Praise for The Midwife’s Tale
‘I am delighted to see the re-publication of The Midwife’s Tale. The book has always fulfilled a dual role, which reflects its unique genesis and structure. It has served as a valuable resource for academic historians and has informed study and debates around the development of midwifery in the twentieth century. It is still used and cited as the evidence which it presents remains crucial and invaluable.
‘The “evidence” however is also a masterly and emotive piece of storytelling, and this leads to the book’s second role. The Midwife’s Tale is a snap shot of the lives and work of ordinary women performing an extraordinary service to their communities, and the tales it tells have enthralled and inspired a generation of midwives. I recommend it to anyone interested in women’s lives and experiences both for what it teaches us, and for the fact that it is still a wonderful read’.
Dr Tania McIntosh, Historian and Lecturer in Midwifery, University of Nottingham
‘The Midwife’s Tale is a brilliant piece of social history, full of the realities of women’s lives, told in their own words, about what it was like to have a baby in Britain in the first half of the twentieth century. In the early 1980s Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter decided to try to record some of the astonishing stories they were hearing from elderly women about their experiences of childbirth and of midwifery. The result, so unpretentious, so clear, so vivid, is one of the best collections of oral history in existence. The Midwife’s Tale is full of low-key unsung heroism, the heroism of ordinary people, ordinary women’.
Pat Ferguson, author of The Midwife’s Daughter
‘The Midwife’s Tale is my favourite oral history. I am so glad that this edition makes it available for a new generation of midwives and mothers. This book is important because we need to understand our past in order to plan for the future of midwifery. It is now so important that we work for that future. Every midwife should read this book and many others will want to. It is as readable as a good novel and deeply thought provoking’.
Mavis Kirkham, Professor of Midwifery, University of the West of Scotland
‘I rushed out and purchased The Midwife’s Tale the moment it was first published in 1993 … The Midwife’s Tale tells of the diversity and richness of the profession, the joys and the struggles, as well as of the diversity of midwives themselves. Nicky and Billie captured the voices of senior midwives magically and with great authenticity. I gave my original copy to my mother recently and watched as she soaked it up, couldn’t put it down and began to talk about how she wished she had asked more questions of her own mother, of her births and related experiences. It is with great excitement that I see this wonderful book re-published and can strongly recommend it to everyone. It will touch hearts’.
Rachael Lockey, Technical Midwife Advisor, International Confederation of Midwives
Praise for the First Edition of The Midwife’s Tale
‘delightful and inspiring accounts from both midwives and the mothers who used midwives at their births’, Birth Magazine
‘a fascinating oral history of midwifery in pre-NHS Britain’, Oral History Journal
‘A story is built up which combines the voices of the women interviewed with the viewpoint of the authors … it brings to light, and to life, the experiences of midwives’, Gender and History Journal
‘splendidly readable, intriguing in its revelations of women’s lives in the first half of the 20th Century and deeply moving in some of the personal accounts included’, Midwives Chronicle and Nursing Notes
‘The testimony is riveting … Truth is rarely simple and the authors are honest, avoiding any temptation to produce a romantic synthesis of the best tales … It is a real pleasure to read’, Midwifery Digest
‘This is very exciting social history and will be of interest to midwives, social historians, feminists and many women having babies. It fills a gap in the literature’, Sheila Kitzinger, Social Anthropologist of Birth
‘The first few chapters were stimulating, sad, historically excellent; the latter chapters found me in and out of tears and laughter. So moving, such intimate stories … very special’, Lucyann Ashdown, Independent Midwife
‘What a joy it is to read! … This book adds something unique and beautiful to the literature!’ Sister Anne Thompson, Midwife, Teacher, and Lecturer in Maternal and Newborn Health
‘I found it a most moving experience, even apart from the connection with Mum, for it reminded me of my own experiences in the 50s and 60s and explained things not fully comprehended before. I only wish I could convey my gratitude to one of my midwives, for your book convinced me that she saved my life’, Doreen Weston, daughter of Ruby C., who was interviewed for The Midwife’s Tale
‘a wonderful piece of social history that Elsie W. and Mary T. would have been proud to be part of’, Violet Baxter, relative of Mary T., who was interviewed for The Midwife’s Tale
‘The authors are to be congratulated for producing such a worthwhile social history, which will be of interest to midwives, social historians and students of feminism’, Louise Silverton, Royal College of Midwives
‘most excellently researched and very well written … through it all the humour and humility of midwives interviewed shone through’, Suzanne Tyler, Royal College of Midwives
The first edition of The Midwife’s Tale was dedicated to the memory of Edie Martinson, Elsie Hunter, and Lizmiriam Allen, who continue to inspire us by their lives.
