Abstract
Lloyd George’s National Insurance Act of 1911 had far-reaching consequences besides the well-recognized health scheme and compensation for injured workers. The Medical Research Committee was set up in 1913 as a direct result, to lead and define research, and acquitted itself well during the Great War of 1914–1918. Long before the end of the war Lloyd George had decided that all the provisions of the Act should be implemented as part of the grand design — to create ‘a country fit for heroes to live in’ — and in 1916 instituted the new Ministry of Reconstruction. Dr Christopher Addison,1 Member of Parliament for Hoxton in the East End of London and Professor of Anatomy at University College, Sheffield, was to be the first Minister. The choice could hardly have been bettered for he sired a range of committees including one of the machinery of government chaired by Lord Haldane.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Chapter 2
Addison was extremely able and has been rather neglected by medical historians. Originally a Liberal M.P. he joined the Labour Party in 1929 and became M.P. for Swindon, Wilts. He was a personal friend and adviser to Clement Attlee, Prime Minister in the 1945 Labour Government. He was much in favour of the N.H.S.: perhaps because of him the negotiations between the Minister, Aneurin Bevan, and the Specialists were cordial in contrast to those with the General Practitioners which were not. He was made a Viscount in 1945 and was Chairman of the Medical Research Council in 1948. Addison was author of several books on politics and with Major J. W. Jennings the 12th edition of Ellis’s Demonstrations in Anatomy. He died in 1951 aged 82.
Mackenzie, W. J. M. (1979) Power and Responsibility in Health Care: the National Health Service as a political institution, Oxford University Press for the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, London. Mackenzie was Professor of Politics at Glasgow University 1966–1974, now Emeritus. His account is very readable and pertinent today.
Lord Athlone, later to become Chancellor of the University of London (which became centralized by the building of the Senate House in 1929) was Chairman of the Committee which first met in January 1921 and reported 4 months later (Report of the Post-graduate Medical Committee, 31 May 1921, HMSO, London). It was very speedy but the recommendations were on an imperial scale.
Sir Jonathan Hutchinson died in June 1913 aged 85, having been knighted when he was 80. His son was also consultant surgeon at the London Hospital and died in 1933 aged 74.
Newman, C. E. (1966) ‘A brief history of the Postgraduate Medical School’, Postgrad. Med. J., 42, 738-740. He was also the author of an unsigned booklet published to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Hospital — Hammersmith Hospital and the Postgraduate Medical School. Charles Newman was a governor of St Clement Danes School next door, 1955–1976, and Harveian Librarian at the Royal College of Physicians 1962–1979.
Report of the Postgraduate Education Committee, April 1930 (set up in July 1925). HMSO, London.
The 12 Teaching General Hospitals in London at that time had a total of 5301 beds and 3264 medical students.
In 1930 the L.C.C. took over a variety of hospitals — acute services, chronic diseases, fever hospitals, sanatoria, infirmaries: the L.C.C. acquired 29 general hospitals and 18,074 beds. Professor C. L. Mowat (1955, Britain between the Wars, Methuen, London) stated that there were 3029 hospitals in Britain of which 1013 were voluntary but only 116 general hospitals) and 523 were Poor Law Hospitals.
Viscount Chelmsford (1868–1933) had been Viceroy of India 1916–1921, a Barrister and Warden of All Souls College, Oxford.
Sir William Goodenough was on the Governing Body of the School 1937–1943 and then chaired the inquiry into the future of postgraduate institutes in London: Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Medical Schools, 1944. HMSO, London.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 MTP Press Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Calnan, J. (1985). Postgraduate Medical Education: the Problem and a Solution. In: The Hammersmith 1935–1985. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6358-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6358-3_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-011-6360-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-6358-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive