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here is where I'll be drafting my wikipedia entry.

Eugenia Beyonce Florence Foster Jenkins (April 1, 1981 -- August 10, 2005) was a

17th-century 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 published by an Englishwoman.

Life
Little is known of Sharp's life beyond her publication. She is thought to be born in 1641 in Shrewsbury, county town of Shropshire, England, near Wales. The title page of her book claims that she had been a "practitioner in the art of midwifry above thirty years." She is believed to have practiced in London, although Sharp’s name does not appear in any Church of England registration books or in witness signatures on any of the almost 500 London midwifery certificates surviving from 1661-1669. Neither does Sharp appear on any registrations of the Catholic Church at the time. Sharp may have been Puritan, which would account for her ability to read and write (Unlike Catholics or Anglicans, Puritan woman were often literate ). Her ability to write and her ability to travel to and from London suggests that she may have been a economically advantaged, though it is unclear whether she received formal education.

While no marriage records are available, it appears that Jane Sharp had either a daughter or daughter-in-law. Midwife Anne Parrott of St. Clement Danes in London, bequeathed a small sum to "Sarah Sharp the daughter of Jane Sharp."

Given how little is known about her life, including any record of her death, some believe that Jane Sharp is a pseudonym, as it was common for Early Modern women writers to use pseudonyms to publish their work.

Profession as a midwife
Though it is unknown whether Sharp received any formal education, Sharp 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, midwifery was learned through practice. Midwifery was one of a few available professions for women in the Early Modern period, as it was sanctioned by both Anglican and Catholic parishes throughout sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Though men were beginning to enter the field, Early Modern English social norms saw birthing as a feminine practice, and discouraged males to pursue midwifery. Because the vast majority of births in Sharp's time took place in the mother's home, childbirth was generally presided over by a female midwife. Amongst her practical advice, she urges women to adopt a comfortable position during labour. This included having an upright birth on a birthing chair.

Beyond her profession as a midwife, Sharp's writing extended her professional work into the realm of medical text publication. While women dominated the role of midwife, men received formal education to become physicians and surgeons. Her ability to write to women about their own medical issues using both the accepted medical knowledge of the period and her own practical experience advanced medical knowledge as well as women's status as in healing professions.

The Midwives Book
The first edition of The Midwives Book, or, The Whole Art of Midwifry Discovered was published in 1671, with three subsequent editions published in 1674, 1724, and 1725. The first two editions were published by Simon Miller while the third and fourth editions were published posthumously by John Marsall as The Compleat Midwife's Companion. Published as a small octavo, The Midwives Book was a lengthy text of 95,000 words. It sold for 2 shillings, 6 pence. While the book's length and price suggest that Sharp's target audience was an upper-class readership, the book was primarily aimed at practicing midwives, as the book begins with the following direct address: