10 facts about aneurin bevan

Bevan had said "I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altruism of a large hospital than expire in a gush of warm sympathy in a small one". It was one of a long row of four-roomed miners' cottages. In Parliament, Bevan argued that this was the logical outcome of the government's foreign policy. His nomination received a severe blow on the same day it was announced, when two unions that traditionally sided with the left, the National Union of Mineworkers and the Amalgamated Engineering Union, pledged their support for his opponent. Aneurin Bevan was a founding member of the Query Club in 1920 alongside his brother. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. He became a trades union activist and won a scholarship to study in London. The move was seen by some as a sideways or backwards step, although a potential rearmament program was expected to make the post of future importance. Image Credit: Peter Aylmer / Nye Bevan stones / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons. In parliament, he became a fierce critic of those who did not represent the interest of the working force including members of his party. [120], After a lengthy period in hospital, on 14 February 1960 Bevan returned home and announced he would not be returning to politics in the near future, so as to be able to recuperate and plan an extended holiday. In addition, he is known for his wider contribution to the founding of the British welfare state. [119] He checked into the Royal Free Hospital in London on 27 December 1959 to undergo surgery for an ulcer, but malignant stomach cancer was discovered instead in a major operation two days later. Bevan left school at 13 and began working in a local colliery. Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan (1897-1960) was the Labour MP for Ebbw Vale in south Wales from 1929-60. In 2004, more than 44 years after his death, he was voted first in a list of 100 Welsh Heroes, having been credited for his contribution to the founding of the welfare state in the UK. He was the son of coal miner David Bevan and Phoebe (ne Prothero), a seamstress. [10], 1919 saw the foundation of the Tredegar Labour Party and Bevan was selected as one of four Labour delegates to contest the West Ward in the Tredegar Urban District election. [45] Bevan also feared that allowing Churchill to continue unopposed and unchallenged in Parliament during the war would leave him almost unbeatable for the Labour Party in future elections. Bevanism was a movement on the left wing of the Labour Party in the late 1950s led by Aneurin Bevan which also included Richard Crossman, Michael Foot and Barbara Castle. Aneurin Bevanand other members were briefly suspended from the Labour Party in March 1939 as he advocated for a united socialist front of all parties of the left. These numbers were reached by lowering the quality standards originally put forward by Bevan, with council houses featuring gardens being largely dropped in favour of tower blocks and flats. He was cremated at Gwent Crematorium, Croesyceiliog. [2] He was a member of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion and wrote his own poems, one of which won an inter-chapel eisteddfod. Aneurin " Nye " Bevan PC (15 November 1897 - 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour politician. Aneurin Bevan was born on 15 November 1897 at 32 Charles Street in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, a working-class mining town, where an estimated 90 per cent of the town's inhabitants relied on the local mines for employment. Labour Party deputy leader Herbert Morrison complained that Bevan's attack had backfired, for his words "did much more to make the Tories work and vote than Conservative Central Office could have done". [22], Soon after Bevan entered Parliament, he was briefly attracted to Smethwick Labour MP Oswald Mosley's arguments,[24] becoming one of the 17 signatories of the Mosley Memorandum in the context of the MacDonald government's repeated economic crises,[25] including the doubling of unemployment levels. FIGHT FOR OUR NHS free at the point of need for all. You cannot collaborate, you cannot accept the logic of collaboration on a first class issue like rearmament, and at the same time evade the implications of collaboration all along the line when the occasion demands it.[38]. "[55] At the beginning of the 1945 general election campaign, Bevan told his audience that his goal was to eliminate any opposition to the Labour programme: "We have been the dreamers, we have been the sufferers, now we are the builders. The former aimed to provide a uniform standard of consultant led care and expertise throughout the country and to replace the patchwork of voluntary and municipal hospitals which existed at that point. When Winston Churchill said that the Labour Party should refrain from giving Adolf Hitler the impression that Britain was divided, Bevan rejected this as sinister: The fear of Hitler is to be used to frighten the workers of Britain into silence. [101] He later said that he had resigned his position to "call attention to the fact that their movement was in grave crisis", and stated his belief that he would have been party chairman by the following year if he had remained. Confrontation with the British Medical Association (BMA) was led by Charles Hill, who published a letter in the British Medical Journal describing Bevan as "a