My history hero: Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan (1897-1960) 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 February 1925, his father died of pneumoconiosis, an illness caused by the inhalation of coal dust. Aneurin Bevan. [52] An administrative committee voted 71 to 60 in favour of retaining Bevan as an MP,[53] although it was announced that party discipline was to be strengthened in future. 2. His autobiography, In Place of Fear, appeared in 1952, Aneurin Bevan. Bevan's past association with Mosley would be used against him in subsequent years by his political rivals. [113] According to the journalist Paul Routledge, Donald Bruce, a former MP and Parliamentary Private Secretary and adviser to Bevan, had told him that Bevan's shift on the disarmament issue was the result of discussions with the Soviet government, where they advised him to push for British retention of nuclear weapons so they could possibly be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the United States.[114]. Soon, thereafter became an activist and initially, a supporter of syndicalism. In his 2014 biography, Nick Thomas-Symonds described "an outpouring of national mourning" that followed Bevan's death. 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. If we accept the contention that the common enemy is Hitler and not the British capitalist class, then certainly Churchill is right. He joined the Labour Party and attended Central Labour College in London. He was readmitted in November, the same year after he agreed to desist from involving himself in campaigns that opposed the declared policy of the Party. Bevan Festival. How To Say Aneurin Bevan - YouTube [110] He was a vocal critic of the Conservative government's actions in the Suez Crisis, noticeably delivering high-profile speeches at a protest rally in Trafalgar Square on 4 November 1956, and criticising the government's actions and arguments in the Commons on 5 December 1956. His wage of 5 a week was paid by the members of the local Miners' Lodge. Photo by Spudgun67 Wikimedia Commons. Aged 14, he left school to start working in the mines, starting at 5:30am each day and returning home late in the evening. 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. Aneurin Bevanwas selected as the Labour Partys parliamentary candidate for Ebbw Vale for the 1929 General Election. [1], Both Bevan's parents were Nonconformists: his father was a Baptist and his mother a Methodist, although he became an atheist. [91], Later the same year, the Labour Party were defeated at the general 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. Bevan appeared in court but was cleared when he produced confirmation that he suffered from nystagmus. At the start of World War Two the government realised that, if it was to cope with the huge number of anticipated . In the coming decade, his support grew, particularly through the Great Depression. 70 years of the NHS: How Aneurin Bevan created our beloved health Bevan died from stomach cancer in 1960 at the age of 62. In one of his most noted speeches made against Churchill, he railed that the prime minister "wins debate after debate and loses battle after battle". Read more. They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. He is particularly noted for his tenure as Minister for Health in Clement Attlee's government, in which he pioneered the creation of the British National Health Service. 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. [4] Aneurin Bevan attended Sirhowy Elementary School, where he achieved little. In 1987, a bronze statue of Bevan was erected in the city centre of Cardiff, while 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, which represents Bevan. In 1959, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and held the post for a year until his death from stomach cancer at the age of 62. No falsity must touch him once he is no longer available to defend his views. [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. He was later fired for refusing to unload, and successfully challenged the motion but was moved to Pochin, generally considered a punishment due to the poor site conditions. In 2002, Bevan was voted the 45th greatest Briton of all time by a BBC public opinion poll. 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. After a Labour landslide victory in 1945, Clement Attlee appointed Bevan Minister of Health, with a remit that also covered housing, given the severe post-war shortage. 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. 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. It was during this period that he became convinced by the ideas of socialism. [61], The free National Health Service was paid for directly through public money. He died on July 6, 1960, leaving a significant legacy, namely the National Health Service. He became a well-known local orator, and was regarded with suspicion by his employers, the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company. With his activism and exuberance, his employer Tredegar Iron Company saw him as a troublesome person but he amazingly became a popular local speaker. We may all come from different walks of life but we have one common passion - learning through travel. Bevan believed that the key to the war was the involvement of Russia and considered Churchill was too focused on the intervention of the United States. Bevan was a great personal charm but was sometimes so rude to opponents that Churchill once called him a merchant of discourtesy. Discover Walks contributors speak from all corners of the world - from Prague to Bangkok, Barcelona to Nairobi. There was a particularly large increase in marginal tax rates for wealthy business owners. We will send you the latest TV programmes, podcast episodes and articles, as well as exclusive offers from our shop and carefully selected partners. [134][135] Numerous institutions bear Bevan's name, including the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, and Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan, a hospital located within his old Ebbw Vale constituency. 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. [130] The Nye Bevan Estate in Clapton Park, Hackney, London, was named after Bevan, and was opened in October 1962 by his friend and biographer Michael Foot. His contribution to the Welfare State has been immense. 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. They have offended against every principle of decency and there is only one way in which they can even begin to restore their tarnished reputation and that is to get out! [69][70] The removal of the criteria of "working class" from local authority housing provision was seen as a first step, widening access to the council housing that was becoming an ever larger part of the UK housing stock and which made up a majority of new homes built after the war. Aneurin Bevan trainee doctors 'scared to come to work' - BBC News He became a trades union activist and won a scholarship to study in London. The NHS is a massive employer. