Scottish Midwives: Flashback No. 12

In this volume, individuals remember an incident, a decade, a career, a lifetime, tracing the development of midwifery in Scotland in the 20th century from their own personal perspectives.

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There have always been midwives in Scotland although their history has been largely undocumented. The Midwives (Scotland) Act was passed in 1915 and regularised midwifery training and practice. Before this, although some women went through a form of training in midwifery, many women came to the profession by chance or through financial necessity. After the Act, the howdies of old gradually gave way to midwives, enrolled by the new Central Midwives' Board for Scotland. In this oral history, individuals remember an incident, a decade, a career, a lifetime, tracing the development of midwifery in Scotland in the twentieth century from their very own personal perspectives.