Midwives - strange uniforms.

[doddsie4]

    My mother used to wear the Spirella corset when I was a wee boy...    I am 75 now, so it is a long time ago.     I think they gradually died out.     I seem to remember asking her why she wasn't wearing her "harness" any more.       She retorted: "I am not a horse!"       

[Skoosh]

Took the tour of the Central recently, coffin storage facliities down in the basement. The tour is excellent, book online!


 Waiting for a train at Invergordon one night & sat on a long hessian-covered box, the station clerk told me it was a coffin but I was OK as the occupant, who was also waiting for the train, wouldn't mind! 

Skoosh.

[Maiden Stone]

Perhaps the veil was dual-purpose, used to wrap a baby in if there was nothing else available.   (Recalling an episode of "Call the Midwife" when the midwife played by Miranda Hart was surprised by the birth of triplets to a very poor young mother and wrapped babies 2 and 3 in her own clothes. The stories are based on real incidents.)

[Rena]

With regard to the head wear.   It's similar to the one worn in 1941 by this nurse:-

url link

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01mcv/

[Maiden Stone]

With regard to the head wear.   It's similar to the one worn in 1941 by this nurse:-

url link

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01mcv/

Coincidently the middle man in photo was Mayor of Poplar. "Call the Midwife" is set in Poplar.
Veil of the Sister in 1941 pic looks shorter and made of thin material.

[Maiden Stone]

Nanny Jan has posted a photograph of a midwife ancestor late 19thC. Alice Lance, midwife from Camberwell, Surrey.

[Rena]

With regard to the head wear.   It's similar to the one worn in 1941 by this nurse:-

url link

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01mcv/

Coincidently the middle man in photo was Mayor of Poplar. "Call the Midwife" is set in Poplar.
Veil of the Sister in 1941 pic looks shorter and made of thin material.

Material was rationed due to World War Two, which could account for the difference.  For instance, excepting for socks and hand knitted cardigans, all my clothes during the war were secondhand - even my knickers were cut down from grandma's bloomers! 

[LizzieW]

The stories are based on real incidents.)

The first series were based on real incidents from the books of Jennifer Worth, but she only wrote 3 books and the later series are purely fictional written especially for television by other people.