10 facts about aneurin bevan

I. 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. While this was not an insignificant achievement: the 850,000 homes built in the four years immediately after the war ended was the biggest housing programme ever introduced,[78] Bevan's rate of house-building was seen as less of an achievement than that of his Conservative (indirect) successor, Harold Macmillan, who was able to complete some 300,000 new homes a year as Minister for Housing in the 1950s. Photo by Jeremy Segrott from Cardiff, Wales, UK Wikimedia Commons. [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. Aneurin Bevan and the setting up of the NHS The National Health Service. In February 1925, his father died of pneumoconiosis, an illness caused by the inhalation of coal dust. Aneurin Bevan He was the sixth of ten children born to Phoebe and David Bevan, of whom only eight survived infancy and only six to adulthood. Bevan died in his sleep at 4.10pm on 6 July 1960, at the age of 62, at his home, Asheridge Farm, Chesham, Buckinghamshire. Bevan always stood up for the underdog, and was a voice for the unemployed in the period between the two world wars when joblessness was a major domestic political issue. Aneurin had a stammer as a child which he would later overcome and be recognised as a great public speaker. London.A man presents Mr Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, Minister of Health, to a large gathering of National Federation of Building Trades Operatives - natural sound. Why Did Shakespeare Paint Richard III as a Villain? He grew up steeped in the traditions of Welsh miners radicalism; self-help organizations, trade unionism, religious dissent, and socialism. Inspired by the Tredegar Medical Aid Society in his hometown in South Wales, Bevan led the campaign for a National Health Service to provide medical care free at point-of-need across the UK, regardless of wealth. 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. 2. FIGHT FOR OUR NHS free at the point of need for all. Aneurin Bevan was born on 15 November 1897 in Tredegar in Wales. 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. 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. Later today he will be taken home to Wales. Bevan is widely regarded as one of the most influential left-wing politicians in British history. To achieve mastery as a speaker, he had first to overcome a speech impediment. "[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. From 1940 to 1945 he was editor of the independent Socialist Tribune. History Hit brings you the stories that shaped the world through our award winning podcast network and an online history channel. [36] He was a strong critic of Chamberlain, arguing that his old rival Winston Churchill should become prime minister. Members of the BMA had dubbed him the "Tito of Tonypandy". As minister of health in Attlee's postwar government from 1945-51, he spearheaded the creation of the National Health Service in 1948. When Attlee retired from the leadership in 1955, Bevan unsuccessfully contested the party leadership with Hugh Gaitskell, but was appointed Shadow Colonial Secretary and later Shadow Foreign Secretary. Photo by Howard Coster Wikimedia Commons. 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 was Chief of Staff in Spain, he won the Battle of the Ebro, and he is a sergeant. [1], Both Bevan's parents were Nonconformists: his father was a Baptist and his mother a Methodist, although he became an atheist. Find out more about how the BBC is covering the. [51] He also voiced criticism of trade union leaders, which drew complaints from both the Miners' Federation and the Trades Union Congress. [133] The following year, Bevan was voted number one in the 100 Welsh Heroes poll, a response to find the public's favourite Welsh people of all time. [40] Bevan now called unsuccessfully for a Popular Front against fascism under the leadership of the Labour Party, including even anti-fascist Tories. After General Neil Ritchie's retreat across Cyrenaica early in 1942 and his disastrous defeat by General Erwin Rommel at Gazala, Bevan made one of his most memorable speeches in the Commons in support of a motion of censure against the Churchill government. 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". In 1951, Bevan was moved to become minister of labour. He was not a cold-blooded rationalist. 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. Bevan argues that the percentage of tax from personal incomes rose from 9% in 1938 to 15% in 1949. We are going to Tredegar-ise you. [68], Conservative opposition of the National Health Service scheme feared that the sudden access to free health care would be overrun. 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. He was not, apparently, one of the most diligent students, and found it difficult to follow an organised routine, including arising early for breakfast. 