Who Do You Think You Are? Encyclopedia of Genealogy (54 page)

Guides to researching nursing ancestors are on The National Archives website under various subject headings, including Domestic Records Information 79: ‘Civilian Nurses and Nursing Services'; Military Records Information 55: ‘British Army: Nurses and Nursing Services' (see also
Chapter 9
); Military Records Information 57: ‘Royal Air Force: Nurses and Nursing Services' (see also
Chapter 12
); Military Records Information 56: ‘Royal Navy: Nurses and Nursing Services' (see also
Chapter 10
). If you know the name of a hospital your ancestor worked at the records of that hospital might be located using The National Archives' HOSPREC database at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ hospitalrecords. The Royal College of Nursing Archives has a website at www.rcn.org.uk/development/library/archives describing their historical collections, which are open to the public and contain valuable material donated by nurses and their families.

The Central Midwives Board for England and Wales was established after the Midwives Act of 1902. The Board's main function was to set up
The Midwives Roll
of certified midwives, which it published from 1904 until the 1980s. The Obstetrical Society of London had printed a
Midwife's Roll
dating back to 1872 containing the names of skilled midwives. The Central Midwives Board for Scotland was created by the Midwives (Scotland) Act of 1915 and has published
The Midwives Roll for Scotland 1917–1968
. Information about early midwives can be found in Joan E. Grundy's book
History's Midwives: Including a 17th Century and 18th Century Yorkshire Midwives Nominations Index
.

Lambeth Palace Library holds a directory of medical licences issued by the Archbishops of Canterbury between 1535 and 1775, which can be searched online at www.lambethpalacelibrary.org/files/medical_licenses.pdf by place name or by surname. Guildhall Library holds some records for apothecaries (most of which are due to be transferred to Apothecaries' Hall – see below) as well as some records for surgeons, physicians and other medical practitioners. An online guide to sources for tracing these occupations both at the Guildhall and elsewhere can be found at www.history.ac.uk/ gh/apoths.htm. The Guildhall holds membership and apprentice records for Barber-Surgeons who were members of the Barbers' Company of London from 1522 to the nineteenth century, and ecclesiastical
licences for physicians, surgeons and midwives granted by the Bishop of London, and the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral.

Apothecaries used to form part of the Grocers' Company, until in 1617 they separated to form the Society of Apothecaries, a Livery Company of the City of London (still in existence today). Apothecaries were an early form of chemist, keeping an open shop where they would give medical advice to customers and sell medicine to those who could not afford to visit a physician. In the eighteenth century apothecaries became either general practitioners or trading apothecaries who dispensed medicine. In 1775 the latter type of apothecary ceased becoming liverymen of the Society of Apothecaries.

Access to the archives at Apothecaries' Hall in Blackfriars Lane, London EC4V 6EJ can be arranged by writing to the archivist specifying what you are looking for. The Society of Genealogists has a microfilm copy of
A list of persons who have obtained certificates of fitness and qualification to practise as apothecaries from August 1, 1815 to July 31, 1840
. The National Library of Ireland holds material about apothecaries based there, including a list of admissions to the guilds of Dublin, 1792 to 1837, and records of Apothecaries' Hall, Dublin, for 1747 to 1833.

Apothecaries

Natasha Kaplinsky was astonished to discover that a fifth-generation great-grandfather on her mother's side, Benjamin Charlewood, was apothecary to the households of both George II and his son George III, the famously ‘Mad King' who suffered from porphyria towards the end of his reign. The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries was able to reveal to Natasha that Benjamin became a master of the society in 1760, and although he died before George III's first bout of illness, his apprentices may have helped to treat the King
.

Chemists, who made their medicine from chemicals, and druggists who made their drugs from animal and vegetable products, were separate entities to the apothecaries, until the three merged into the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1841. A comprehensive guide for records relating to these professions is
The Pharmaceutical Industry: A Guide to Historical Records
by Lesley Richmond, Julie Stevenson and Alison Turton. A register of chemists and druggists, including students, was established in 1852, requiring those on the register to have passed an examination. From 1868 a higher qualification of pharmaceutical chemist could also be obtained. The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has published annual copies of
The Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists, Chemists and Druggists
. W. A. Jackson's book
The Victorian Chemist and Druggist
gives an illustrated insight into how Victorian chemist and drug stores worked, describing what they looked like, the types of medicines typically dispensed, how they were made and the containers and instruments used. Bryony Hudson wrote an article on ‘Tracing People and Premises in Pharmacy' in 2005 that can be found in
Genealogists' Magazine
, vol. 28, no. 6 (2005), pp. 242–6.

Prior to the Dentists Act of 1878 dentistry was almost completely unregulated. The Act called for a
Dentists Register
to be published annually, which became the duty of the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom, after which it was published by the Dental Board of the United Kingdom. Registers of dental students were also made. The Dental Board of Ireland published its own
Dental Register
from the early twentieth century
. Invariably the registers for each year are arranged alphabetically by surname and list details such as the dentist's address, their date of registration and a description of their qualifications. John Menzies Campbell was a dental historian who wrote many publications on the subject since the mid-twentieth century, and for those researching a Scottish dentist the History of Dentistry Research Group may be able to give guidance on the records available.

