Deaddocs: a Bibliographical Index of Obituaries and Posthumous Accounts in British Medical Journals and Related Sources, 1750-1850

The aim of Deaddocs: a bibliographical index is to provide information and references for medical and other historians, as well as for researchers in local and family history of medical practitioners who died between 1750 and 1850. Deaddocs was originally planned to be one of the research publications of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine at the University of Oxford. The aim of the Unit's research publications was "to make available in an inexpensive form, bibliographical, documentary and research aids in fields relating to the history of medicine". The resulting index was so large that paper publication became out of the question. Its aim was to provide brief biographical details in a standardized form. There is space for up to seven references which are coded to give some indication of their length and importance. The index is more fully described in the study's documentation.<br> <br> Because there was no compulsory Medical Register before 1858, and until 1845 only an occasional medical directory, the aim was to identify as many medical practitioners, and others in related medical occupations, as possible, using obituaries and posthumous accounts appearing in British medical journals and related sources between 1750 and 1850. The Gentleman's Magazine, rather than any medical journal, turned out to be the major source for the years 1750-1773. W.R. LeFanu's British Periodicals of Medicine 1640-1899 was the main source for the titles of the medical journals. He lists over two hundred medical journals between 1750 and 1850, though not quite all of them could be found, and a small number when found were incomplete. <br>