A history of the work of the Obstetrical Society in relation to the examination and registration of midwives : being the inaugural address delivered March 6th, 1895 / by Francis Henry Champneys.

  • Champneys, Francis Henry, Sir, 1848-1930.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A history of the work of the Obstetrical Society in relation to the examination and registration of midwives : being the inaugural address delivered March 6th, 1895 / by Francis Henry Champneys. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tifying to his personal knowledge. These certificates were of the same nature. What they were really asked to do was to say that no woman should help any other woman in her labour unless she had a licence to practise. That mere statement was sufficient to show that the whole agi- tation was preposterous. There were between 10,000 and 15,000 midwives at this moment, and they could practise, whatever the General Medical Council or the Obstetrical Society might do to prevent them. Was it better or worse that these women should have absolutely no educa- tion or that some of them should be educated ? To prevent any examination or testing of their somewhat imperfect education was to stop that education altogether. The resolution, as proposed, was itself an illegality, and it would not be sustained in the law courts. Attempt op the General Medical Council to extinguish the Licence of the Royal College of Physicians. As evidence that the activity of the Medical Council has not always been well advised or in accordance with the law of the land, we may refer to an action recently brought against it by the Royal College of Physicians, with reference to the extinction of the licence of the latter body. Queen’s Bench Division, March 3rd, 1893. Before Mr. Justice A. L. Smith. The President and College or Commonalty of the Faculty of Physic in London v. The General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom. The decision of the Court was that the College was entitled to judgment with costs (f Brit. Med. Journ./ March 11th, 1893, p. 50).
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