Researchers looking for evidence of ancestors working as physicians should consult
The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London; comprising biographical sketches of all the eminent physicians … 1518 to 1825
compiled in three volumes by William Munk and known as Munk's Roll. A further four volumes of Munk's Roll, compiled in the latter half of the twentieth century covering the years from 1826 to 1983, were written by George Hamilton Brown, Richard R. Trail and Gordon Wolstenholme under the title
Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London
. Munk's Roll covers entries since the founding of the Royal College of Physicians in 1518. People researching early physicians may also find helpful John H. Raach's
A Directory of English County Physicians 1603–1643
.

Medical Directories
have been published annually since 1845, and from 1866 onwards they contain the names of dentists as well as medical practitioners. The directories contain notes about dates of qualification, the types of qualifications obtained and any posts held in hospitals and the armed services. The General Council of Medicine has also published an annual list of qualified practitioners in
The Medical Register
since 1859. Both publications cover the whole of the British Isles and are available at the national libraries, the Wellcome Library, Guildhall Library and other major reference libraries.

Information about the careers of medical practitioners who were university graduates may be found in published university membership lists. The University of Edinburgh published
List of Graduates in Medicine 1705–1866
listing the names of graduates, when they graduated, the qualification they received and their specialism. The Royal College of General Practitioners has an online guide to ‘Tracing Your Medical Ancestors' under the archives section of their website at www.rcgp.org.uk, and Alex Glendinning's article ‘Was Your Ancestor a Doctor?' can be found online at http://user.itl.net/ ~glen/doctors.html.

Early schools were set up and run by religious institutions, philanthropic and charitable organizations, principally for the benefit of the poor who could not afford to pay for their children to be educated by a governess or private schoolmaster. In 1603 schoolteachers were required to be licensed by bishops, and issues of such licences can be found in county record offices among Act books in the diocesan records. Unlicensed teachers could be prosecuted in the church courts. In England and Wales, Parliament began granting annual sums of money to help charities set up schools from 1833, namely the National Society, which was Anglican, and the British and Foreign School Society. Records of these may survive at the local record office, as might records of very small schools run by private individuals from their homes. A search of the Access to Archives database should uncover their whereabouts; if not, contact the record office local to where the school was based.

In England and Wales a pupil-teacher system was established from 1846 to train bright pupils up as teachers for three years at their elementary school where the headmaster would supervise them. At the age of 18 they needed to pass a King's/Queen's Scholarship Examination, later known as the Preliminary Examination for the Certificate. Those who passed the exam could then attend a training college for a further couple of years, usually a residential college set up by the Church of England and run by voluntary organizations.

•
 
Records of teacher training colleges can be found at The National Archives dating back to the 1840s in series ED 17, ED 103 and ED 40, though the involvement of central government in teaching has largely been related to matters of supply, qualification and conduct, so many of the ED files relate to general business such as building applications rather than students.

In 1870 an Elementary Education Act was passed that required pupil-teachers to be trained at pupil-teacher centres instead of at the school in which they were taught.

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Some pupil-teacher centre files have survived for the period 1884 to 1911 and those are kept at The National Archives among records of the Department of Education and Science in series ED 57. A detailed memorandum about the pupil-teacher system written in 1902 can be found in ED 24/76.

This system flourished for the last two decades of the Victorian period, until the Education Act of 1902 set up the first national system of secondary school education under which many pupil-teacher centres turned into secondary schools. In 1902 Local Education Authorities (LEAs) were established with powers to train pupil-teachers at secondary schools that were emerging as a new form of higher education. From 1907 the pupil-teacher system was replaced with one that saw pupils who intended to become teachers studying at school until the age of 17 or 18 and then either acting as a student teacher at a public elementary school or attending a teacher training college.

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There are LEA files at The National Archives in ED 67 concerning the supply of teachers with some staff returns of teachers and students training in colleges, mainly for the period 1912 to 1915.

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From 1904 municipal training colleges were set up to replace the ones run by voluntary societies. Records for training colleges run by the LEAs are in ED 87 and ED 86, while ED 78 contains files relating to LEA colleges, those run by voluntary bodies and university colleges providing courses for teachers. Few records about staff will be located in those series, but the reports filed by HM Inspectorate concerning the premises, staff and curricula at training colleges in ED 115 may be of interest.

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Universities first began running teacher training courses in 1890, but in 1911 a four-year course was introduced with the final year devoted to teacher training. Information on university teacher training courses is in ED 81 and ED 119.

‘
Teachers had to be licensed, and evidence will be found among

From 1926 teachers who trained in any type of training college needed to sit a final examination, which qualified students for certified recognition as teachers, conducted by the Joint Examination Boards and HM Inspectorate.

In 1943 there was concern about how the nation would meet the demands of post-war teaching, and a need for more teachers was recognized. Secondary school education was reorganized by the Education Act of 1944. Fifty-five emergency teacher-training colleges had been set up by 1947 and representative files have been kept for one college in Alnwick, Northumberland, in ED 143/33–34 and for Borthwick Training College for Women in London in series ED 143/35–36.

The National Archives has a number of research guides on the website under the subject heading ‘Education' detailing the records they hold concerning teachers and schools, including:

•
 
Domestic Records Information 67: ‘Education: Elementary (Primary) Schools
'

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Domestic Records Information 127: ‘Education: Inspectorate and HMI Reports
'

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Domestic Records Information 65: ‘Education: Secondary Schools
'

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Domestic Records Information 119: ‘Sources for the History of Education
'

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Domestic Records Information 23: ‘Education: Records of Special Services
'

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Domestic Records Information 63: ‘Education: Records of Teachers
'