Offering historical primary sources that outline both medical and experiential perspectives of physical disability, this book provides frequently mentioned but rarely provided material and supports readers in making sense of the material themselves to develop students’ historical sensibilities, as well as their critical thinking, critical reading skills and their ability to perform historical document analysis.Throughout the nineteenth century, Britain witnessed a remarkable transformation in the ways in which individuals with physical impairments experienced the world and the ways in which they were perceived, treated, and represented. The rise of industrialisation in the nineteenth century created new types of physical disability and deformity through accidents and injuries. Moreover, new medical interventions conducted in increasing numbers of hospitals, particularly in the growing specialisms of orthopaedics and teratology (birth defects), sought to fix acute and formerly fatal physical conditions, creating new surgical pioneers including William Little, Hugh Owen Thomas, Robert Jones and Frederick Treves. Focusing on British sources, but including the growing international network of medical professionals, prosthesis supplier, freak show entertainers and the development of new surgical techniques and assistive technologies during and following the American Civil War (1861-5), this book provides primary sources showing the impact of Victorian and Edwardian forms of medicalisation, institutionalisation, and commercialisation on the experiences of those with physical disabilities and deformities up to 1914, when the First World War radically altered the meanings, experiences and representations of the physically disabled once again. The volume is divided into three overlapping parts, allowing for a comprehensive but structured view of conceptions, experiences and representations of physical disability and deformity across the long nineteenth century. Each part will incorporate a variety of source material, ranging from medical accounts, personal testimony, literary representation, advertisements, ephemera, and images.
Throughout the 19th century, Britain witnessed a remarkable transformation in the ways in which individuals with physical impairments experienced the world. This volume includes historical primary sources that outline both medical and experiential perspectives of physical disability.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
General Introduction
Part
1. Medicine
1. Lionel Beale, A Treatise on Deformities: Exhibiting a Concise View of the
Nature and Treatment of the Principal Distortions and Contractions of the
Limbs, Joints, and Spine. Illustrated with Plates and Woodcuts (London: John
Wilson, 1830), pp. 30-41, 235-8,
243.
2. William Little, A Treatise on the Nature of Club-foot and Analogous
Distortions including Their Treatment both with and without Surgical
Operations (London: W. Jeffs, 1839), pp. 1-10, 16-21, 25-30, 32-5, 38,
67-70.
3. Edward Lonsdale, Observations on the Treatment of Lateral Curvature of the
Spine: Pointing Out the Advantages to be Gained by Placing the Body in a
Position to Produce Lateral Flexion of the Vertebral Column, Combined with
the After Application of Firm Mechanical Support (London: John Churchill,
1852), pp. 9-24, 57-68, 75, 85-96, 100-2.
4. Hugh Owen Thomas, Diseases of the Hip, Knee and Ankle Joints with their
Deformities Treated by a New and Efficient Method (Enforced Rest),
(Liverpool: T. Dobb, 1876), pp. 14, 36-46, 59-61, 72, 95-7, 104-5, 132-4.
5. Henry Albert Reeves, Bodily Deformities and Their Treatment: A Handbook of
Practical Orthopaedics (Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1885), pp. 10-20, 232-4,
238, 243-6, 249-53, 260, 263-71, 275-6.
Part
2. Commerce
2.1. Mechanics
6. Frederick Gray, Automatic Mechanism, as Applied in the Construction of
Artificial Limbs, in Cases of Amputation (London: H. Renshaw, 1855), pp.
107-23, 179-87.
7. Henry Heather Bigg, On Artificial Limbs: Their Construction and
Application (London: John Churchill, 1855), pp. 26-42, 51-60, 68-74.
8. Madame Caplin, Health and Beauty, or, Corsets and Clothing Constructed in
Accordance with the Physiological Laws of the Human Body (London: Darton,
[ 1856]), pp. viii-xii, 68-79.
9. James Gillingham, Artificial Limbs, Surgical Appliances, etc: with
Illustrations of Remarkable Cases (Exeter: Printed by H. Besley, 1888), pp.
v-ix, 1-2, 5-6, 11, 16-7, 25-7, 32-4, 38-40, 71-2, 105-6.
2.2. Deformity on Display
10. Freak Show Flyers
11. Frederick Treves, The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences (London; New
York [ etc.]: Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1923), pp. 1-37.
