Midwives Older people in the Peak remember when their local midwife had no qualifications except perhaps a large family of her own. Elizabeth Mallinson of Edale, for example, had given birth to 13 children. It was also likely to be the midwife who was fetched to lay out the dead, arriving with a laying-out board shaped like a coffin lid. Midwives were not always around to help at a birth. Here in the Peak, babies have been born in the street, at a fair and in a leadmine. And the birth of a baby is surrounded by all sorts of superstitions and customs. People in small villages generally have no resident doctor. This makes it more important to have a nurse living nearby. Before the National Health Service, communities had to raise funds to pay for having a district nurse. Money was raised through carnivals and other events. The nurse would also look after mothers-to-be and their babies. Read More >> More Pictures Health and Sickness