimes moments of insight come when you least expect… Continue reading Agnodice: down and dirty?
The bespoke midwife
When do you call the midwife? In the 18th century, men gradually moved into the field of normal birthing. They did this by being 'bespoke' - prebooked.
Midwives as murderers in 17th century London: a case of domestic abuse?
In the previous post, I introduced you to my favourite historical character, the ‘Popish midwife’ Elizabeth Cellier. When I was researching her for the first time some years back, I came across another midwife who was in London at precisely the same time: Mary Awbry, or Hobry. Like Elizabeth, Mary was accused of a crime,… Continue reading Midwives as murderers in 17th century London: a case of domestic abuse?
Midwifery and ventriloquism: did Elizabeth Cellier write her own books?
Possibly my favourite historical figure of all time is Elizabeth Cellier, the ‘Popish Midwife’ who was involved in one of those complicated ‘plots’ of late seventeenth-century England; the ‘meal-tub plot’, in which a list of plotters turned up in her kitchen. Was it genuine, or planted by those who wanted to represent Roman Catholics as… Continue reading Midwifery and ventriloquism: did Elizabeth Cellier write her own books?
Mistaking histories 