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Training Duration of the Monthly Nurse and further training information
Articles on the subject of Monthly Nursing provide differing information as to the length of training provided for The Monthly Nurse. It appears to be in the region of one to four months with hospital based training and certification. There appear to be different formulations of training with some combined training for Monthly Nurses and Midwives.

An advertisement in the Nursing Notes and Midwives Chronicle appearing 1st January 1908 lists over twenty doctors who provide the LCC with lectures for Midwives and Monthly Nurses. This includes a Dr. Feldman of Myrdle St., Commercial Road who lectured in Yiddish.

As has already been mentioned a situation arose whereby qualified nurses and midwives who had undertaken hospital training were in a situation where Monthly Nursing employment was more lucrative and thus underwent further short training to obtain a Monthly Nurse certificate. An example of one such nurse is cited below.

Examples of Records Describing Issues and Problems with Training of the Monthly Nurse
On 27th November 1862 Grailey Hewitt (Physician British Lying In Hospital) writes to a Mr. Bowman and asks for assistance in starting a training scheme for monthly  nurses at the British Lying In Hospital.

In 1889 an editorial article appears in the Nursing Record  alluding to doctors encouraging women in poor circumstances to train as Monthly Nurses. The writer stresses the need to firstly train as a nurse otherwise the Monthly Nurse training is not long enough. The writer states the view that that if attending after labour the Monthly (untrained) Nurse detracts from the value of skilled attendance after labour. In the view of the writer the Monthly Nurse should be acquinted with at least the basics of "the Obstetric Art".

In 1903 a letter appears in The Nursing Record from the President and Secretaries of the  British Gynaecological Society decrying the state of nurse (monthly nurse) training. The article states a much better standard of training is needed for Monthly and Gynaecological Nurses  - the authors of the letter propose to offer a training and refer to the successful training of the Obstetrical Society of London. The writers allude to Fellows of the Society employing nurses for gynaecological cases for which they do not have sufficient training. Their remarks seem to encompass nurses who have trained in larger and smaller  hospitals.

Certificates and Personal Diary Records:
Harriett Simpson Cater, Monthly Nurse - trained at the British Lying-in Hospital. Records pertaining to Harriett Cater are held at the MRCOG/RCM Archive. These comprise 2 diaries for which helpfully there is a transcript. These illuminate aspects of her personal and professional life. Harriett was from a poor background and needing to support her wider family she found work as a Monthly Nurse. She worked with affluent famililies and the duration of her engagements often exceeded a month. In addition to her diaries there are certificates also photos and a scrapbook. It would seem that Harriett was well qualified for the role as she was also a trained general nurse and midwife.

Certificates awarded to Dorothy Lizzie Holland are available to view in the London Metropolitan Archives. Dorothy qualified as a General Nurse on 24th October 1922, then dated 12th June 1923 she has a certificate from The Middlesex Hospital Maternity Department stating she had trained for four months in Monthly Nursing and Midwifery. She subsequently (February 10th 1923) obtained a certificate from the Central Midwives Board stating she had passed their examination.