Zepherina Veitch (1836-94), childbed fever and the registration of midwives.

At a time when hospital infections are rarely out of the news, it is important to reflect that the origins of midwifery as a profession owe much to the actions of a group of determined women who, in the face of much opposition from within the medical profession, strove to improve upon standards of hygiene in maternity care to reduce the high levels of maternal and infant mortality associated with some of the most prestigious hospitals in the land.