William Smellie (1697-1763) was a Scottish obstetrician who primarily practised and taught in London. Smellie was groundbreaking in his understanding of childbirth and became an influential teacher of obstetrics. He diligently studied the birthing process, particularly the descent of the baby’s head down the birth canal. His observations lead to him noting that many deaths occurred because of a lack of understanding of this process and the inappropriate handling of forceps. Smellie is generally given the credit for improving the forceps to make them easier to use and less likely to damage the baby. Smellie’s "Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery" was published In 1751 and became a widely influential teaching resource. Copies of this birth atlas are held in the Frank Forster Library, RANZCOG. The RANZCOG collection also holds a set of forceps supposedly used by William Smellie.Photographic of an engraving. Image depicts a man in silken clothing, including scarf/tie and turban. The image is a head and shoulders portrait, and the subject is facing the artist. The man has stubble on his cheeks and dark coloured eyebrows. Text printed below image reads 'W.S. M.D. Aged 56'. Handwritten inscription below printed text reads 'Wm. Smellie, aged 56'. The image is mounted in white card and housed in a black wooden frame. An old display label is affixed to the bottom left hand corner of the back of the object. Handwritten inscription at centre on the back of the work reads 'John Green Room/Presented by Frank Forster, 1975'. Two hooks and a wire are attached to the back of the frame for hanging.

William Smellie’s straight forceps are one of the most significant pairs of forceps in the Museum collection. William Smellie (1697– 1763), designed these forceps, which were an improvement on the forceps of that time. These forceps were easier to use being shorter and lighter, particularly in the handles, with pelvic curve shaped blades. He invented a locking device for the two blades. The blades were lined with leather and greased with hog’s lard for the ease of delivery and the greater comfort of the patient, this being in the era prior to an understanding of sepsis and the need for surgical hygiene.Smellie was groundbreaking in his understanding of Childbirth and became an influential teacher of Obstetrics. He diligently studied the birthing process, particularly the descent of the baby’s head down the birth canal. His observations lead to him noting that many deaths occurred because of a lack of understanding of this process and the inappropriate handling of forceps. Smellie is generally given the credit for improving the forceps to make them easier to use and less likely to damage the baby. Smellie’s "Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery" was published In 1751 and became a widely influential teaching resource. Copies of this birth atlas are held in the Frank Forster Library, RANZCOG. Smellie's obstetric forceps. Iron forceps with traces of leather on the two blades. The blades touch at the tips when the blades are fully closed. The handles have a metal sheet coating and would also have been covered in leather originally. There is a notch at the centre to lock the blades in place. Noneobstetric delivery, william smellie