Jane Sharp (c. 1641–1671) was an English midwife. Her work The Midwives Book: or the Whole Art of Midwifery Discovered, published in 1671, was the first on the subject to be produced by an Englishwoman.
Life
Little is known of Sharp's life beyond her publication. She is thought to have been born in 1641 in Shrewsbury, county town of Shropshire, England.
The title page of her book claims that she had been a "practitioner in the art of midwifry [sic] above thirty years." She is believed to have practised in London, although Sharp's name does not appear in any Church of England registration books or in witness signatures on any of almost 500 London midwifery certificates surviving from 1661–1669. Nor does she appear on any registers of the Catholic Church at the time. Sharp may have been a Puritan, which would account for her literacy: Puritan women were more frequently literate than Catholics or Anglicans. Her ability to write and to travel to and from London suggests she may have been economically advantaged, but it is unclear whether she received a formal education. While no marriage records have been found, it appears that Jane Sharp had either a daughter or a daughter-in-law, for the midwife Anne Parrott of St. Clement Danes in London, bequeathed a small sum to "Sarah Sharp the daughter of Jane Sharp".
With little known of the person's life and no record of her death, some have proposed that Jane Sharp is a pseudonym. Such were often attached to their work by women in the Early Modern period.
Profession
It is not known whether Sharp received any formal education, but she claims to have practised midwifery for 30 years. As a midwife, Sharp may have been educated, but unlike male surgeons of the time, midwives rarely received formal medical training. Instead they learnt through practice what was one of a few professions available to women in that period, sanctioned by Anglican and Catholic parishes throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Though men began to enter the field, English social norms at the time saw birthing as a feminine practice and discouraged men from intervening in it. Most births in Sharp's time took place in the mother's home, where a female midwife would preside. Jane Sharp, in her practical advice, urges women to adopt a comfortable position during labour, even an upright birth in a birthing chair.
Beyond that, Sharp's writing extends into medical matters. While women dominated in midwifery, men received formal education to become physicians and surgeons. She wrote for women about their medical issues using the accepted medical knowledge of the period and her own practical experience to fill out her readers' medical knowledge.
The Midwives Book
The first edition of The Midwives Book, or, The Whole Art of Midwifry Discovered appeared in 1671. Subsequent editions in 1674, 1724 and 1725. The first two were published by Simon Miller and the third and fourth posthumously by John Marshall as The Compleat Midwife's Companion. Published as a small octavo, The Midwives Book was a lengthy 95,000 words selling for two shillings and sixpence (£0.125). Its length and price suggest a higher-class target audience, but whereas its text is aimed mainly at practising midwives, beginning with a direct address:
The first edition of The Midwives Book is dedicated to Sharp's "much esteemed and ever honoured friend" Lady Elleanour Talbutt, an unmarried sister of John Talbot, 10th Earle of Shrewsbury, further suggesting Sharp's connection to Western England. Its title page states that Sharp was a "Practitioner in the Art of midwivry above thirty years" at the time of printing. Later editions, including the posthumous The Compleat Midwife's Companion published in 1724, states that Sharp had practised "above forty years".
Purpose and structure
The Midwives Book as published in 1671 instructed women how to conceive a child, maintain pregnancy, prepare for childbirth, bear a child, and care for a woman after childbirth. This meant it was intended as a manual not only for midwives, but for women and men to learn about anatomy and sexuality. Most midwifery manuals of the period came from men, some of whom had never witnessed a childbirth, Sharp's book focuses on the practices. She uses her practical guide also as a platform for her views on women's education, male midwives and female sexuality. It was also notable for its use of the vernacular; Sharp eschewed "hard words... are but the shell" of knowledge.