The Foundation and Evolution of the Middlesex Hospital's Lying-In Service, 1745–86

Abstract

SUMMARY

The Middlesex Hospital was founded in 1745, and opened the first British in-patient lying-in service in 1747. Men-midwives were instrumental in founding and supporting the service. The hospital's lying-in service featured prominently in its fundraising literature, and the level of demand from benefactors suggests it was popular. From 1764 the hospital also provided domiciliary services, initially to cope with excess demand and later to compete with domiciliary charities. In 1786 it closed the in-patient services, and from this date provided only domiciliary lying-in services. From 1757, in common with the London lying-in hospitals, the Middlesex Hospital faced competition from a domiciliary charity: The Lying-In Charity for Delivering Poor Married Women in Their Own Homes. Later in the century it also faced competition from dispensaries. This paper describes the foundation and evolution of the Middlesex Hospital's lying-in service, including quantitative information about admissions and about the hospital's income and expenditure during the eighteenth century. It compares the characteristics of domiciliary and in-patient services, to analyse why in-patient services were supported by men-midwives and by benefactors.

charity, hospital history, maternity services, lying-in hospitals, hospitals finances