England came to have a nation-wide administrative system for public health in the 1870s. It consisted of the local councils which were designated as sanitary authorities and the Local Government Board (LGB) as the central department. This thesis explores how public health reform was pursued under this administrative system, by tracing the career of Arthur Newsholme (1857-1943), who served as Medical Officer of Health (MOH) for Brighton, 1888-1908, and as Medical Officer to the LGB, 1908-19. The main aim of the thesis is to examine the activities in which Newsholme was involved and his views, in order to consider the development of public health activities, or state medicine, in relation to the traditional notions of government and society in England, that underlay the administrative system such as 'minimal government', , local self-government' or 'voluntarism'. The first half of the thesis deals with public health reform in Brighton during Newsholme's years of office as local MOH. Particular attention is paid to how the scope of public health administration was decided through interactions between the MOH and the local council as a representative body of the community, and to how voluntary efforts were involved in its extension. The second half deals with Newsholme's administrative ideas and activities in the process of, and after, becoming the country's leading health official. By the time of his assumption of office at the LGB, Newsholme envisaged a comprehensive state medical service as the ultimate medical ideal. The thesis examines how he tried to pursue this ideal by means of reconciling it with traditional ideas of government. Special attention is paid to Newsholme's difference from his fellow reformers such as the Webbs and George Newman, particularly in respect of their recognition of the framework of centralllocal relations that underlay the administrative system, and concerning how reforms should or could be proceeded with by means of central bureaucratic initiatives.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:366211 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Nagashima, Takeshi |
| Publisher | University of Sussex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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