This edition is dedicated to Gilda O’Neill (1951–2010) whose enthusiasm and guidance enabled us to bring the first edition of The Midwife’s Tale to publication.
‘Each version of a story has its own truth. And our myths, whether of the universal, numinous kind, or of the more prosaic family variety, are used by us to tell and retell truths in ways that mean we can make sense of our world’.
(Gilda O’Neill, Pull No More Bines, 1990)
First published in Great Britain in 1993 by Scarlet Press
This edition published in Great Britain in 2013 by
PEN & SWORD HISTORY
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright © Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter, 2013
PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1-78159-374-5
PDF ISBN: 978-1-47383-114-8
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-47382-998-5
PRC ISBN: 978-1-47383-056-1
The right of Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter to be identified as Authors of
this Work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including
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system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.
Typeset in 10.5/13pt Palatino by
Concept, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
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Contents
Acknowledgements: New Edition
Acknowledgements: Original (1993) Edition
Foreword by Lesley Page, President of the Royal College of Midwives
New Introduction
Introduction: Original (1993) Edition
Who’s Who: midwives, mothers and other contributors
1 From Handywoman to Midwife: the development of a profession
2 Handywomen: ‘the woman you called for’
3 Midwives in Pre-NHS Britain
4 Women’s Knowledge about ‘the Facts of Life’
5 Birth Control
6 Abortion: ‘There was no other way’
7 Unmarried Mothers
8 Wartime Midwifery: ‘Everybody was for everybody else’
9 Working Lives: the effect on childbearing women
10 The Experience of Birth: women and midwives tell their stories
11 Midwifery Practice in pre-NHS days: ‘the tricks of the trade’
Postscript: a tribute to the women and midwives in this book
Methodology: using oral history in midwifery research
Milestones in British Midwifery 1902–1948
Glossary
Reference List
Author Biographies
Acknowledgements: New Edition
We would like to thank a number of people who have helped us prepare this second edition of The Midwife’s Tale. In particular, we are indebted to Jen Newby at Pen and Sword Publishers, who serendipitously approached us with an invitation to re-publish just as we were discussing how to do this. Jen has supported us enthusiastically all the way and we are very grateful for her thoughtful advice and attention to detail.
We were delighted that Professor Lesley Page, President of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), agreed to write the Foreword. Her words perfectly capture the essence of the book and do justice to all the stories, linking them with the era and with the present.
Illustrating the book has brought many unexpected challenges and delights. Obtaining approvals to reproduce the photographs used in the first edition required considerable detective work, as many original libraries and collections were no longer in existence. Finding new illustrations, however, opened up many treasure troves.
Special thanks are due to Trish Le Gal (previously of The Independent Photographic Project) and Penny Hutchins (Archivist and Assistant Records Manager of the Royal College of Midwives and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) archives at the RCOG Library). Both Trish and Penny gave generously of their time to track down some wonderful photographs of the period. We are also grateful for the assistance of Jasmine Rodgers (Image Executive at the Science and Society Picture Library) and colleagues at the City of London, London Metropolitan Archives: Michael Melia (Catalogue Editor) and Jeremy Smith (Assistant Librarian).
The photographs are reproduced with kind permission of the Royal College of Midwives; the Royal College of Nursing; City of London, London Metropolitan Archives; and the Science and Society Picture Library.
Photographs were also generously provided from personal collections. Special thanks are due to: Moyra and Barry Weston for the photo of Ruby C and to Dan Wright and his mother Lyn Wright for providing us with photographs of Dan’s grandmother Alice W, his father, Ken W and his aunt, Florence W. Other personal photographs were originally given to us by contributors, to whom we remain indebted. Sadly, we have mostly lost touch with them and many will have passed away. We would be delighted to receive any information from their relatives or friends.
Re-visiting the first edition and the interview tapes has opened up other unexpected opportunities. Special thanks to Reuben Hunter-McHardy who skilfully converted the audio tapes to digital sound files, and enabled us to hear the voices of the contributors again. These digital files will form part of an Oral History Collection at the RCM Archives, and will be made publically available so that readers can listen to the contributors’ stories as well as read them.
Finally, we would like to thank our partners, Nick Wells and Pat Brodie for supporting and encouraging us through the long hours of bringing the second edition of The Midwife’s Tale to completion.
B.H. & N.L., 2013
Acknowledgements: Original (1993) Edition
This book took eight years to write and evolved slowly around hectic work schedules and family commitments – including the births of four of our children. First and foremost, we would like to thank all the contributors. They welcomed us into their homes and trusted us with their stories.
