Midwifery, Northamptonshire, 18th-19th century

Account book of a medical practitioner in the Towcester-Litchborough area of Northamptonshire.

Accounts of childbirth relate to deliveries made by the owner and his business associates Messrs. Grant and Deacon of Towcester. These contain details of dates of birth, mothers, sex of infant, and fees levied.

Other accounts of income and expenditure are both professional and domestic, with occasional notices of inoculations.

The initials 'T.W.' are present throughout the volume, and internal evidence suggests that the accounts are of a member of the Watkins family, several generations of which practised medicine in Towcester. The owner was possibly Timothy Watkins, grandfather of John Webb Watkins (1833-1903).

At Wellcome Collection:

For another Timothy Watkins item see MS. 5109.