TWO MEDICAL CHARITIES IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON: THE LOCK HOSPITAL AND THE LYING-IN CHARITY FOR MARRIED WOMEN

Eighteenth-century men and women congratulated themselves on their charitableness. They had just reason for pride. In the thirty years between 1740 and 1770 at least two dozen charities of miscellaneous sorts were founded in London and supported by concerned groups of private citizens, pooling their resources and contributing their time and effort to the management and direction of voluntary poor relief.1