This Open Access book provides a new understanding of the meanings and motivations behind the wearing of beards, moustaches and whiskers, and their associated practices and practitioners. Concerning Beards offers an important new long-term perspective on health and the male body in British society. It argues that the male face has long been an important site for the articulation of bodily health and vigour, as well as masculinity. Through an exploration of the history of male facial hair in England, Alun Withey underscores its complex meanings, medical implications and socio-cultural significance from the mid-17th to the early 20th century. Herein, he charts the gradual shift in concepts of facial hair and shaving - away from ‘formal’ medicine and practice - towards new concepts of hygiene and personal grooming. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Wellcome Trust. This book is part of the Facialities series, which explores the social, cultural and political significance of the face in human history.

This book is the first comprehensive history of medical student culture and medical education in Ireland from the middle of the nineteenth century until the 1950s. Utilising a variety of rich sources, including novels, newspapers, student magazines, doctors' memoirs, and oral history accounts, it examines Irish medical student life and culture, incorporating students' educational and extra-curricular activities at all of the Irish medical schools. The book investigates students' experiences in the lecture theatre, hospital, dissecting room and outside their studies, such as in 'digs', sporting teams and in student societies, illustrating how representations of medical students changed in Ireland over the period and examines the importance of class, religious affiliation and the appropriate traits that students were expected to possess. It highlights religious divisions as well as the dominance of the middle classes in Irish medical schools while also exploring institutional differences, the students' decisions to pursue medical education, emigration and the experiences of women medical students within a predominantly masculine sphere. Through an examination of the history of medical education in Ireland, this book builds on our understanding of the Irish medical profession while also contributing to the wider scholarship of student life and culture. It will appeal to those interested in the history of medicine, the history of education and social history in modern Ireland.