Training midwives at the Real Colegio de Cirugía (Royal College of Surgeons) in Madrid
The first centre for training midwives in Spain was the Real Colegio de Cirugía de San Carlos in Madrid. The College had been opened in 1787, although the Chair of Midwifery did not open until April 19, 1790. Initially, only married women were accepted, but a few years later, widows were also admitted. Single women were denied access to the profession, a situation which lasted through all the 19th century. Lessons for midwives were behind closed doors and at different times than for other students to ensure the «morality» of the institution. The lessons were given by Professor Agustín Ginestà, thus interrupting the centuries-old matrilineal transmission of knowledge. However, the Royal College awarded very few titles –the first year saw only eight midwives qualify. And so began one of the most important problems to have afflicted the profession: a lack of professionals.
To improve training, a set of wax figures was commissioned, where the students could see, in three dimensions and fairly realistically, the different foetal positions and postures in a mother´s pelvis. One wax figure depicts a pregnant woman leaning back on a chair with her stomach open. Many of these figures, preserved in the Museo Puerta de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, were reproduced by Pedro González de Velasco and José Díaz Benito in a book titled `Practical treatise on delivery´ published by don Alejandro Gómez Fuentenebro, printer, in 1854. In the photo we can see a reproduction of the figure of the woman we described.
It was precisely Pedro González de Velasco who established a free school of midwifery in his Anthropology Museum in 1875, taking advantage of the Decree of Freedom of Education issued during the «Democratic Sexenium» and yet to be repealed. A teacher at this school was a midwife called Pilar Jáuregui Luccu, a staunch defender of single women being able to train and join the profession.