Although I am aware that people of the Regency did not know much about the need for sterilization of a wound, I still often write Darcy, who I consider to be an intelligent and forward-looking man, as seeing a need for clean care of a wound. I consider him a thinking man — a man who read every science article available. So, though there were few who practiced what would later become standard care of a wound, I present Darcy with a curious mind. Curse me or forgive me. It is up to you, dear reader, but know I am likely to do something similar in another book.

In “The Colonel’s Ungovernable Governess,” the heroine, one Miss Jocelyn Romfield (who is using the name Miss Rose Lambert while tending the colonel’s niece and nephew and performing as the twins’ governess) is shot while protecting the boy, Lord Vincent Jennings, the Earl of Babcock.

When Darcy tends the lady, he is extra cautious to have a clean wound, even asking for a “burning glass” (magnifier) and tweezers to know assurance none of the cloth of the lady’s gown or cloak are inside the wound. Would this happen? 90% would say “NO!” Yet, I am appealing to10% to know that advances in medicine, like advances in women’s rights and marriage, and changes in the aristocracy, were in more than a bit of flux during the years around the Napoleonic Wars. I know from previous research that during the Russian campaign, Wellington’s troops managed to curb the spread of typhus because of the cold winter temperatures. I used that bit of knowledge as a plot point in Book 7 of my Realm Series, A Touch of Honor. I have also used the advances in what we now call hemophilia B as part of the plot line. (See my recent post on the matter.)

If the bitter cold could prevent the spread of typhus, what else might we learn? For example, how often would a surgeon (Remember surgeons would perform this type of work during the Regency. Whereas, a doctor was a “gentleman” and did not soil his hands.), for example, consider using clean water to wash the wound? Sterilize his instruments? Would they use leeches?

In truth, it was the mid 1840s before doctors, most notably a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis, began to advocate for both a means to sterilize a wound and the necessity of doing so. Until that time, doctors would unknowingly carry dead tissue on their hands when they moved from patient to patient. Although his mechanism was incorrect, his remedy (washing hands between patients) gave a greatly-reduced death rate. “In the late 1850s, Louis Pasteur was able to prove that acid fermentation in wine (an unwanted outcome, by which some batches of wine turned sour) was the result of airborne microbes. Joseph Lister began to pursue the idea that airborne microbes, along with those carried on the skin and surgical implements, might be the actual cause of post-operative infections. In the late 1860s he introduced sterile field surgery, with a carbolic acid mister working to keep the field germ-free. The practice met with some resistance, but by the 1880s surgery had gone from a last-ditch gamble to something which might reasonably be expected to do more good than harm.” [Live Journal]

If any on you have read any of the “Sharpe” books by Bernard Cornwell, especially those set against the backdrop of the Peninsular War, crude, but also progressive, means are used to treat some of the wounds. As Cornwell is known for his painstaking research, things such as using maggots to clean a wound was likely used. I am confident many of you recognize Sean Bean as Richard Sharp (below).

The Colonel’s Ungovernable Governess 

Rather than be forced to marry a man not of her choice, Miss Jocelyn Romfield runs away. She believes spending her life as a governess would be superior to a loveless marriage. 

An arrangement has been made by his father for Colonel Edward Fitzwilliam to marry a woman related to his Aunt Catherine’s last husband, Sir Lewis de Bourgh. Yet, how is Fitzwilliam expected to court his future bride, who has proven to be elusive during each of his attempts to take her acquaintance, when the governess of his brother’s stepchildren fills his arms so perfectly?

Jocelyn has no idea the man she has purposely avoided is the same one who fills her heart with love. 

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Giveaway: I have three eBook copies available to those who comments on this post or any of those associated with the release of The Colonel’s Ungovernable Governess. Three winners will be chosen by Random.org on May 9, 2024. Winners will receive their prizes on May 10, when the book actually releases.