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{{Short description|
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Elizabeth Storie
| image =
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| occupation = [[Seamstress]], [[milliner]], writer▼
▲| occupation = [[Seamstress]]
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'''Elizabeth Storie''' (
Her work is noted for providing a rare disabled female working-class account of navigating these institutions and overcoming legal
== Biography ==
=== Early life and mercury poisoning ===
[[File:Carleton Burgan (CP 1659), National Museum of Health and Medicine (3383372640).jpg|thumb|There are no known photographs of Elizabeth Storie, but this 1862 photograph of Carleton Burgan shows the results of similar damage to the mouth and face caused by calomel.]]Elizabeth Storie was born in [[Glasgow]] in July 1818 to "poor but ''respectable'' parents", as she writes in her autobiography:<ref name="Storie1859">{{Cite book |last=Storie |first=Elizabeth |url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyel00storgoog/ |title=he Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie, A Native of Glasgow, Who Was Subjected to Much Injustice at the Hands of Some Members of the Medical, Legal, and Clerical Professions |publisher=Richard Stobbs |year=1859 |location=Glasgow |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|2}} a cotton weaver and a cotton winder.<ref name=":0" /> When she was four she became sick with a disease she describes as "nettle-rush", which children usually recovered from in a few days.
The Stories consulted another doctor, John Campbell, who concluded this to be a case of medical "neglect." Falconer had prescribed one more powder, which he called a "certain cure." Fortunately, Storie's suspicious parents did not administer it and instead had Drs Lorimer Corbett and James Corkindale analyze it. Both doctors subsequently confirmed the powder contained "a large quantity of arsenic," validating the parents' belief it "was intended to have put an end to […] [her] existence, and thus to have concealed from the world all trace of the bungling and unskillful treatment of a man who had to earn his livelihood by the practice of medicine."<ref name=":0" />
Storie recovered, but her face was permanently disfigured. Her jaw bones had grown soft, and surgery had to be performed to remove part of the bone. On healing the bone stiffened so she could not eat or drink until a small hole was made allowing her to suck food from a tin.<ref name=Storie1859></ref>{{rp|11}}
Storie's autobiography does not include a photograph or drawing of her face, but scholars Dana Graham Lai and Holly Faith Nelson argue that the disfigurement was probably similar to the well-documented case of Carleton Burgan, who suffered a similar case of mercury poisoning when he was given calomel to treat an infection in 1862.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |
Storie's father sued
=== Adult life ===
Storie was frequently ill and in pain, and had more than twenty surgeries during her lifetime. She and her family fought extended legal battles but never succeeded in receiving compensation for the damages done to her by
Storie lived with her family, moving to her brother's home after her mother died in 1849.<ref name=":0" /> The 1871 census shows her living independently and having moved to Edinburgh, where she worked as a dressmaker.<ref name=":0" />
=== Death ===
Storie died in [[Peebles]] in 1897 from influenza and pneumonia.<ref name=":0" /> She left what money she had - £39 - to the [[Royal Edinburgh Association for Incurables|Royal Association of Incurables]] in Edinburgh.<ref name=":0" />
== Autobiography ==
Storie published her autobiography in 1859, when she was forty-one. The title demonstrates the main purpose of the book: to explain the injustice done to her: ''The Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie, A Native of Glasgow, Who Was Subjected to Much Injustice at the Hands of Some Members of the Medical, Legal, and Clerical Professions.'' The novel was published by subscription, meaning that money was collected from subscribers to pay for the printing of the book.<ref>{{Citation |last=Boos |first=Florence S. |title=Writing across the Class Divide |date=2018 |work=The History of British
It was very unusual for working-class women to publish their
The facts which will be brought to light may also serve to warn those in high power of the danger of doing injustice or injury to any, trusting that through the insignificance of their victims the world may never know how much they have made others to suffer. <ref name="Storie1859"></ref>{{rp|1}}</blockquote>
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==See also==
*[[
*[[
*[[
==References==
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[[Category:19th-century Scottish women writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Glasgow]]
[[Category:Mercury poisoning]]
[[Category:Medical malpractice]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish autobiographers]]
[[Category:British women autobiographers]]
[[Category:Working-class culture]]
[[Category:History of medicine in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Scottish women autobiographers]]
[[Category:Scottish people with disabilities]]
[[Category:19th-century British artisans]]
[[Category:History of disability]]
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