22 Facts About Sally Mapp

Sarah "Crazy Sally" Mapp was an English lay bonesetter, who gained fame both by performing impressive bone-setting acts in Epsom and London, and by being a woman in a male-dominated profession.

Sally Mapp frequently fixed horse racing injuries, but her most famous case was fixing the spinal deformity of Sir Hans Sloane's niece.

Sally Mapp was the daughter of John and Jenny Wallin.

John Wallin was a bone-setter as well, and when he was unable to conduct bone setting practices, Sally Mapp carried on and dealt with the cases, often even better than her father.

Sally Mapp accordingly left him and established her own practice called 'Cracked Sally - the One and Only Bone Setter'.

Sally Mapp's career started out when she was a young girl.

Sally Mapp served as the announcer at her father's booth during local races and fairs.

When Sally Mapp started helping her father's patients when he couldn't see them, she often performed amazing feats and treated them better than her father could.

Sally Mapp went on to start her own practice and her fame spread.

Sally Mapp traveled to London in style with an expensive coach and a team of four horses.

Sally Mapp would collect the crutches of her cured patients and decorate her carriage with them.

Sally Mapp is credited with fixing a spinal deformity on Sloane's niece, which bolstered her fame in London.

Sally Mapp was once mistaken for one of George II's mistresses while riding in her carriage by an angry mob.

In 1737, Sally Mapp died in Seven Dials and was buried by the parish there.

Sally Mapp's portrait appears at the top of William Hogarth's The Company of Undertakers, which grouped her with "quacks", but suggested that both the quacks and "professional" physicians of the day might lead to death.

In 1819, George Cruikshank portrayed Sally Mapp, probably based on Hogarth's drawing.

Originally, Sally Mapp was well-loved wherever she worked because of her talents as a bone-setter.

In 1736, the established medical community started to try to eliminate the "quacks" operating in London, so Sally Mapp moved to Pall Mall.

In 1737, Sally Mapp died in Seven Dials and, due to her poverty, was buried by the parish.

Sarah Sally Mapp was only alive for thirty years, but she is still well recorded in history because of her character and the fact that she was a very successful female in what was typically considered a male field.

In modern literature, Sally Mapp is widely cited as an example of a quack.

Sally Mapp has been described as an early exponent of osteopathy.