The Midwife’s Tale relieslargely on the voices of thepeople who were interviewedby authors Nicky Leap and

Billie Hunter. In this extract, EstherSilverton describes her first experienceof attending a birth on her own as astudent midwife during an air raid inthe Second World War ...

My first delivery‘I was getting to the end of mytraining in Croydon out on thedistrict. I loved it; I really loved it. …My midwife was called Mrs Treasureand I think she thought I had a littlebit of sense. … She used to leave mea lot on my own, anyway. Thebiggest thrill of my life was when Iknew I was going to do my first

delivery on my own on the district.‘Of course, now it wouldn’t be so

bad, but it was the times we wereliving in. You didn’t only have tocope with mum and baby, you hadto cope with, well, everything. Keepyourself safe, so that you arrived – Imean, no good you pegging out onthe way there, was it! You had to getthere. You had to go through themiddle of the night with all theflying bombs, on a bike with a coverover your headlamp. It was theblackout. And you wore navy blue,which I thought was dreadfulbecause there were no lightsanywhere. You get a very dark nightwith no moon and there’s nothinganywhere, absolutely pitch black!

‘Well, this particular delivery of

mine, which was really the highlightof my life, I’ll never forget it. To meit was wonderful. …

‘So that particular night I went tobed all apprehensive. Now, the bedwas underneath a Morrison shelter,d’you know? A table shelter – theywere sort of iron, you see, darkgreen and very strong. Down theside there was more metal and thena little bit of strong mesh for air, andthen there was a hole where you gotunderneath and the back was allfilled in and then more mesh at theother end. Well, you were supposedto lay two people lengthways inthose, but of course where I was

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billeted out there was “Mum”,“Dad” and Pam (lovely girl). Theywere doing an important job anddidn’t have to go to war, but herbrother and sister had gone out.They were fighting.

‘So there was four of us, you see,so what could we do? So we decidedthat as we had a great big huge tablein that room as well, “Dad” wouldget under that every night – though,what protection it would be I dunno!And “Mum”, Pam and I gotunderneath the Morrison. But wecouldn’t lay lengthways because it

wasn’t big enough so we had to laywidthways – that meant to say ourfeet were out so we each took a two-hour stint of being awake to call theothers when the raids come on andyou all had to lift your legs in –’cause we said it would be no goodif you got your legs chopped off! Sayit would be my stint; you had to situp to keep awake for two hours. Wedid this in turn each night.

A call for the midwife‘Well, this particular night when thephone went, I was asleep and Pamsaid, “Nurse, the phone’s ringing. Iexpect it’s for you.” And when Ianswered the phone it was one ofthe patients.

‘Well, I had to get all round theback of the house to get me bikeout and lock it all up, get meselfout, take a bag and that. And I had

to ride alongside of the park andthere was a warden and he said,“Get off the bike. They’re fallingfast. Listen to them, all comingover!” I said, “Can’t. Maternity case...” And rode on ever so cocky! Iwent on and them doodlebugs keptstopping. They’re terrible, whenthey stop. They swish on down,you see, and then they fall, and ofcourse they shatter roads – a roadwent like a pack of cards! Thedevastation! You’d hear themcoming, the plane’s noise, and thenthey stopped – swish – and whenthey stopped you had to dosomething because they’d dropanywhere.

‘Many of a time I’ve been nearthem and you just laid down flaton the road, so I just fell off thebike, laid down – there’s no trafficabout but say there had been, theywouldn’t have seen you on a darknight in the middle of the road –they’d have rolled over you. ...

‘Well, I got to this house finallybecause it was a shocking night, oneof the worst they’d had. I got to thishouse and I moved along, fumbledme way along and found the doorand put me bike in the gate, took melamp off to check it was the rightnumber and I knocked. Nobodycame. I was ever so frightened. So Ipushed the door and it was open so

Social HistoryMidwife’s Tale

NEW MOTHERS andmidwives sheltering togetherduring an air raid.The Independent Photography Project

A DISTRICT midwife bathing a baby, c1940.Personal collection: Billie Hunter and Nicky Leap

A COUPLE inside a Morrison shelter.

in I go and I fumbled around to try andfind Mum and I couldn’t findanybody! Suddenly Dad came in fromthe garden and he said, “Oh good. I’mglad you’ve come, Nurse, we’re all inthe shelter. What a terrible night!”

‘So he said, “Come in.” So I getinto the kitchen. And he said, “We

can’t have any of her nice stuff.That’s all upstairs and I’m toofrightened to go up and get it.” Isaid, “Oh, never mind, we’ll haveall the bowls and stuff from thekitchen. Don’t worry to go upstairs,for goodness sake!” Because he’dgot four children, four little girls.

