Beautiful photos of a baby in a caul.

Amazing photos! I have never seen that either - thankyou for posting. Twins with same birthday as their big sister, perfect.

Oh lucky baby. As fisherfolk know, now she will never drown ?

My youngest was born in the caul, she has been quite lucky so ,who knows, maybe it is true ? ?

My GD was born in the caul (on the floor of the admissions room) at 9pm on 9/9/09. Apparently its supposed to be lucky ☘️

Wow! Amazing photo

I read that sailors used to buy cauls to protect them from drowning .
Unless they had some methodology of preserving them -they must have smelt after a while , but in those days I guess that most people were a bit pongy !
If we could get into a Tardis -I imagine that we'd be horrified .

Method not methodology !

No, they were quite dry Esmay Folded small when damp and in a leather pouch hung round the neck. My grandfather had one.

Wow so in living memory ,Lathyrus !

I know that David Copperfield was born in a caul , which he or rather Dickens considered unlucky in his case .
That dates back to about 1850 .

Apologies if I implied that your grandfather was less than fragrant !

As a child , I stayed in cottages without water nor electricity and had to use a chamber pot for a pee pee or go down to the privy at the end of the garden .
Using it for other purposes was considered rude !
After my cousins ghost stories I'd be too scared to go to the privy at night .

The kitchen would be full of farming journals , husbandry books , tack for horses and at times lambs needing hand rearing .

I think that my relatives lived like that for centuries and then - in a generation it was just a memory .

Ha, ha. I’m obviously older than you.

We got water (cold only ) from a tap when I was five. Up till then it was the communal pump in the yard. I can remember the excitement when the plumbers son got squirted as it come out.

We didn’t have sewerage till 1965. Up till then the cart came on Mondays to empty the privy. Most of the row had galvanised buckets but we were very modern with an Elsa, camping toilet.

Still in living memory?

I was born in a caul, which my DM kept in her bedside drawer, wrapped in black tissue paper. Unfortunately when we were clearing out the house after she died, BIL, thinking it was an ancient hair net, binned it. Certainly my DM never drowned but I think that had more to do with her fear of pools or open water - she never swam nor even paddled.

I digress , but it is fascinating .
I recall relatives touching sailor's collars for luck .
Having to go home because a white cat crossed our path .

We also had a pump in the yard .
The water was ice cold .
And no sewerage !
Candles to bed .
Oil lamps in the kitchen .

The small damp "parlour " was kept for weddings ,christenings and funerals .
It had heavy dark red curtains and drapes over everything and a tinny piano .
I had a good voice and was expected to join in the singing .
I'm not sure what my relatives thought of my dancing !
Something strange people did in London !
No card games
on Sundays nor getting your clothes dirty .
No talking at the table.No wasting good food.
Austere relatives looked down from musty old black and white or sepia photographs .

My aunts were so tired and worn out .
Some were in their fifties and looked 80 years old .
They tended to chat amongst themselves invariably knitting or hand stitching .
Their husbands rarely spoke, but had the last word on everything .
I recall my cousins being terrified of their fathers .
A heavy leather belt used to swing on the back of the door everytime it was opened or shut .
Just one look from my uncles and the farm dogs would whimper and my cousins behave quickly .
And I know that some of my aunts were abused .
I'd hear a slap and a cry and then the silence .

I'm nearly 70 .

Am I the only one who thinks those photos look gruesome and there's nothing beautiful about them

Esmay
Thank you for these memories, although sad that you recall some abuse. Your other memories chime with some of mine - not my own house, but my older relatives where I stayed.
Although off topic, who has read Lark Rise to Candleford (the real book)? I have to say that in my family, the women were cut from Queenie's cloth: her husband took a strap to her once. The next evening she served up a fragrant smelling pie - but the only filling was the strap! Message received and understood.

Just the other day I was saying to younger relatives that when i was young, women's hands were never still - always knitting, sewing, mending. I find that one of the details always missed in period dramas (unless they are all set on Sundays when hands were still!)

Back on topic - cauls are rare now because of more active birth management.

My second child was very late and about to be born in a caul, but the midwife cut (?) into it. He’s a keen sailor and loves water sports.
We called him ‘born (boil) in the bag’ baby!

Hi Nannarose ,

I never witnessed the abuse , but I heard it .

Looking back , life fir most if my auntsxwas very hard .
I think that excessive drink caused abuse from their husbands .

There was an inflexible order .

I guess that they didn't know any better .

In those days , no one was going to use soft words - should you fall into the pig pen and never come out , drown in the pond or be maimed or killed by dangerous farm equipment .

I look back on those days as actually they were very happy , because life was so simple and stable , we were busy, we had chores , we had fun , but we had boundaries - which we never crossed .

I preferred being with my country cousins as I loved farm life and my relatives always treated me with such kindness and generosity .

Oops .
Sorry for typos !