ABSTRACT
In the two centuries from 1750 to 1950 the advances in medicine can arguably be said to have had the greatest effect on most English lives, even more significant than universal education, both short and long term. Until the twentieth century limited medical skill and a lack of professional knowledge meant a high mortality rate in most illness, especially for the young, the pregnant and the old, while poor social conditions exacerbated sickness for most people for two hundred years. Medicine was essentially part of a consumer society until 1948, with the coming of state medicine in the National Health Service. In addition, the status of medical practitioners themselves and their profession has changed out of all recognition since 1750.
