author

John Maubray

d. 1732

An early Scottish physician in London, he became known for teaching midwives and for writing one of the period's best-known guides to women's health and childbirth. His career mixed serious medical ambition with controversy, making him a vivid figure in early 18th-century medicine.

1 Audiobook

The Female Physician Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.

The Female Physician Containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows; together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv'd midwifery; comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in all cases of difficult and preternatural births; together with the diet and regimen of both the mother and child.

by John Maubray

About the author

Practising in London in the early 1700s, John Maubray was a Scottish physician who became one of the better-known early male teachers of midwifery. He is best remembered for The Female Physician, published in 1724, a wide-ranging work on women's health, childbirth, and the training of midwives.

Maubray promoted hands-on obstetric teaching at a time when midwifery was changing quickly, and his work reflects both the medical ideas and the limits of his era. Modern historians note that he was an energetic and sometimes controversial figure, especially because some of his claims and theories were later criticized.

Even so, his writing offers a revealing window into Georgian medicine and the growing role of professional male practitioners in childbirth care. He died in 1732, leaving behind a reputation shaped by both medical innovation and debate.