Acknowledgements

This book has been a long time in the making. Its journey from MA thesis to PhD thesis to book has taken a grand total of eleven years, during which I have benefited from the encouragement, kindness and wisdom of a vast community of scholars and archivists, and from the bemused tolerance of my family and friends.

The process of converting PhD thesis to book has been rendered as painless as possible by the support of my editors and peer reviewers at the University of London Press, the Institute of Historical Research and the Royal Historical Society. I am grateful to the editorial board for agreeing to publish my work. Thank you, Natalie Zacek, Heather Shore and Elizabeth Hurren for your immensely detailed and fair comments on the manuscript, your diligent attention to my future and to the role that the book might play in it. Thank you also to Laura Gowing and to Karen Harvey for your rigorous reviews and supportive comments which immeasurably improved my final offering.

The production and maintenance of two small humans over the course of my PhD meant that I spent longer than most under the supervision of Hannah Barker and Sasha Handley. Throughout my doctoral studies and the difficult years that followed, they have been unrelentingly supportive and patient. Their advice, academic guidance and difficult questions have repeatedly challenged me and stretched my intellectual horizons. Since I submitted the thesis, their mentorship has been supplemented by that of my external examiner, Karen Harvey. All three women have been incredibly generous with their advice and their time, counselling me through difficult job interviews, grant proposals and journal submissions, and writing endless letters of recommendation for me. Thank you.

My research and my academic life have been hugely enriched by the generosity of others who have shared their time, ideas, knowledge and hard-won sources with me. John Chartres, Julie-Marie Strange, Karen Harvey, Alex Bamji, Sue Whyman, Vicky Holmes, Sally Osbourne, Leah Astbury, Ben Wilcock, Michael Smith, Maria Cannon, Annie Austen, Ed Owens, Ruth Richardson, Jennifer Evans, Sara Read, Elaine Chalus and Rachel Winchcombe have all enriched my research through their questions, their own research projects and their moral support. I would like to thank Sasha Handley for drawing my attention to the existence of the sedge mattress discussed on page 69. My thanks also to Catriona Fisk in her generosity, not only in telling me about the maternity stays on page 57, but also in allowing me to use her image of the stays with the permission of Maidstone Museum. This book has been written alongside a variety of full-time jobs, and I have been lucky to have had the mentorship and encouragement of my employers and friends, Margot Brazier, Lawrence McNamara, Rachel Rich, Lisa Smith and Adam Crymble. At various points, most have offered to read and comment on my research and writing, or to listen to me talk at length about eighteenth-century birthing practices, and the book is undoubtedly improved by their involvement and support. Thank you.

I am grateful to the institutions that have funded this research. The generosity of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has supported me though four years of study. The Royal Historical Society, the AHRC, the Institute for Historical Research, the Bearder Charity and the University of Manchester School of Arts Languages and Cultures have all funded my archival research in (relatively) exotic places and my exchange of ideas and presentation of my research at numerous conferences. Postdoctoral awards from the John Rylands Research Institute and the Women’s History Network have allowed me to develop new projects and ideas as well as providing some breathing space in which to think about and extend the ideas in this book. Staff at each of the archives I have visited have been endlessly patient with the huge number of requests that I have made, and have shared their extensive knowledge and expertise with me. Thank you.

The support and indulgence of my friends and family has been unremitting over the last eleven years. Kirsty and Rachel kept me sane with wine and meals out; Gail and Jim cared for me and my children when we went to stay, allowing me to recharge and refresh myself; Jo, Steph, Rachel, Jen and Steve kept me in cups of coffee, local gossip and childcare as crucial deadlines loomed. Thank you. Finally, thank you to my parents, Pauline and Steve, to whom this book is dedicated, for the family trips to Scottish castles and little local museums during childhood holidays, for instilling in me the stubbornness necessary to finish a book and for taking care of me and my children while I have been writing it. Thank you to ‘Auntie’ Alice, who has spent more time with her nieces than can be expected of anyone and without whom I could not have completed MA, PhD or this book. And thank you to Mike, Connie and Millie, who inspire and motivate me, and who try to look interested when I talk eighteenth-century childbirth at the dinner table. I am more grateful than you can ever know.