Isaac Milburn, Northumbrian Bonesetter

Isaac Milburn, The Northumbrian Bonesetter

Softback, 108 pages Peacock Press

With Illustrations

The history of  bone setting goes back a long way. Such activity is recorded in ancient Egypt. The inability of the rural poor to access any level of professional help to alleviate pain and likely starvation created the need for assistance binding and setting limbs. Bonesetters also often carried out basic forms of manipulation, such as now practised by chiropracters and physiotherapists.

Isaac Milburn’s remarkable journey began by self-training on injured rabbits on the estate of Wallington Hall, where he was a gamekeeper. He then moved on to larger animals, and the story of how he healed one horse, and its outcome is truly amazing.

Given the deep-seated antagonism of the medical  profession to “untrained amateurs”-threatening their monopoly and high income- it is even more remarkable to read how Isaac ended up treating a member of the British Royal Family……….