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". In 1957, Bevan, Richard Crossman and the Labour Party's General Secretary Morgan Phillips sued The Spectator magazine for libel, after one of its writers described them as drinking heavily during an Italian Socialist Party conference. [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. He was elected head of his Miners' Lodge when aged 19, where he frequently railed against management. Aneurin Nye Bevan (1897-1960) is widely regarded as one of the most influential left-wing politicians in British history. Photo by Spudgun67 Wikimedia Commons. As minister of health in Clement Attlees Labour government of 1945, he was responsible for developing housing programs and for establishing the National Health Service. Bevan was elected unopposed as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1959, succeeding Griffiths. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. With his posture, the manager of the colliery found reasons to lay him off but with support from the Miners Federation, he was re-employed by the company as his case was seen as victimization. [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. 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. 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. He began attending fortnightly meetings of the local Plebs' League where he studied, among other things, Marxism. "[62] Government income was increased for the welfare state expenditure by a large increase in marginal tax rates for wealthy business owners in particular, as part of what the Labour government largely saw as the redistribution of the wealth created by the working-class from the owners of large-scale industry to the workers. He was the son of coal miner David Bevan and Phoebe (ne Prothero), a seamstress. Aneurin Bevan was born on 15th November 1897 in Tredegar, Monmouthshire (now in Blaenau Gwent). Macmillan noted that despite being a "controversial figure" during his career, Bevan's death had seen an outpouring of genuine "admiration and affection". [7], Bevan became a well-known local orator and was seen by his employers, the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, as a troublemaker. 'Nye is asleep next door. He first became an MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929. When the strike started on 3 May 1926, Bevan soon emerged as one of the leaders of the South Wales miners. His appointment came during the post-war housing shortage and the need for a radical change in the National Health Service. Bevan's maternal grandfather John was a blacksmith who had moved to Tredegar from Hay-on-Wye to work in the Bedwellty mines. Excerpts from Bevan's speeches are included in Greg Rosen's book Old Labour to New: the dreams that inspired, the battles that divided (published by Methuen in 2005 (ISBN978-1-84275-045-2)). No falsity must touch him once he is no longer available to defend his views. 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. [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. They criticised the right-wing "Gaitskellites" high defence expenditure (especially for nuclear weapons), called for better relations with the Soviet Union, and opposed the party leader, Clement Attlee, on most issues. [6] He worked at the butcher's for several months before leaving school, instead working in the local Ty-Trist Colliery. Academically poor, young Bevan repeated a year of studies. It was one of a long row of four-roomed miners' cottages. [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. There is a man in the British Army who flung 150,000 men across the Ebro in Spain, Michael Dunbar. 3. Aneurin had a stammer as a child which he would later overcome and be recognised as a great public speaker. Aneurin Bevan, was born at 32 Charles Street, Tredegar, on 15th November 1897. 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]. History Hit Launches on Comcasts Entertainment Platforms in the US. [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]. Bevan was a supporter of the Liberal Party as a child, but later converted to socialism and joined the Independent Labour Party. [47] His fierce opposition made him unpopular with some portions of the public at the time, his wife later described how the couple would frequently receive parcels filled with excrement at their home.[48]. After his resignation, Bevan served as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 1955 to 1959. Image Credit: Anenurin Bevan, Minister of Health, on the first day of the National Health Service, 5 July 1948 at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, near Manchester / Wikimedia Commons. In Parliament, he became a vocal critic of numerous other politicians from all parties, particularly Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George. He believed that a civilized society should be able to provide medical care for all of its citizens for free so that anyone in need of medical care, no matter what they earn, can have access to it. A statue of Aneurin Bevan in Cardiff. The Gaitskellites typically won most of the battles inside Parliament, but Bevanism was stronger among local Labour activists. Shortly afterwards he resigned from the government in protest at the introduction of prescription charges for dental care and spectacles. ], In 1951, with the retirement of Ernest Bevin, Bevan was a leading candidate for Foreign Secretary. Aneurin's mother was also from Tredegar, but had English roots: her grandfather was from Hereford. [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". 