Nineteenth-Century Nurses and Midwives in Three Canadian Cities, 1861-1891

This paper focuses on nurses and midwives in Montreal, Halifax, and Saint John in the decades leading up to the introduction of trained nurses. Self-employed (private) nurses are compared with those in hospitals. Overwhelmingly of the working-class, predominantly women, and frequently widows, the nurses were not formally trained, though some midwives were. Comparisons are made between nurses and midwives in Montreal, Halifax, Saint John, and their counterparts in Toronto. The changing fortunes of midwives during the era are also discussed.