ABSTRACT
Margaret Versluysen has suggested that it was the lying-in hospitals which were chiefly responsible for promoting man-midwifery at the expense of the traditional midwife. In the 1740s the success of William Smellie's lying-in fund revealed the potential demand for help, yet by 1747 the metropolis still had no institutional provision for lying-in women. Thereupon a very rapid change set in: within five years, London had three lying-in hospitals, and a fourth was added in 1767. In sharp contrast with Sir Richard Manningham's infirmary, all the institutions proved permanent — probably because they acquired a broader base of initial support. The obstetric alignment of the General Lying-in Hospital is obscure, since its man-midwife and founder Felix Macdonough — a member of the Company of Surgeons who claimed the title of "Doctor" — avoided public obstetric controversy.