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Here you can learn about the life and work of Aneurin (Nye) Bevan (1897-1960), founder of Britain's National Health Service and one of the Labour movement's greatest orators and thinkers. Members of the BMA had dubbed him the "Tito of Tonypandy". To support our blog and writers we put affiliate links and advertising on our page. Why Did Shakespeare Paint Richard III as a Villain? His "vermin" speech still resonated: imagination shuddered at a repetition of that on the international stage. Aneurin's name is pronounced 'uh-ny-rin'. In 1928, Bevan won a seat on Monmouthshire County Council and was elected as the MP for Ebbw Vale the following year. [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. Updates? [40] Bevan now called unsuccessfully for a Popular Front against fascism under the leadership of the Labour Party, including even anti-fascist Tories. Are we prepared to accept for ourselves the logic we are applying to Egypt? To achieve mastery as a speaker, he had first to overcome a speech impediment. 'Nye is asleep next door. [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. 9 Necessary Facts about the NHS - Fact City On the day, Bevan attended a ceremony at the Park Hospital, Trafford (now Trafford General), at which he symbolically received the keys to the hospital. [136], In 2015, Welsh actor Michael Sheen gave a speech in which he described Bevan as a mythical creature, stating, "He had cast-iron integrity and a raging passion".[12]. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. History Hit brings you the stories that shaped the world through our award winning podcast network and an online history channel. Aneurin Nye Bevan (1897-1960) is widely regarded as one of the most influential left-wing politicians in British history. An infuriated Bevan stated that he would never be a member of a government that imposed charges on the National Health Service. 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? Aneurin Bevan was one of the most important ministers of the post-war Labour government and the chief architect of the National Health Service. [12] In Parliament, he became noticed as a harsh critic of those he felt opposed the working man and woman. [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. An estimated 125,000 nurses and 5,000 consultants were available to care for hospital patients. Aneurin's mother was also from Tredegar, but had English roots: her grandfather was from Hereford. However, the. Image Credit: http://www.cradleofnhs.org.uk/nye.htm / Wikimedia Commons. In 1955, he stood as one of the candidates for party leader but was defeated by Hugh Gaitskell. After the landslide Labour victory in the 1945 general election, Bevan was appointed minister of health, responsible for establishing the National Health Service. We are going to Tredegar-ise you. Born in a modest family, Bevan's exposure to poverty and deprivation gave him a first-hand experience of unfortunate condition of . After his studies in 1921, he returned home without work as the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company refused to re-engage him. He read Marxism at the college and was a brief follower of Noah Ablett,[11][12] developing his left-wing political outlook. Along that road is endless retreat, and at the end of it a voluntary totalitarian State with ourselves erecting the barbed wire around. [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. Aneurin is second from right on the back row and his brother Billy is second right on front row. 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". 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. 105 Facts About Aneurin Bevan | FactSnippet [22] Although described in The Times as "an outstanding back-bench critic" and "one of (Labour's) most brilliant members in debate", his appointment was regarded as a relative surprise, given his previous disciplinary issues. We can't allow OUR NHS, built on the working class medical society model to fall to corporate greed. Bevan called for the nationalisation of the coal industry and advocated the opening of a Second Front in Western Europe to help the Soviet Union in its fight with Germany. Bevan attended the local school, where he was deeply shy because of a severe stammer that he developed as a child. 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. 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. [45][by whom? [51] He also voiced criticism of trade union leaders, which drew complaints from both the Miners' Federation and the Trades Union Congress. 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. As exposure to the atmosphere reduces all mummies to instant dissolution, so war passes supreme judgment upon social systems that have outlived their vitality. At a dinner in late 1955 or early 1956 to celebrate the publication of the Guillebaud Report into NHS costs Bevan remarked to Julian Tudor Hart "ultimately I had to stuff their mouths with gold" about his handling of the consultants. In 1951, Bevan was moved to become minister of labour. 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. After two years at Central Labour College, London, he entered politics and in 1929 was elected to the House of Commons as Labour member from Ebbw Vale. Bevan led the left wing of the Labour Party, known as the 'Bevanites', for the next five years. [8][9] He and his brother Billy did eventually leave Ty-Tryst and worked at the Bedwellty pit, but were forced to move again after a disagreement with the site's deputy manager over Bevan reporting information to the miner's inspector. In 1924, he found a job at the Bedwellty Colliery which would close down in just ten months. His father died by pneumoconiosis (a lung condition caused by long term inhalation of coal dust) but no compensation was paid to him, as it was not classed as an industrial disease under the Workman's Compensation Act. He is particularly noted for his tenure as Minister for Health in Clement Attlees government, in which he pioneered the creation of the British National Health Service. Therefore I say to Anthony, I say to the British government, there is no count at all upon which they can be defended.They have besmirched the name of Britain.
Steve Johnson Obituary,
Lake Lanier Famous Residents,
Death Notices In Victoria,
Budweiser Zero Pregnant,
Blooming Onion Sauce Without Horseradish,
Articles OTHER