Exeter alumna publishes new history of nursing in early modern England

Professor Alannah Tomkins (1991, DPhil in History), Exeter College alumna and Professor Emerita at Keele University, has published a new book with Manchester University Press. Nursing the English from Plague to Peterloo, 1660–1820 was released in January 2025 and explores the provision of nursing care in England before the influence of Florence Nightingale.  

Spanning over 150 years of social and political change, the book draws on diverse archival sources to examine how care was delivered both in domestic settings and public institutions. It brings attention to the work of caregivers often left out of traditional narratives, including those involved in parish relief, voluntary aid, and early hospital systems. 

A specialist in eighteenth-century social history, Professor Tomkins sheds light on the individuals and structures that supported health and recovery in early modern England. Her work contributes to growing scholarship on the history of everyday medicine and caregiving. 

Nursing the English is available through Manchester University Press.