Probing Deaths, Saving Lives is a fascinating tale of a prominent historical medical figure in Birmingham.

I appreciate Dr Birt Davies would have been regarding as a true social reformer during the 1800s and thoroughly enjoyed the Part 1 of this story. His dedication to the medical profession and to the people of Birmingham cannot be understated. It is a real shame there is limited personal account available from Dr Davies himself, but I still enjoyed the snippets shown through the newspaper articles throughout.

As a medical student, it is really interesting to see many of the same overall topics remain within the curriculum two hundred years later, even if the content is vastly different. We certainly aren’t taught in the same manor and there is a huge amount of evidence base in medical education now. I do like seeing the parallels in the profession and how incredible the medical developments have been in more recent years.

This book is not without its faults and could at times be rather self-congratulatory, with uncomfortable moments of extreme privilege in how the author describes working class people. This may be due to the familial link and some unfortunate wording, but overall this was a well researched and engaging book.

I would recommend this to lovers of medical history and Victorian era England.

This is a truly astonishing social record. I was unaware of Mr Birt, but his activities as a coroner extended across all strata of society. His accounts are truly fascinating in both terms of medical practice and giving insight into social conditions and class divide. It’s not a subject that’s looked at very often, and having had work involvement some years ago with coroners, I found this account of the early days truly compelling. Angela Coukter has an eye fir relevant detail and this us an informed and intelligent read. Absolutely brilliant.

This is a very interesting biography of one of the first coroners in Birmingham. It is well researched and gives insights into medical practice and social history at the time.

I loved this book. It paints a very vivid picture of life in Birmingham U.K. and constitutes a great history of medicine. The writing is fluid and well-paced. Adding to the quality of the writing are some great images. I found the writing compelling as when I finished the book, I was sad to say goodbye to Dr. Birt Davies. He had amazing accomplishments that author Angela Coulter brought to life. Thank you to Netgalley and Troubador for the review copy.