Birthday Celebration!

Today is my blog’s 5th birthday! I can clearly remember writing the first post with some trepidation, wondering whether anybody would bother to read it, or would even find it. It’s been so much fun, and with over 100,000 views to date, from more than 120 countries, it’s gone from strength to strength.

And so, a massive thanks to everyone who has read, commented on and shared my posts. I’m SO grateful and it’s great to be able to share some of the wonderful sources that I come across in archives. Doing the blog has been (and continues to be) a real learning experience for me, and has often led to some great opportunities to do other things.

So, happy birthday blog, and here’s to the next 5 years!

‘He is gone from his service before his time’: Medical Apprenticeships in Early Modern Britain

One from the archives – new posts to follow soon…promise!

Dr Alun Withey

One of the biggest frustrations in studying Welsh medical history is the lack of institutions. In the early modern period Wales was unique amongst the individual nations of the British Isles in having no universities and no medical training facilities. Unlike England, Scotland and Ireland there were no colleges of physicians or surgeons. Why was this? One of the main reasons was the lack of large towns. Wrexham, in north Wales, was by far the largest town in early modern Wales, with a population of around 3500 in 1700. There were many other smaller Welsh towns but, without large populations to cater for, there was no need for practitioners to form trade gilds or corporations.

Over the past few weeks, however, I’ve been turning my attention to the Welsh Marches – the border between England and Wales – and doing some research on large towns such as Shrewsbury and Chester…

View original post 1,226 more words