In October 1663 news spread around London that Queen Catherine was gravely ill.
Nendick’s Pill: Selling Medicine in Rural Britain
All of this reminds us that people in the past were by no means as cut off from medical provision as they were traditionally portrayed to be.
Beards…or no Beards?
Decisions to wear (or not wear) facial hair are bound up in a complex web of meanings and influences.
Splash it All Over: A Brief History of Aftershave
The vast history of the aftershave procedure.
What Survives the Centuries: Children’s Sketches and Home Remedies
One child’s lost drawings in a 19th-Century medical manuscript.
Touching the Past: Why is History Important?
Dr. Alun Withey on the tangible effects of history and why he finds it so interesting.
Ten Seventeenth-Century Remedies You’d Probably Want to Avoid
Dr. Alun Withey takes on old medical advice that might not be so advantageous for your health today.
He is Gone From His Service Before His Time
What were medical apprenticeships like in early modern Britain?
The Case of the Severed Finger: Callow vs Heane, 1634
Dr. Alun Withey on a curious case that took place in the Welsh marches in the 1630s.
The Great Georgian Snuff Debate
The history of tobacco and its negative health effects.
Mad Dog Bites and Englishmen
Alun Withey on early-modern remedies for hydrophobia.
Detoxing in History: The Morning After the Night Before
Still recovering from overindulgence? You’re not alone.
Beardless Boys and False Moustaches
Facial hair has a long and interesting history, especially when it comes to dealing with a lack of it.
By the King’s Special Grant: A Venetian Quack in Early Modern Britain
The drug lords of the past.
Sit Up Straight, Man!
Correct bad posture or it might be the “neck swing” for you (in the 18th century.)
Pig Boys and Boar Bites: A Seventeenth-Century Medical Consultation
Social attitudes towards sickness in a society at a time where records of medical encounters are frustratingly rare.