One hundred years ago
No class requires the aid of English female doctors like the ladies of India. They have fairly skilled native midwives, but for the cure of any grave disease they have absolutely no skilled help whatever. Men cannot attend them, and except as midwives the native women have no medical skill, beyond a knowledge, often inaccurate, of a few simples. So strongly is this grievance, which is both genuine and dreadful, felt by some among them, that the Maharanee of Punnah, in Bundelcund, recently implored Miss Beilby, the female medical missionary in Lucknow, to take a message from her to the Queen, begging her Majesty to try to help Indian women in the matter. The message was conveyed, and very kindly received, although there is a fancy abroad, based on some statement of Sir W. Jenner, that the Queen is opposed to female doctors. If the Queen really wishes to remove, or at least allieviate, one of the big miseries of the world, the road is palpably open.
Spectator, 29 October 1881
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