James H. Aveling

James Hobson Aveling (25 January 1828 – 12 December 1892) was a British obstetrician and gynaecologist, author and inventor of medical devices. He practised in the Sheffield area and later in London, and was instrumental in founding two women's hospitals, the Sheffield Hospital for Women – one of the earliest such hospitals in England – and the Chelsea Hospital for Women. He advocated for better training and supervision of midwives. An innovative practitioner, he was one of the first to use chloroform as an anaesthetic in childbirth and also experimented with blood transfusion. His inventions include a device for treating uterine inversion. He wrote medical monographs and books on the history of obstetrics, most notably English Midwives, their History and Prospects (1872) and The Chemberlens and the Midwifery Forceps (1882), and was the founding editor of The Obstetrical Journal of Great Britain and Ireland (1873–76). Archaeology was among his interests; he was an elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (1877) and published a history of Roche Abbey (1870).