This entry is a memo for myself: In these decades, historical studies on hospice and palliative care have been eminently extended. The topic may recently have been an object for historical inquiry, after 50 years since the establishment of St. Christopher’s Hospice in 1967.

Selected Works of David Clark

We now cannot talk about the history of modern hospice without referring to great and pioneering works David Clark produced.

David Clark and Jane E. Seymour, Reflections on Palliative Care. Buckingham: Open University Press, 1999. ―― It had been the most comprehensive study until Clark himself published renewed studies mention below.

David Clark, Cicely Saunders. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2002. ―― The most detailed and credible biography of Cicely Saunders today.

David Clark, To Comfort Always. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. ――An overview of history of palliative medicine, including hospice care, from the 19th century to the present. If you read only one book in the field, I recommend the book.

David Clark, Neil Small, Michael Wright, et al., A Bit of Heaven for the Few? Observatory Publications, 2005. ――This is a collection of interviews done for the people who contributed to establish and develop hospice care. As well as comprehensive works, David Clark organised and prosecute these kinds of steady studies.

Individual Studies for Early Hospices

Before the building of St. Christopher’s, several “hospices” established in the late 19th and early 20th century. Some researchers try to engage in historical studies for these early hospices.

Grace Goldin, “A Protohospice at the Turn of the Century,” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 36(4), 1981.　―― This paper set a starting point for later works for early hospices, or “proto-hospice” Goldin named. Among them, she mainly treats and vividly describes St. Luke’s House established in London in 1893.

Sarah Lush, Trinity Hospice. Clapham: Trinity Hospice, 1991. ――Hostel of God, which was established in 1891, was the predecessor of Trinity Hospice. The book may be published as a memorial for 100 years, but the quality of information is neither momentary nor low.

Paul Lydon, A Catalogue of Records Retained by Hospices and Related Organizations in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Sheffield: European Association of the History of Medicine and Health Publication, 1998. ――The book is a list of hospices in the UK and Ireland with some historical information, including historical records each hospices possess. You can find information not only on main hospices but also rather infamous ones in this book. However, some descriptions don’t accompany definite sources.

Clare Humphreys, “Undying Spirits,” University of Sheffield, Faculty of Medicine, PhD Thesis, 1999. ――Humphreys deals with 3 early hospices in London, Hostel of God, St. Luke’s, and St. Joseph’s. This paper is a summery of the thesis: “Waiting for the Last Summons,” Mortality  6 (2), 2001. While they include many useful historical descriptions, I find that some interpretations the author gives are a little too much in emphasizing the religious character of the hospices.

Michell Winslow, David Clark, St. Joseph’s Hospice, Hackney. Lancaster: Observatory, 2005. ――The history of St. Joseph’s Hospice, established in 1905. The historical influence of the hospice seems to be larger than other early hospices in the UK. Above all, Cicely Saunders in the days at St. Joseph’s is of great interest.

Helen I. Broome, “Neither Curable nor Incurable but Actually Dying,” University of Southampton, School of Social Sciences, PhD Thesis, 2011.――Friedenheim, established in 1885, is regarded as the earliest protohospice in Britain. The thesis also treats the social function of workhouses as a kind of shelter before early hospices.

These studies cover most of early hospices which appeared in London in the late 19 century. What now totally remains is St. Columba’s established in 1889.

To my regret, I have not yet searched exhaustively historical works on Our Lady’s Hospice, established in Dublin in 1879. I have been looking for T. M. Healy, 125 Years of Caring in Dublin (2004) , but I have not seen it. It is not possessed even by The British Library.

In France, Jeanne Garinier and les Dames du Calvaire built a hospice in Lyon in 1843, even though it had a different character from modern hospices. I also have not tried to explore French studies, but I happened to read two suggestive papers: Patrice Pinell and Sylvia Brossat, “The Birth of Cancer Politics in France,” Sociology of Health and Illness 10(4), 1988; Pierre Moulin, ”Les soins palliatifs en France,” Cahiers internationaux de sociologie 108, 2000.

General History

Here are significant works other than To Comfort Always by David Clark.

Milton J. Lewis, Medicine and Care of the Dying. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. ――This book gives an overview of history of medical care for the dying in the Western world. It is also characteristic that the book offers thick descriptions about Australia, the important place in the development of medical system.

Jason Szabo, Incurable and Intolerable. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2009. ―― The study focuses on the social history of treatment for “the incurable” in France in the 19 century.

Emily K. Abel, The Inevitable Hour. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2013. ――This book also describes the category of “incurable” but its focus are the American cases in the 19 and 20 centuries.

Harold Y. Vanderpool, Palliative Care. Jefferson: McFarland and Company, 2015．――This is really a unique and pioneer work tracing the history of medical treatment for the dying. Vanderpool gives us a comprehensive perspective of the history overlooked before.

Michael Stolberg, A History of Palliative Care, 1500-1970. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2017.――This work is a kind of synthesis of previous studies. It offers a plenty of credible information.

Some Relevant Studies

Sioban Nelson, Say Little, Do Much. Philadelphia: University Pennsylvania Press, 2001. [Japanese translation, 2004]――This study suggests that you cannot understand the history of hospice if you pay attention exclusively to hospices. In this insightful book, Nelson criticises Nightingale-centered history of nursing and emphasises the contribution of anonymous women religious motivated for establishing modern medical system. In the Japanese translation, the key term “religious nurses ” is translated into “devoted nurses” in Japanese. It may exemplify the tendency to neglect any religious factor in this field, just as Nelson criticises in the very book.

Todd H. Green, Responding to Secularization. Leiden: Brill, 2011. ――There may be a plenty of books about deaconess of Protestant, but I have not checked them enough yet. This book is on the Swedish cases.

Koichi Takakusagi, Akihiko Okamura and His Thought on Dying. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2016. (Japanese Book, 高草木光一『岡村昭彦と死の思想』)―― Akihiko Okamura （1929-1985) was a journalist and one of the key persons who imported the concept of hospice into Japan. He introduced the history of hospice in Japanese, with passionately emphasizing “the Irish spirit” represented by Mary Akenhead. Now, Okamura himself has been an important part of the history of hospice in Japan.

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A kind of reference for this blog entry: Ryosuke Morooka, “Establishment of Modern Hospice and Its Historical and Religious Background,” Gendai Shukyo 2020, International Institute for the Study of Religions, 2020. ( Japanese paper, 「近代ホスピス成立の歴史的・宗教的背景」『現代宗教2020』2020年）http://www.iisr.jp/journal/journal2020/ ）。

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