12. Tom Norman, Memoirs of Tom Norman, unpublished typescript, 1928,
Q/Norm/575 MSS,
56. National Fairgrounds Archive, University of Sheffield,
pp. 56-7, 60, 106-8.
13. [ Joseph Merrick], The Life and Adventures of Joseph Carey Merrick
(Leicester: H & A Cockshaw, c. 1885), pp. 1-6.
Part
3. Work and Community
3.1. Social Commentary and Reform
14. Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures: Or, An Exposition of the
Scientific, Moral, and Commercial Economy of the Factory System of Great
Britain (London: C. Knight, 1835), pp. 399-403.
15. William Dodd, The Factory System Illustrated in a Series of Letters to
the Right Hon. Lord Ashley: Together with, A Narrative of the Experience and
Sufferings of William Dodd, A Factory Cripple /Written By Himself (1842). (A
New Edition with an Introduction by W.H. Chaloner. London: Frank Cass & Co.
Ltd, 1968), pp. 19-25, 33, 49-56, 71-81, 117-20, 129, 199-201, 271-81, 284-5,
291, 293, 295-6, 300-3, 310-2, 314-6, 318-9.
16. Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor: A Cyclopaedia of the
Condition and Earnings of Those That Will Work, Those That Cannot Work, and
Those That Will Not Work (London: [ G. Newbold], 1851), pp. 160-163, 171-2,
289-90, 322-33, 354-8.
17. Charles Manby Smith, Curiosities of London Life: Or, Phases,
Physiological and Social, of the Great Metropolis (London: W. & F. G. Cash,
1857). pp. 17-8, 54-5, 144-7, 217-21.
3.2. Fiction
18. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (London: Chapman & Hall, 1843), pp.
89-92;
19. Bleak House: Bestsellers and Famous Books, anboco, (1852-3)
2016.
ProQuest Ebook Central, pp. 359-61;
20. Our Mutual Friend (London: Chapman and Hall, 1865), pp. 34-41.
21. Charles Manby Smith, An Essay on Wooden Legs with some account of Herr
Von Holtzbein, The Dead Lock; A Story in Eleven
Chapters. Also, Tales of
Adventure etc. (London: Virtue Brothers and Co., 1863), pp. 246-58.
3.3. Charity and the State
22. The Verral Charitable Society, The First Report of the Society for the
Treatment and Attendance of Poor Persons Afflicted with Diseases and
Distortions of the Spine, Chest, Hips, &c. (London: Houlston and Hughes,
1838), pp. 4-11.
23. Jehovah Jireh, A Peep into the Cripples Home, Hill Street, Dorset
Square, London (London: Printed by the Boys at the Maida Hill Industrial
School, 1859, 2nd ed), pp. 3-11.
24. Report of the Cripples' Home and Industrial School for Girls
Northumberland House, 19a, Marylebone Road (near Marylebone Church), (London:
Cripples' Home and Industrial School for Girls, 1910), pp. 4-5.
25. Thomas Hancock Nunn, Some Difficulties in Dealing with Cases of
Cripples, Charity Organisation Review, 43 (July 1888), pp. 289-301 (pp.
289-96).
26. Charity Organisation Society, The Epileptic and Crippled Child and Adult:
A Report on the Present Condition of these Classes of Afflicted Persons with
Suggestions for Their Better Education and Employment (London: Sonnenschein,
1893), pp. 1-4, 7-11, 14-5, 105-7, 109-33.
27. Fifteenth Annual Report of the Guild of the Brave Poor Things (London:
Guild of the Brave Poor Things, [ 1910?]), pp. 3-8, 16-8.
Bibliography
Index
Claire L. Jones is a historian of medicine and since 2016, has been Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the University of Kent. Her research and teaching focuses on the economic, social and cultural history of medicine in nineteenth and twentieth century Britain. She has published widely in these areas, including two monographs (The Medical Trade Catalogue in Britain, 1870-1914 (2015) and The Business of Birth Control: Contraception and Commerce in Britain before the Sexual Revolution (2020); two edited volumes (with Barry Gibson, Cultures of Oral Health: Discourses, Practices and Theory (2022) and Rethinking Modern Prostheses in Anglo-American Commodity Cultures, 1820-1939 (2017); and a number of articles in peer reviewed journals. Her current research project focuses on the conception, experience and representation of urine incontinence in nineteenth and twentieth century Britain
