HPRC School Seminar: Occupation hazards of wet-nursing: Transmission of syphilis from infected infants and other risks, Dr Virginia Thorley (UQ Honorary staff)

Event Details

Date:

Friday, 16 November 2012

Time:

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Room:

Room E302 Forgan Smith Building (1)

UQ Location:

Forgan Smith Building (St Lucia)

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Much has been written about the practice of wet-nursing (the employment of another woman to breastfeed an infant) from the perspectives of risk to the child of the employers, the fate of the wet-nurse’s own child (not a homogenous situation), or the moralistic pronouncements of medical men and churchmen on the biological mothers who employed them. Of all the people involved in the wet-nursing scenario, the one who seemingly mattered least as an entity was the wet-nurse. The present research instead focuses on the occupation health of wet-nurses, with particular reference to 19th century Britain.
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Dr Virginia Thorley is an Honorary Research Associate of the School of History, Philosophy, Religion & Classics, University of Queensland. She has published widely in the history of maternity and infant feeding.