Professional Qualifications: RN, RM, ADM, Cert Ed, MA Midwifery Practice, PhD [Discourses on the function of the pelvis in childbearing from ancient times until the present day (2007)], University of Sheffield].
Affiliations: Retired lecturer in midwifery, University of Manchester. Chair of De Partu History of Childbirth Group. Associate member of the British Society for the History of Medicine.
Email: jca@departu.org.uk
Profile:
I worked as a practising midwife for around 35 years, initially as a clinical midwife in North Staffordshire, where I became a ward manager and supervisor of midwives. Subsequently, following the award of an MA in Midwifery Practice and a Certificate in Education, I became Head of Midwifery Studies at the University of Keele. I then moved to the University of Manchester, where I completed a PhD while also teaching on a variety of pre- and post-registration courses in midwifery.
I am now retired from full-time work and have various voluntary roles, including being Chair of De Partu.
At the invitation of Valerie Worth, I am also part of the ‘Birth through History` Knowledge Exchange network, and have been working collaboratively with her since 2015. During this time, we have organised two study days at the University of Oxford and a study day and library and archive exhibition at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Inspired by a history of medicine course which I undertook last year at the Society of Apothecaries, London, I have begun a research project exploring the historic links between midwives and infanticide, a gruesome but curious subject. I am also involved with a project at a local museum which is currently in an embryonic stage.
For publications by Janette click here.