Abstract

This event took place on 28 April 2022 and was in collaboration with the University of Northumbria.

Romantic poet Susanna Blamire (1747-1794) was a prolific Cumbria-based writer who explored topics including healthcare, religion and travel in both verse and prose. Little of her body of work was published during her lifetime.

Over the last 25 years the Wordsworth Trust worked with Christopher Hugh Maycock, Blamire’s descendent and biographer (A Passionate Poet, Hypatia Press 2003; Selected Poems, Bookcase, 2008), to preserve her surviving manuscript works. Her writings not only reveal the hidden history of women’s medical work in the 18th century but form a starting point for exploring what good healthcare looks like in past, present and future.

In this event our speakers took an in-depth look at Blamire’s life and writing, and showcased manuscripts and objects from the Wordsworth Trust’s collection. They explored topics including the experience of illness and disability in the late 18th century, how women influenced healthcare while being barred from medical school, and how creativity can interact with wellbeing.

This event accompanied ‘(Re)Acting Romanticism: Disability and Women Writers’ at Wordsworth Grasmere, an exhibition that took place from April-May 2022.

If you enjoyed this video, please consider making a donation to the Wordsworth Trust: https://wordsworth.org.uk/support/