complete and uncontrolled dictator". Aneurin Bevan was a British Labour Party politician who took up the portfolio of Health and Housing during Clement Attlee's government from 1945 to 1951. After his studies in 1921, he returned home without work as the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company refused to re-engage him. Bevan passed on July 6, 1960, at age 62 in his Asheridge Farm home in Chesham, Buckinghamshire a year after being diagnosed with stomach cancer. Discover Walks contributors speak from all corners of the world - from Prague to Bangkok, Barcelona to Nairobi. Image Credit: http://www.cradleofnhs.org.uk/nye.htm / Wikimedia Commons. But seven decades after it was founded, a 2013 opinion poll conducted on behalf of British Future found that the NHS was more popular than at its creation, and more popular than the monarchy, the BBC, and the British Armed Forces. In Parliament, he became a vocal critic of numerous other politicians from all parties, particularly Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George. Aneurin Bevan with his eye on the Ball. He often quoted an 1855 passage from Karl Marx that was published in The New York Times in 1865: "The redeeming feature of war is that it puts a nation to the test. On his return to South Wales he struggled to find work, remaining unemployed for nearly three years before gaining employment as a union official, which led to him becoming a leading figure in the 1926 general strike. ], In 1951, with the retirement of Ernest Bevin, Bevan was a leading candidate for Foreign Secretary. He first became an MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929. On 5 July 1948, the government took over responsibility for all medical services and there was free diagnosis and treatment for all. Shortly afterwards he resigned from the government in protest at the introduction of prescription charges for dental care and spectacles. Bevan, however, became an atheist. In 1951, Bevan was moved to become minister of labour. [131], The Aneurin Bevan Memorial Stones were erected at the beginning of the Sirhowy Valley Walk with three smaller stones (representing three towns of his constituency Ebbw Vale, Rhymney and Tredegar) surrounding a larger stone representing Bevan. The latter sale and purchase of goodwill often placed new entrants to the GP profession under large amounts of debt. Inspired by the Tredger Medical Aid Society of South Wales, Bevan initiated the National Health Service (NHS), which was managed with public funds and aimed to provide free medical . C. 1924. [27] Mosley broke from the Labour Party in early 1931 to form the New Party, but Bevan refused to defect and instead announced that he had no intention of leaving the Labour Party. [19] With his success in 1928, he was picked as the Labour Party candidate for Ebbw Vale (displacing the sitting MP Evan Davies),[20] and easily held the seat at the 1929 General Election. [12] Bevan resigned from his position two weeks later, stating both the proposed changes and the increase in military expenditure that necessitated the need for such proposals. There is a man in the British Army who flung 150,000 men across the Ebro in Spain, Michael Dunbar. Pronunciation of Aneurin Bevan: Learn how to pronounce the word Aneurin Bevan.Definition and meaning can be found here: https://www.google.com/search?q=defin. [10] The Query club started in 1920 or 1921 and they met in Tredegar. [60] Bevan tested this newfound solidarity early on by arriving to a royal banquet at St James's Palace wearing a navy lounge suit. Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) Atheism Healthcare Politics Social Reform He was a great humanist whose religion lay in loving his fellow men and trying to serve them. A blue plaque was erected in 2015 by English Heritage at 23 Cliveden Place, Chelsea, London SW1W 8HD, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. [75][76][77] 1946 saw the completion of 55,600 new homes; this rose to 139,600 in 1947 and 227,600 in 1948. There was an outpouring of national mourning that followed his death, while the Daily Herald reported that some MPs were seen to be crying in Parliament. Bevan was a supporter of the Liberal Party as a child, but later converted to socialism and joined the Independent Labour Party. Bevan Festival. His work in the mines paid off as he gained sponsorship from the South Wales Miners Federation to study at Central Labour College in 1919. Read more. "[97], In March 1952, a poorly prepared Bevan came off the worse in an evening Commons debate on health with Conservative backbencher Iain Macleod, whose performance led Churchill to appoint him as Minister of Health some six weeks after the debate. Bevan argues that the percentage of tax from personal incomes rose from 9% in 1938 to 15% in 1949. He knelt reverently in respect to a friend or friend's faith, but he never pretended to be anything other than what he was, a humanist. Despite his conflict with Attlee, Bevan was instrumental in developing a program that oversaw the building of 850,000 new homes between 1945 and 1950, which were good quality houses, owned by local councils and rented out to people at affordable prices. He wanted the war to be not just a fight against fascism but a war for socialism. The National Health Service and the Welfare State have come to be used as interchangeable terms, and in the mouths of some people as terms of reproach. