European/British literature of the 1800s seems to depict poor or “delicate” health as a positive trait in upper class women, with consumption/TB in particular appearing to have been almost fashionable. Is this accurate, and if so, how did poor health come to be associated with gentility and/or femininity, and did any particular societal changes lead to it falling out of favour?
There's always more to be said, but I do discuss this in my answer to How did tuberculosis come to be romanticized as a redemptive disease in the 19th century?