In his 2014 biography, Nick Thomas-Symonds described "an outpouring of national mourning" that followed Bevan's death. His appointment came during the post-war housing shortage and the need for a radical change in the National Health Service. Academically poor, young Bevan repeated a year of studies. [29][30] They were early supporters of the socialists in the Spanish Civil War, and Bevan visited the country in 1938. Aneurin Bevan. Born in a modest family, Bevan's exposure to poverty and deprivation gave him a first-hand experience of unfortunate condition of . Photo by Elliott & Fry Wikimedia Commons. Two of the key elements of Bevan's proposals were this nationalisation of the hospital services and the abolition of the sale and purchase of goodwill by general practitioners. In 1926, he became a key leader of the South Wales miners during a General Strike, being largely responsible for the distribution of strike pay in Tredegar and for forming the Council of Action, an organisation that helped to raise money and provide food for the workers. 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. Find out more about how the BBC is covering the. Aneurin's mother was also from Tredegar, but had English roots: her grandfather was from Hereford. Aneurin Bevan | Biography & Facts | Britannica Bevan's reputation as a hard-line socialist typically preceded him: Sir William Douglas, who served as Bevan's deputy in the Ministry of Health, had initially stated that he would "never work with a man like that". Photo by University of Liverpool Faculty of Health & Life Sciences from Liverpool, United Kingdom Wikimedia Commons. Get time period newsletters, special offers and weekly programme release emails. He was adept at construction and added several modern features when the family moved to 7 Charles Street, installing the first gas stove in the street, an inside toilet and running hot water. 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. The latter sale and purchase of goodwill often placed new entrants to the GP profession under large amounts of debt. At the start of World War Two the government realised that, if it was to cope with the huge number of anticipated . [63] Having been a member of the Cottage Hospital Management Committee around 1928 and serving as chairman in 192930, Bevan had received an insight into the management of health services by local authorities, which proved to be a bedrock of his work in founding the National Health Service.[48]. Aneurin Bevanwas selected as the Labour Partys parliamentary candidate for Ebbw Vale for the 1929 General Election. [61], The free National Health Service was paid for directly through public money. In January 1951, Bevan became Minister for Labour but resigned in protest just three months later after Hugh Gaitskell, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed an introduction of prescription charges for dental care and spectacles in order to save a potential 25 million to meet the financial demands of the Korean War.
10 facts about aneurin bevan