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Photo by Lesbardd Wikimedia Commons. Are we prepared to accept for ourselves the logic we are applying to Egypt? The son of a miner, Bevan became a colliers helper at age 13 but had to leave the mines in a few years because of eye disease. Use the tabs above to learn about Nye Bevan's life, work and ideas, as well as the history of the NHS. He became minister of labour in January 1951 but resigned from the government the following April in protest against the rearmament program, which necessitated sharp cutbacks in social expenditures. Winston Churchill, the target of numerous diatribes from Bevan during his career, commented that Bevan was "one of the few members that I will sit still and listen to". Along with this, the Medical Practices Committee was to oversee the distribution of GP practices a proposal which the previous Coalition Minister had withdrawn after opposition from the British Medical Association. [107] He instead stood again for the role of party treasurer and was duly elected, beating George Brown.[108]. [31] In 1936 he joined the board of the new socialist newspaper Tribune. Aneurin Bevan In 1929, Bevan was elected as the Labour member of parliament for Ebbw Vale. Bevan also failed in a bid to become deputy leader, losing out to Jim Griffiths. In 1955, he stood as one of the candidates for party leader but was defeated by Hugh Gaitskell. Bevan gained more than twice the votes of Liberal candidate William Griffiths, receiving 20,000 votes to Griffiths' 8,000. Bevan was the sort of principled politician we seem to lack these days. [86] However, three months after his appointment, Hugh Gaitskell introduced a proposal of prescription charges for dental care and spectaclescreated to save a potential 25m to meet the financial demands imposed by the Korean War. He was a strong critic of the arming policy the British government adopted during the rise of Hitler. His dad was a miner and the poor working class family in which Bevan grew up gave him first-hand experience of the problems of . Members of the BMA had dubbed him the "Tito of Tonypandy". Anenurin Bevan, Minister of Health, on the first day of the National Health Service, 5 July 1948 at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, near Manchester. A free health service is pure Socialism and as such it is opposed to the hedonism of capitalist society. [102], In March 1955, when Britain was preparing for Operation Grapple, the testing of its first hydrogen bomb, Bevan led a revolt of 57 Labour MPs and abstained on a key vote. Dr James Calvert, medical director for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said it was important to remember the report was made during the pandemic, "which has significantly disrupted the . Bevan opposed the heavy censorship imposed on radio and newspapers and wartime Defence Regulation 18B, which gave the Home Secretary the powers to intern citizens. [12] In Parliament, he became noticed as a harsh critic of those he felt opposed the working man and woman. He was first elected as MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929, and used his Parliamentary platform to make a number of influential criticisms of Winston Churchill and his Conservative government during the Second World War. The National Health Service was launched in 1948, and Bevan is quoted as saying, No society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of a lack of means. [13], Bevan was one of the founding members of the "Query Club" with his brother Billy and Walter Conway. Attlee and Labour were ousted from power in a snap election held six months after Bevan's resignation, but Attlee continued on as Labour Party Leader. If nations more powerful than ourselves accept the absence of principle, the anarchistic attitude of Eden and launch bombs on London, what answer have we got, what complaint have we got? You can also find out more about the Bevan Society, our activities and programme of lectures. In 1934 he married another Labour MP, Jennie Lee. The NHS was funded by a slight increase in taxes, and government income tax was increased for the welfare state expenses. On July 5 1948 the National Health Service took control of 480,000 hospital beds in England and Wales. The same year, Labour were defeated in the General Election. We can't allow OUR NHS, built on the working class medical society model to fall to corporate greed. The pair went to work at Whitworth Colliery, but fell foul of management when Bevan refused to use cheaper second-hand timber as he deemed it unsafe. [128], Bevan was particularly noted for his public speaking, being described by Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, as "the greatest parliamentary speaker since Charles James Fox". [57][58] These reforms were achieved in the face of great financial difficulty following the war. Bevan's maternal grandfather John was a blacksmith who had moved to Tredegar from Hay-on-Wye to work in the Bedwellty mines. [50], Bevan was subject to further disciplinary action in 1944, when he deliberately voted against Labour's stance on new defence regulations. During World War Two, Bevan was one of the leaders of the left in the House of Commons. Top 15 Things to do Around the Eiffel Tower, 10 Things to Do in Paris on Christmas Day (2022), 10 Things to Do in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. During the 1926 General Strike, Bevan emerged as one of the leaders