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Medical dispensaries in Warwickshire : their place in local health care, 1820 –1880
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Wilmot, John Fabian (2021) Medical dispensaries in Warwickshire : their place in local health care, 1820 –1880. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3857866
Abstract
This thesis offers a fresh view of the under-explored area of nineteenth- century dispensaries, outpatient medical charities that served the ‘sick poor’. Most were founded by members of local elites, in varying combinations with medical practitioners. Warwickshire was selected as the study area as a varied and medium-sized county, Chapter 1 summarising its history and geography. The research was based on local case studies in different towns: Birmingham and Coventry as growing industrial centres, and Stratford-on-Avon and Southam as smaller towns covering largely semi-rural populations. Chapter 2 starts with two early foundations (c.1790) in Birmingham and Coventry but concentrates on the years of expansion during 1820-60. Chapter 3 turns to medical needs in the countryside, initially addressing Stratford-on-Avon, both its dispensary and the later infirmary. In Chapter 5, Southam is considered as the location for the first ‘self-supporting’ or provident dispensary in 1823. Both this and its imitators drew largely on mutual funding from regular payments by working-class users; the Chapter explores reasons for institutional success or failure. The Coventry provident dispensary was contested at its birth in 1831, but attracted many members, late in the century again provoking local professional opposition. The activities of dispensaries included the study and teaching of common diseases, and the early medical school in Birmingham relied heavily on such teaching. Some dispensary staff were active in writing and editing, and Chapter 4 analyses two individual journalistic careers. The thesis also considers wider civic and cultural activities, including reporting for public sanitary commissions in the 1840s and 1850s. The final Chapter (6) considers challenges for dispensaries late in the century, namely increased workload, renewed contestation in Coventry, and pressures from both medical officers and working people for increased recognition or influence. The study explores such tensions, together with their attempted resolution through organisational changes and representation on governing bodies.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Dispensaries -- England -- Warwickshire -- History -- 19th century, Pharmacists -- England -- Warwickshire -- History -- 19th century, Medicine -- Practice -- England -- Warwickshire -- 19th century, Poor -- Services for -- England -- Warwickshire | ||||
Official Date: | December 2021 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of History | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Marland, Hilary ; Richardson, Sarah | ||||
Format of File: | |||||
Extent: | ix, 377 pages : illustrations, map | ||||
Language: | eng |
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