A few basic comforts‘Down the bottom of the shelter he’dmade it that there were like twoshelves and there were two littlegirls on one shelf and two on theother, one either end. Lovely littlegirls. Anyway, there was Mum lyingon the bunk and there was anotherbunk entrance, so I just got in andlooked at her, you see, and I said,

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SISTER WILKINSON and pupils in the nursery, c1938. The Independent Photography Project

FRESH AIR activities at the British Hospital forMothers and Babies, Woolwich.The Independent Photography Project, courtesy of Trish le Gal

“Well, I think what we’d better do isget everything to the shelter that wecan think of. Then we won’t have togo out. If the water’s cold, it’s justcold and that’s it.” So he said, “Well,before it got too bad I brought downthat great big jug you put cold waterin.” They hold eight pints, you know,the old jugs and basins on the oldwashstands. Marvellous. Great boon.Well, they had one of those jugs,didn’t have a basin. So I said, “Well,fill that with water and I’ll get downin this Anderson [shelter] (you know,they were dug right down) and youpass everything down to me and I’lltake it and then when you’vefinished you come on down.” Hesaid, “There’s an upturned bucket.You can sit on there for a seat.”

A shock to the system‘So I sat on it – had a bit of a rimround me! He got ready to give methat water, and just as he was aboutto give it to me the doodlebug hadstopped and it was coming down –swishing – any minute it was goingto drop. I mean, you didn’t knowwhere it’s going to land. And sowhat did he do? He was sofrightened he fell and he tippedeight pints of cold water over me!From head to foot, I was absolutelydrenched! Right, of course, he cried,he was in such a state. Me drippingwet from head to foot. Well, whatcould I do? I just laughed! And itwas all mud underneath, you see. Itwas earth and it just made it into allslosh!

‘The mother said, “Well, you can’tstay like that!” I said, “No, well, I’llhave to get some of these clothesoff,” because I was wringing wet.Well, we’d lost all the water andwe’ve to go up to get more water, soshe said, “You’d better go up. In thekitchen there’s my clothes that Idropped out of on the floor.” So Idressed in her maternity clothes inthe kitchen! Didn’t care whetherDad could see what I was doing ornot! I undressed in the kitchen! Hesaid, “I won’t look.” I said, “Youcan’t see if you did!” It was pitchblack. He said, “Where are you?” Isaid, “I’m finding the clothes!” Oh!Nothing so funny in all of my life!So I go down in her maternityclothes! And he had to proceed toget some more water. I don’t think I

ever got any hot water frombeginning to end.

Four new big sisters‘Anyway, he’d made little curtainsacross the bunks and these littlechildren kept looking out at me. AndI said, “Now look, if you’re verygood when the baby comes you canopen the curtains when I tell youand have a look. ...”

‘We carried on, and Mum wasdelivered on the bunk, no stitches,and Dad was wonderful. He was ina terrible state about what he’d doneto me. I said, “Don’t be silly – that’snothing!” Anyway, she wasmarvellous and the baby was bornand it was a boy and she’d told methat she was going to call it Richardif it was a boy. And I said, “We’vegot Richard!” And I said, “Children– you’ve got a little baby brother.”And d’you know, it was just like outof comic cuts. They all pulled thelittle curtains back – this is true! –they pulled the little curtains backand had a little look out!

‘And I said, “I’ll bring the babyover and show you in a minute.”And they were awake all that time.And I took the baby over, pulled thecurtains back, they had a look andthen they went to sleep. We neverheard another word. About 4 o’clockin the morning, the doodlebugsstopped because it was light. Dawncoming, they didn’t come on overthen. …

‘That was my most wonderfuldelivery. All on my own. I mean,when you think of it, that wasn’tbad was it? … You can imagine,can’t you. I was absolutely elated!’ �

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Social HistoryMidwife’s Tale

Nicky Leap and Billie Hunter are bothmidwives. In the 1980s, through a seriesof contacts from family, friends and theRoyal College of Midwives, theyinterviewed elderly retired midwives andwomen who gavebirth before theNational HealthService was set up in1948. The storiesthey were told werevery moving andformed the basis oftheir book, TheMidwife’s Tale: AnOral History fromHandywoman toProfessionalMidwife (first published 1993). The newedition, published by Pen and SwordBooks at £14.99, brings these intriguingand sometimes humorous first-handaccounts to a new readership.

Nicky Leap (left) and Billie Hunter.

MIDWIFE ELSIE Walkerdine attended thebirths of more than 4,000 babies in Deptford,South East London. Private collection: Mary Thorley

20% off plus FREE UKpostage and packing. Call 01226 734222 and quote code311741 or visit www.pen-and-sword.co.uk and the enter code.

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