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. Corrections? [4] Aneurin Bevan attended Sirhowy Elementary School, where he achieved little. 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. [84][85] During his tenure, he helped to secure a deal for railwaymen which provided them with a significant pay increase. However, by the end of his tenure, he had declared Bevan as "the best minister we have had". He was cremated at Gwent Crematorium, Croesyceiliog. [102] In July of the same year, Bevan announced his intention to stand for election as the Treasurer of the Labour Party against Hugh Gaitskell. In short Hitler is to rule Britain by proxy. 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. In 1924, he found a job at the Bedwellty Colliery which would close down in just ten months. [99] For the next five years, he was the leader of the left wing of the Labour Party, who became known as Bevanites. 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. Conway was a local miner who had been elected to the Bedwellty Board of Guardians and offered Bevan advice on overcoming his stammer, stating "if you can't say it, you don't know it". His autobiography, In Place of Fear, appeared in 1952. He compared Gamal Abdel Nasser with Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, from One Thousand and One Nights. [12] Churchill would later label Bevan "a squalid nuisance". Aneurin Bevan was born on November 15, 1897, in Tredegar, Monmouthshire in the South Wales Valleys. Raised in Monmouthshire by a Welsh working-class family, he was the son of a coal miner and left school at 14. 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. Bevan was not good academically and was at a time repeated for a year in school. In parliament, he became a fierce critic of those who did not represent the interest of the working force including members of his party. photo by Elliott & Fry Wikimedia Commons. Image Credit: http://www.cradleofnhs.org.uk/nye.htm / Wikimedia Commons. 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. Aneurin Bevan. He was convinced that. He developed a severe stammer as a child and, according to his younger sister Myfanwy, became "a lonely chap", due to the need to shy away from the attention it brought him.[5]. [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. With less motivation for studies, he left school at age 13 to work at a local Ty- Trist Colliery. [60] Bevan tested this newfound solidarity early on by arriving to a royal banquet at St James's Palace wearing a navy lounge suit. In 1929, Bevan was elected as the Labour member of parliament for Ebbw Vale. [32][33] Bevan and another expelled MP, George Strauss, appealed against the decision. He was a strong critic of the arming policy the British government adopted during the rise of Hitler. [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". ", "The NHS: even more cherished than the monarchy and the army", "Aneurin Bevan / 100 Welsh Heroes / 100 Arwyr Cymru", "Hospital named after Aneurin Bevan opens in Ebbw Vale", contributions in Parliament by Aneurin Bevan, Aneurin Bevan and the foundation of the NHS: Socialist Health Association website. He strongly criticised the National Government's rearmament plans in the face of the rise of Nazi Germany, saying to the Labour conference in autumn 1937: If the immediate international situation is used as an excuse to get us to drop our opposition to the rearmament programme of the Government, the next phase must be that we must desist from any industrial or political action that may disturb national unity in the face of Fascist aggression. Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan (1897-1960) is widely regarded as one of the most influential left-wing politicians in British history. He agreed to serve as shadow foreign secretary under Gaitskell. 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. The new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, appointed Bevan as Minister of Health, with a remit that also covered housing. Indeed, he was increasingly critical of his own party, and from 1940 to 1945 was the editor of the independent Socialist Tribune. [45] Clement Attlee expressed his support that Bevan should have been the leader of the Labour Party during his lifetime but was held back by his demeanour, stating "he wants to be two things simultaneously, rebel and official leader, and you can't be both".

What Is A Group Of Centaurs, Called, Is Bathyarchaeota Prokaryotic Or Eukaryotic, Fundamentals Of Nursing Quizlet Exam 2, Advantages And Disadvantages Of Journals, Star Racing Yamaha Merchandise, Articles OTHER