Customer Reviews

In the Family Way: Childbearing in the British Aristocracy, 1760-1860

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I purchased this book because I was looking for references on Regency childbirth customs in the upper classes and I found this invaluable. The author not only discusses the change from midwives to man-midwives (or accoucheurs)between the mid 1700s to the mid 1800s by following the diaries and letters of 50 women in the nobility through their childbearing years she also provides documentation of her points through further references. During the period she covers, the childbearing woman in the nobility usually bore her children with the aid of a midwife and in the presence of several female friends or relatives, then turned them over to a nurse for all of their care and the mother went on with her social life. By the end of the first half of the 1800s women of this class were delivered by men-midwives who usually had complete medical training and it was quite common for the husband to be in the room for the delivery. Nursing was more common (especially as it was thought to delay the next pregnancy) and these women took a much more active role in shaping her children's characters through personal interaction and the careful selection of governesses and teachers. The author's writing style is lucid and does not try to impress the reader with erudite wording which obscures her point, which is a problem with a number of authors on this topic. And, this is a minor point, but I have always loved the picture which she used on the front, which is a picture of the Duchess of Devonshire playing with her little daughter- a perfect illustration of the authors examination of the change in the early 1800s of a more family oriented approach to childbirth (including having the father in the birthing room), which was more the norm in the Victorian Era, where she finishes. It is very rare to see a portrait from this period in which the subjects are not stiffly posed and looking directly out of the portrait.