of the South Wales miners. Read more. A member of the Tredegar branch of the South Wales Miners Federation, Bevan was the head of his local Miners Lodge at just 19 years of age. Bevan attended the local school, where he was deeply shy because of a severe stammer that he developed as a child. KidzSearch Safe Wikipedia for Kids. [104] The Parliamentary Labour Party voted 141 to 113 to withdraw the whip from him, but it was restored within a month, due to his popularity. In short Hitler is to rule Britain by proxy. [90] Bevan received unanimous support for his actions from his local Labour constituency leaders. Bevan was also limited due to his desire for new homes to be bigger and of better quality than the ones they were being built to replace, based on the recommendations of a 1943 report by the Dudley Committee, and a shortage of skilled workers to undertake the work. Photo by Jeremy Segrott from Cardiff, Wales, UK Wikimedia Commons. They have made us ashamed of the things of which formerly we were proud. He became a well-known local orator, and was regarded with suspicion by his employers, the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company. [22][23] He had solid support from his constituency, being one of the few Labour MPs to be unopposed in the 1931 General Election, and this support grew through the 1930s and the period of the Great Depression. [88][89] Two other ministers, John Freeman and Harold Wilson, resigned at the same time. As minister of health in Attlee's postwar government from 1945-51, he spearheaded the creation of the National Health Service in 1948. The memorial stones of Aneurin Bevan in Tredegar, 2011. [67][65] Some 2,688 voluntary and municipal hospitals in England and Wales were nationalised and came under Bevan's supervisory control as Health Minister. In his political career, Bevan served as a minister of health in Clement Attlees Labor government of 1945, he was responsible for developing housing programs and for establishing the National Health Service. Described as "more left-wing than Nye", Lee became a considerable influence on Bevan's political career. They would collect money weekly for any member who needed it. [91], Later the same year, the Labour Party were defeated at the general election. Bevan was not good academically and was at a time repeated for a year in school. Photo by Howard Coster Wikimedia Commons. He was no calculating machine. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. By 19 he was active in trade unionism and was head of his local miners' lodge . [12] Churchill would later label Bevan "a squalid nuisance". To achieve mastery as a speaker, he had first to overcome a speech impediment. Number 10, The Circle, was home to the Tredegar Medical Aid Society, which was used as a blueprint by Aneurin Bevan when he set up the National Health Service for the UK in 1948. He was born to David Bevan a coal miner and Phoebe nee Prothero a seamstress as one of their ten children. London.A man presents Mr Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, Minister of Health, to a large gathering of National Federation of Building Trades Operatives - natural sound. To support our blog and writers we put affiliate links and advertising on our page. Updates? His new job arrived in time for him to head the local miners against the colliery companies during the General Strike. Aneurin Bevan was born in Tredegar in 1897 into a large mining family and left school at 13 to work in the mine. The manager of the colliery found an excuse to have him dismissed; however, with the support of the Miners Federation, Bevans case was judged to be one of victimisation and the company was forced to re-employ him. Bevan was a great personal charm but was sometimes so rude to opponents that Churchill once called him a merchant of discourtesy. [100] In April 1954, Bevan resigned from the Parliamentary Labour Party, having been rebuked by Attlee after accusing the Labour leader of surrendering to American pressure over a proposed multi-national defence organisation in Asia and the Pacific. The facts, figures and quotes that shaped the history of the National Health Service . It was Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health in the UK from 1945 to 1951, who started the NHS in 1948. Indeed, he was increasingly critical of his own party, and from 1940 to 1945 was the editor of the independent Socialist Tribune. [34] Bevan was readmitted to the party on 20 December 1939,[35] after agreeing "to refrain from conducting or taking part in campaigns in opposition to the declared policy of the Party".[36][37]. [87] The Labour MP David Marquand has stated that the savings were introduced by Gaitskell simply to "impose his will" upon Bevan who he saw as a political rival. [70][71] The aim was to create new homes and communities with a place for all sections of society: We should try to introduce in our modern villages and towns what was always the lovely feature of English and Welsh villages, where the doctor, the grocer, the butcher and the farm labourer all lived in the same street. The Aneurin Bevan, former Cross Inn, September 2018, This is a photo of the listed building number. The statue of Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) by the late Robert Thomas on Queen Street Cardiff. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aneurin-Bevan, British Broadcasting Corporation - Biography of Aneurin Bevan, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Aneurin Bevan. It was during this period that he became convinced by the ideas of socialism. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. [98], Out of office, Bevan soon exacerbated the split within the Labour Party between the right and the left which weakened the party in the 1950s. Rediscovering Richard III with Matt Lewis, Rome and the Amalfi Coast with Tristan Hughes, Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, How Rome Became the Sole Superpower in the Mediterranean, Charles Martel: A Heroic Leader of Medieval Europe. Bevan had been inspired by the Tredegar Medical Aid Society in his hometown, where residents would pay a subscription that would fund access for all of the town's inhabitants to have free access to medical services such as nursing or dental care. He was the architect of the National Health Service and leader of the left-wing (Bevanite) group of the Labour Party. One of ten children (though four died in infancy and one at eight years old), Bevans father was a coal miner and Baptist, while his mother a seamstress and follower of Methodism. Aneurin Bevan was born on November 15, 1897, in Tredegar in Wales. Icon of 1960s Britain: Who Was Mary Quant? Although the Italians were never sure the British delegation were sober, they always attributed to them an immense political acumen. [46] Historian Max Hastings described Bevan's role in Parliament during the war as "his figures were accurate but his scorn was at odds with the spirit of the momentfull of gratitude, as was the prime minister". Bevan was not good academically and was at a time repeated for a year in school. Before entering Parliament, Bevan was involved in miner's union politics and was a leading figure in the 1926 general strike. [93] In 1952 Bevan published In Place of Fear,[94] "the most widely read socialist book" of the period, according to a highly critical right-wing Labour MP Anthony Crosland. Bevan is widely regarded as one of the most influential left-wing politicians in British history. [40] When the government introduced voluntary national service in December 1938, Bevan argued that Labour should demand the nationalisation of the armaments industry, support the democratic government of Spain and sign an Anglo-Soviet pact in return for its support. Bevan had been a supporter of the Liberal Party in his youth, but was converted to socialism by the writings of Robert Blatchford in The Clarion and joined the Independent Labour Party. The club intended to break the hold that the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company had on the town by becoming members of pivotal groups in the community. This was after he had won a seat on the Monmouthshire County Council in 1928. Perhaps the greatest and certainly one of the most controversial of Labour Party politicians, Bevan was born in Tredegar, a miner's son in a dissenting family. [96] In the opening page of the book, Bevan begins: "A young miner in a South Wales colliery, my concern was with the one practical question: Where does power lie in this particular state of Great Britain, and how can it be attained by the workers? [4] Aneurin Bevan attended Sirhowy Elementary School, where he achieved little. 2. Along that road is endless retreat, and at the end of it a voluntary totalitarian State with ourselves erecting the barbed wire around. He died on 6 July 1960. Though described as an outstanding back-bench critic and an excellent debater, Bevan had long clashed with Attlee, even before being in his cabinet, because he thought he hadnt held the Tory party to account properly throughout World War Two. Bevan countered that the initial overspending was down to years of underinvestment in the British medical system prior to the Second World War: by the start of the 1950s, the early overspending had come to an end.[65]. He is known for leading the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) to give medical care free at point-of-need to all Britons. He died on July 6, 1960, leaving a significant legacy, namely the National Health Service. Bevan was elected unopposed as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1959, succeeding Griffiths. The True Tale of Wales Legendary Hay Castle, 8 Formidable Fighters of the Hellenistic Period, Operation Unthinkable: Churchills Postwar Contingency Plan, The Pirates Code: Laws and Life Aboard Ship, How the Island of Rhodes Overcame a Superpower, Historical Trips - Book your next historical adventure, 10 Must-See Medieval Landmarks in England, Join Dan Snow for the Anniversary of the D-Day Landings, Lost Literature: Why Most English Texts Didnt Survive the Middle Ages, The Legacy of Hal 9000: How Science Fiction Depictions of AI Have Changed Over Time. His "vermin" speech still resonated: imagination shuddered at a repetition of that on the international stage. He agreed to serve as shadow foreign secretary under Gaitskell. He was born in Tredegar, Wales, on 15th November 1897. Bevan shared a liberal ideology and was additionally a supporter of the Liberal party that had a change of ideology to socialism after reading Robert Blatchfords in the Clarion. [121] In May 1960 Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, while in England visited Bevan at his home in Asheridge Farm (where Bevan was a keen amateur farmer, keeping cattle and pigs).[122].

Irene Dunne Daughter Mary Frances, Social Media Stock Tracker, Articles OTHER