We are indebted to Philippa Brewster for giving us the confidence to pursue an idea. In 1991, Scarlet Press saw potential in our unwieldy mass of reminiscences and gave us Gilda O’Neill, whose skill and enthusiasm helped us transform an initial draft into something resembling a book. We learnt so much from her expertise and felt lifted by her wonderful sense of humour and friendship.
Our editor Ann Treneman was a constant source of encouragement and we would like to thank her for believing in the book. We are also grateful to Vicky Wilson at Scarlet for her guidance and attention to detail.
The following helped us reach people to interview: Barbara Stevenson and Ruth Ashton at the Royal College of Midwives, Helen Adshead, Mary Cuzner, Marcus Grant, Simmy and Gay Viinikka, Dan Wright, Tony Durnford, Margaret and Chris Sparvell, the Borough Community Centre, Charterhouse Pensioners’ Group and Field Lane Day Centre. Writers and historians who generously shared their knowledge and gave us encouragement included Brooke Hegerty, Mary Chamberlain, Ruth Richardson, Bob Little, Marion Kozak, Sheila Kitzinger, Jenny Carter and Therese Duriez. Special thanks go to Jan Ayres, Judith Ions and Lesley Moss at the library of the Royal College of Midwives and, also to Trish Le Gal from the Independent Photography Project for her advice about finding and selecting photographs.
We received invaluable help with word-processing, typing and photocopying and were supported through some nerve-wracking technical hitches during unsociable hours by Don and June Hunter, Audrey Titmuss, Hilary Dunn, Stephen Mak, John Raftery and David and Noga Confino.
All efforts have been made to trace the holders of copyright, but this has not always been possible in the case of some of the older texts. We would appreciate being notified of any corrections or additions.
The following close friends and members of our families supported us in bringing this edition to fruition and put in hours of work servicing us, providing childcare, and bolstering flagging spirits: Katrina Allen, Stuart McHardy, Annie Scotland, Hester Lean, Reuben Turkie, Moyra Weston, Mike Layward, Sarah Maltin, Lizmiriam Allen, Rosalind Stopps and Tina Heptinstall.
N.L. & B.H. 1992
Foreword
by Lesley Page, President of the Royal College of Midwives
I have known and worked with Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter for many years. We share a passion for the work we love so much: midwifery. Our career paths have taken us to a place that we, let alone our mothers and grandmothers, could never have imagined. As midwifery is a profession that has only over recent decades had any academic status, as professors of midwifery we are in a good position to develop and promote it. Nicky and Billie have inspired midwives around the world with their visionary writing, teaching and research.
As I read both the original and new introductions, I could see just why so many have been inspired by their work. In the original introduction we get glimpses of their younger lives; Billie with her baby in tow, going with Nicky to interview women who had given birth or worked as midwives and their families. They were embarking on an ambitious project to write an oral history of the founding period of British midwifery, the transition period between the unqualified midwives, the handywomen who attended working class women in labour and at birth, and the profe
ssionalisation of midwifery. They were busy midwives in practice, involved with social activism, with young families and rich social lives. The book as they describe took some time to write. Read it and you will see why.
The Midwife’s Tale is not only an oral history of midwifery but stands out as it also tells the story of the lives of women, particularly of working class women, in 1920s to 1940s Britain. Nicky and Billie’s concern with social justice, their feminist viewpoint, and their core human values of respect for others are all reflected in a book that tells of individual lives against the background of historical events. In addition, they reveal the effect, particularly on working class women, of constant childbearing and child-care, extreme poverty, deep class divisions and social and gender inequality.
The Midwife’s Tale tells of the changes in midwifery and maternity that have brought us to where we are today: professional midwifery with autonomous status and university-level education. But it would be impossible to understand the transition to professional midwifery without understanding the context of the times, the world in which change was embedded. The era was a period of dramatic social reform, the start of the welfare state, the National Health Service and important medical developments such as antibiotics, and was affected by two world wars. All of this is reflected through the personal stories of women and midwives.
The two introductions connect us personally to Nicky and Billie. Even if I didn’t know them I would like them by now. In the new introduction they tell of the naivety of their young selves in determining how they would tell the story of handywoman to professional midwife through oral history. This naivety helped them achieve their ambitious task of telling an authentic and respectful, without being sentimental, account. It also helps us understand the world they lived in.
Reading the story about their methodology in a pre-IT world, when they realised that they had cut up their original transcripts, I laughed out loud. But it helped me realise just how painstaking their methods were. I will let you read for yourself of the miles travelled, learning about the realities of gathering so much information and analysing and retelling it, of interviews that revealed not only dramatic events but also endless details of baby clothes.
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