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The Last Taboo of Motherhood? Postnatal Mental Disorders in 20th Century Britain

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 10:21:00 GMT

Despite its prevalence and relevance to the current day, maternal mental illness in the twentieth century has attracted scant historical attention. This Wellcome Trust funded project ‘The Last Taboo of Motherhood?’ aims to address this absence, by exploring the history of maternal mental illness in twentieth-century Britain.

This research is being undertaken by Professor Hilary Marland, Dr Fabiola Creed and Dr Kelly Couzens. The project website has just been launched and new posts will be added in the coming months.

More information

People's History of the NHS website launched

Mon, 08 Feb 2016 14:09:51 GMT

As part of the Cultural History of the NHS project, a new website has been launched to collect personal stories and memories of the National Health Service from patients, health workers and others. We'd love to hear your recollections of the NHS and what it means to you. If you would like to participate in this part of our project, please visit our People's History of the NHS website where you can tell us your stories, respond to calls for information, find out about public engagement events, and visit our Virtual Museum and People's Enclyopaedia of the NHS.

History of Prisoners' Health project website goes live

Fri, 05 Feb 2016 18:19:31 GMT

There is a new website for the joint project between University of Warwick and University College Dublin, funded by the Wellcome Trust: 'Prisoners, Medical Care and Entitlement to Health in England and Ireland, 1850-2000'.

histprisonhealth.com was launched today, a week before the project's first major event on 12th February at the Shard, which will bring together academics, practitioners and policymakers to look at historical and contemporary issues in the mental health of prisoners.

The Kiss of Light: Nursing and Light Therapy exhibition

Thu, 21 May 2015 14:45:02 GMT

To celebrate the International Year of Light, a new exhibition at the Florence Nightingale Museum will look at the contentious history of light therapy.

The Kiss of Light: Nursing and Light Therapy in 20^th-century Britain opens on Florence’s birthday on May 12^th 2015 and centres on the healing powers of light – and its risks. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and co-organised with University of Warwick medical historians Tania Woloshyn and Hilary Marland, the exhibition showcases a remarkable photographic record of nurses and their vulnerable patients being exposed to both natural and artificial light. Light therapy was especially used for children to combat tuberculosis and rickets in clinics and sanatoria and even in the home by mothers eager to protect their child by exposing them to rays from trendy portable ultra-violet lamps. We may have very different ideas now towards light safety but the health and protection of our children remains an issue today.

The exhibition runs from 12 May to 23 October 2015 at the Florence Nightingale Museum, London

Website: www.florence-nightingale.co.uk

Early Women Biochemists Web - Now Available

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:10:42 GMT

The Early Women Biochemists web page is now available for perusal:

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/chm/research_teaching/research/early_women_biochem

Please be advised that some elements of the pages are still under construction and will be available in the near future.

Our thanks to Dr Stephen Soanes, Professor Robert Freedman and Professor Hilary Marland for all their efforts and continued support. Our thanks also to the Biochemical Society and Warwick CHM's Wellcome Strategic Award for their kind contributions.

Early Women Biochemists Exhibitions

Thu, 10 May 2012 08:15:47 GMT

Convened by Professor Robert Freedman (Life Sciences), Dr Stephen Soanes (Warwick CHM), Professor Hilary Marland (Warwick CHM)

The Early Women Biochemists Exhibition casts a spotlight on the careers of the initial wave of female scientific researchers. Amongst the themes at the heart of Early Women Biochemists are: education, class and funding opportunities; professional networks and mentorship; the gendered experience of marriage and scientific collaboration; and the extent of equality of opportunity before 1939.

It focuses particularly on four prominent biochemists – Harriette Chick, Ida Smedley, Muriel Wheldale and Marjory Stephenson. These women were amongst the very first to obtain scholarships, professional memberships and university appointments. Their lives reflect women’s entry into the hitherto male-dominated laboratory.

Amongst the key sites in the stories of these women are King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham; Cambridge University; and the Lister Institute in London. Each of these locations offered particularly open access to women researchers from the 1880- 1900s – this display finds out why.

Funding for the project came primarily through the Biochemical Society and we thank them for their kind contribution, with additional support through the University of Warwick’s Centre for the History of Medicine (funded by the Wellcome Trust). A website is currently under development and it is anticipated this will be made live in late May http://www.warwick.ac.uk/go/womenbiochem – so please do watch this space!

The exhibition was first shown as part of the Biochemical Society’s Centenary Celebration at the Royal Society, 15-16 December 2011. It is now available for display and is being shown at Warwick, first at the School of Life Sciences (14-17 May 2012) and then at the Modern Records Centre (28 May -1 Jun 2012).

We do hope you are able to visit this fascinating exhibition.

Press Release - Dr Angela Davis, Monograph

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 08:55:17 GMT

The Centre is delighted to announce release of 'Modern Motherhood: Women and Family in England, 1945-2000' by Angela Davis - published by Manchester University Press.

Research shows 50 years of motherhood manuals set standards too high for new mums

New research at the University of Warwick into 50 years of motherhood manuals has revealed how despite their differences they have always issued advice as orders and set unattainably high standards for new mums and babies.

Angela Davis, from the Department of History at the University of Warwick, carried out 160 interviews with women of all ages and from all backgrounds to explore their experiences of motherhood for her new book, Modern Motherhood: Women and Family in England, 1945-2000.

She spoke to women about the advice given by six childcare ‘experts’ who had all published popular books on the best way to raise a baby. Ranging from the 1940s to 2000, the authors were Frederick Truby King, John Bowlby, Donald Winnicott, Benjamin Spock, Penelope Leach and Gina Ford.

Dr Davis found although the advice from these experts changed over the decades, the one thing that didn’t change was the way it was delivered. Whatever the message for mothers, it was given as an order with a threat of dire consequences if mother or child failed to behave as expected.

Dr Davis said: “Despite all the differences in advice advocated by these childcare ‘bibles’ over the years, it is interesting that they all have striking similarities in terms of how the experts presented their advice. Whatever the message, the advice was given in the form of an order and the authors highlighted extreme consequences if mothers did not follow the methods of childrearing that they advocated.

“Levels of behaviour these childcare manuals set for mothers and babies are often unattainably high, meaning women could be left feeling like failures when these targets were not achieved. Therefore while women could find supportive messages within childcare literature, some also found the advice more troubling.”

During her research Dr Davis often spoke to women who were different generations of the same family. She found when reflecting back upon the changes that they had seen from when they were babies, to when they had their own children, and then watching their children raise their own families, they were still unsure of what had really been the best approach.

Dr Davis said: “I was struck by the cyclical nature of these childcare bibles, we start out with quite strict rules laid down by Frederick Truby King, whose influence is very much evident in the 1940s and following decades. The principal thread running through his books are that babies need strict routines. We then find the advice becomes less authoritarian and regimented as we go through the decades and the influences of Bowlby, Winnicott, Spock and Leach.

“However, when we reach the 1990s when Gina Ford came to prominence, we come back to the strict regimented approach of Frederick Truby King several decades earlier. More than 50 years on and experts still cannot agree on the best way to approach motherhood, and all this conflicting advice just leaves women feeling confused and disillusioned.”