British Women Surgeons and their Patients, 1860–1918

A rich new examination of the cultural, social and self-representation of the woman surgeon in Britain from 1860 to 1918. This title is also available as Open Access.

Claire Brock (Author)

9781316637494, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 November 2019

315 pages, 47 b/w illus. 1 table
23 x 15 x 1.7 cm, 0.45 kg

'… what an impressive story Brock has to tell. It is important to know what these early women surgeons did and the obstacles they overcame. I was especially taken by Brock's portrait of the eagerness of these women to cut open bodies, to try to solve the problems that major surgery promised to solve.' Marjorie Levine-Clark, The American Historical Review

When women agitated to join the medical profession in Britain during the 1860s, the practice of surgery proved both a help (women were neat, patient and used to needlework) and a hindrance (surgery was brutal, bloody and distinctly unfeminine). In this major new study, Claire Brock examines the cultural, social and self-representation of the woman surgeon from the second half of the nineteenth century until the end of the Great War. Drawing on a rich archive of British hospital records, she investigates precisely what surgery women performed and how these procedures affected their personal and professional reputation, as well as the reactions of their patients to these new phenomena. Essential reading for those interested in the history of medicine, British Women Surgeons and their Patients, 1860–1918 provides wide-ranging new perspectives on patient narratives and women's participation in surgery between 1860 and 1918. This title is also available as Open Access.

Acknowledgments
List of charts and tables
List of illustrations
Introduction: disapproval, curiosity, amusement, obstinate hostility? Women and surgery, 1860–1918
1. From controversy to consolidation: surgery at the New Hospital for Women, 1872–1902
2. The experiences of female surgical patients at the Royal Free Hospital, 1903–13
3. Women surgeons and the treatment of malignant disease
4. Inside the theatre of war
5. Operating on the Home Front, 1914–18
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Surgery [MN], History of medicine [MBX], Doctor/patient relationship [MBDP], Medical profession [MBD], Medicine: general issues [MB], Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], British & Irish history [HBJD1]