Category: MEDICINE & DISEASE EPISODES

EP045: THE GRAVEST CHOICE – VICTORIAN ERA ABORTION

2022-06-11 age-of-victoria EPISODES, MEDICINE & DISEASE EPISODES, SOCIAL HISTORY EPISODES 00:44:46 0 Comments

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This episode deals with the real and harrow position for women during with contraception, pregnancy, and abortion in the Victorian era. Campaigners like Annie Besant attacked the patriarchy, and fought for the right to be heard. Women risked their lives getting dangerous abortions, in constant fear of the law, whilst the great scandal of the Victorian era, infanticide, loomed in the background. From the courts to the back alleys, join me in experiencing the reality of life before the pill. 

This episode covers. 

Intro & reviews.

Musings on the direction of the podcast

The basics of periods

What the doctor though – 1840s style.

Women’s underwear and period pain.

Menstrual leave, a feminist issue.

Ovulation and fertility.

Birth control.

Annie Besant goes on the warpath.

Mortality and unstable families.

Victorian Birth Control

Abortion and the criminal law

Religion and gender.

Abortion in practice.

Abortion – a personal account by Mary Wolfe

Murder charges

When things went wrong.

Illegitimacy as a motivation.

Infanticide, the great scandal.

The crime of concealment of birth.

Criminals preying on the vulnerable.

A tough lot.

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EP029 THE COURT OF KING CHOLERA – THE GREAT VICTORIAN PLAGUE

2020-05-08 age-of-victoria EPISODES, MEDICINE & DISEASE EPISODES 1:41:57 0 Comments

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EP029 “The Court of King Cholera – the great Victorian plague” explores one of the most famous pandemics in history. There was horror, death, and a little hope. Many bad decisions, anger and mistrust, but also groundbreaking science. When disease strikes it is easy to think humanity is levelled and we all stand together – does history prove this is true?

This show covers

  • Reviews and thank you’s

  • The initial panic of cholera?

  • Mt Tambora and the first pandemic

  • Poverty and failure.

  • Official corruption, murderous doctors and anti science mobs.

  • The dawn of the Victorian era in the time of Cholera.

  • What is the cause? Is it something in the air?

  • The lowest point – horror show at the orphanage.

  • The Doctors Strike Back.

  • Onwards and upwards, or a warning from history?

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SOURCES – EPISODE 029 CHOLERA

2020-05-08 age-of-victoria MEDICINE & DISEASE EPISODES, SOURCES 1 Comment

There are a huge number of sources on Cholera and the Victorian response to the great pandemics. It affected everything from science to art to culture to city planning. I used the following sources for episode 029, but there is so much more to discover. This should provide some good jump off points.

EP009 GOD, SAVE ME FROM THE SURGEON’S KNIFE

2018-03-01 age-of-victoria EPISODES, MEDICINE & DISEASE EPISODES, NAPOLEONIC EPISODES 00:43:04 3 Comments

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After the bloody day of Waterloo, many soldiers found themselves in need of a doctor.

Learn how the wounded were recovered, treated and operated on in the aftermath of one of the great battles of European history. The pain and near butchery would be horrific, but the lessons learned would lead to ground breaking advances that would save many lives.

Join me to find out about how an amputation was carried out in the age before pain killers or infection control.