Physicians, Surgeons and Apothecaries
Health Professionals in the Regency Era
In my newest release, Lost in Darkness, Mr. Peckwood and Mr. Lambert are surgeons, yet not once are they addressed as Dr. Peckwood or Dr. Lambert. That’s because in the Regency era, there were three different levels of trained professionals, all of whom were referred to as doctors, but only physicians were addressed with the honorific Dr. preceding their name. Why the differences? Great question!
Physicians were the gentlemen of the profession. They studied medicine at a university or one of the more prestigious medical schools, where they earned a doctorate in medicine. As you may guess, this was expensive, so physicians were generally of the upper class and usually gentlemen by birth. Being such, physicians didn’t stoop to touching their patients or caring for the general masses. They diagnosed by asking questions and attended those higher in society. They wrote prescriptions, but it was the apothecary who then filled them.
Surgeons were the next level of caregiver, having little to no formal university training. Instead, they apprenticed to an experienced surgeon. Though socially they didn’t receive as much respect, these were the men whom most people relied upon. They treated everything from wounds to broken bones to malaises of all sorts. They were not considered gentlemen because they actually touched their patients. And like physicians, they wrote prescriptions for the apothecary as well.
In Lost in Darkness, hero Graham Lambert was also cross-trained as an apothecary. This position held the lowest rank in the medical profession. These men were educated in the use and composition of herbs, potions, and medicines, and were usually found more in rural areas. Physicians and surgeons generally practiced in cities.
Surgeons play a big part in Lost in Darkness, an enchanting Regency-era gothic romance intertwined with inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Here’s a blurb:
Travel writer Amelia Balfour’s dream of touring Egypt is halted when she receives news of a revolutionary new surgery for her grotesquely disfigured brother. This could change everything, and it does. . .in the worst possible way.
Surgeon Graham Lambert has suspicions about the doctor he’s gone into practice with, but he can’t stop him from operating on Amelia’s brother. Will he be too late to prevent the man’s death? Or to reveal his true feelings for Amelia before she sails to Cairo?
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