Physical Education and the School Medical Service in England and Wales, 1907-1939

Social History of Medicine

Volumn 9, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 31-48

  Welshman, John ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Drill; England and Wales; Games; Health; Militarism; Newman; Physical education; Poverty; Unemployment; Voluntary

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CHILD; GOVERNMENT; HEALTH SERVICE; HISTORY; HUMAN; PHYSICAL EDUCATION; PRESCHOOL CHILD; PREVENTIVE HEALTH SERVICE; PUBLIC HEALTH; SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE; UNITED KINGDOM;

CHILD; CHILD, PRESCHOOL; GOVERNMENT AGENCIES; GREAT BRITAIN; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING; PREVENTIVE HEALTH SERVICES; PUBLIC HEALTH; SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES; URBAN HEALTH SERVICES;

EID: 0030115435     PISSN: 0951631X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/shm/9.1.31     Document Type: Review

References (197)

1. An earlier version of this article was given as a paper at the Wellcome Unit, Oxford; I am grateful to the participants, to John Macnicol, Margaret Pelling and Allen Warren, and to Social History of Medicine's editors and two anonymous referees for their comments. Any remaining faults are of course my own responsibility. From 1907, George Newman was CMO to the Board of Education; from 1919, CMO to the Ministry of Health and Board of Education.
2. On physical education see P. C. McIntosh, Physical Education in England Since 1800 (London, 1952, new edn. 1968);
3. P. C. McIntosh (ed.) Landmarks in the History of Physical Education (London, 1957);
4. W. D. Smith, Stretching Their Bodies: The History of Physical Education (London, 1974);
5. D. Armstrong, Political Anatomy of the Body; Medical Knowledge in Britain in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 34-5.
6. On the School Medical Service see C. Webster, 'The Health of the School Child During the Depression', in N. Parry and D. McNair (eds.) The Fitness of the Nation: Physical and Health Education in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Leicester, 1983), 70-85;
7. J. Welshman, 'The School Medical Service in England and Wales, 1907-1939' (University of Oxford D. Phil. thesis, 1988);
8. B. Harris, 'Medical Inspection and the Nutrition of Schoolchildren in Britain, 1900-1950' (University of London Ph.D. thesis, 1988);
9. B. Harris, The Health of the School Child: A History of the School Medical Service in England and Wales (Buckingham, 1995).
10. G. Sale-Reaney, 'The Civil and Moral Effects of Drill', Nineteenth Century, 47 (1900), pp. 396-9.
11. See also J. O. Springhall, 'Lord Meath, Youth and Empire', Journal of Contemporary History, V (1970), p. 100;
12. J. O. Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society: British Youth Movements 1883-1940 (London, 1977), pp. 22-31;
13. J. Hurt, 'Drill, Discipline and the Elementary School Ethos', in W. P. McCann (ed.) Popular Education and Socialization in the Nineteenth Century (London, 1977), p. 189.
14. P. P. 1910, XXIII (Cd. 5426) Report of the CMO, 1909, p. 174.
15. G. F. Shee, 'The Deterioration in the National Physique', Nineteenth Century and After, 53 (1903), pp. 797-805.
16. H. F. Trippel, 'National Physique and National Training', New Liberal Review, 5 (1903), pp. 388-90.
17. N. Vance, 'The Ideal of Manliness', in B. Simon and I. Bradley (eds.) The Victorian Public School: Studies in the Development of an Educational Institution, A Symposium (Dublin, 1975), pp. 119-23;
18. J. A. Mangan, 'Athleticism: A Case Study of the Evolution of an Educational Ideology', in Simon and Bradley, The Victorian Public School, p. 156.
19. E. Dunning, 'The Origins of Modern Football and the Public School Ethos', in Simon and Bradley, The Victorian Public School, p. 176;
20. H. B. Philpott, London at School: The Story of the London School Board, 1870-1904 (London, 1904), p. 129.
21. G. Newman, The Building of a Nation's Health (London, 1939), pp. 267-9.
22. W. Evans Darby, Military Drill in Schools: A Paper Prepared for the Universal Peace Congress, 1890 (London, 1890), p. 7;
23. H. H. Almond, 'Football as a Moral Agent', The Nineteenth Century, 34 (1893), p. 904;
24. J. Cantlie, 'The Health of the People', The Practitioner, LXVIII (1902), p. 276;
25. Philpott, London at School, p. 121;
26. A. P. Graves, 'Physical Education in Primary Schools', Contemporary Review (1904), p. 897;
27. C. E. B. Russell, Manchester Boys. Sketches of Manchester Lads at Work and Play (Manchester, 1905), pp. 79, 83.
28. P. P. 1903, XXX (Cd. 1507, 1508): Reports and Papers of the Royal Commission on Physical Training (Scotland), pp. 7, 18-19, 32-8, 69.
29. P. P. 1904, XXXII (Cd. 2175, 2186, 2210): Reports and Papers of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, pp. 61, 74-5, 90-1.
30. P. P. 1910, XXIII (Cd. 5426), Report of the CMO, 1909, p. 173;
31. L. Brunton, 'The Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration', Public Health (1905), pp. 283-4;
32. J. E. Gorst, The Children of the Nation: How Their Health and Vigour Should be Promoted by the State (London, 1906), p. 207.
33. J. Cantle, Physical Efficiency: A Review of the Deleterious Effects of Town Life Upon the Population of Britain, with Suggestions for Their Arrest (London, 1906), pp. 213-16;
34. T. C. Horsfall, The Influence on National Life of Military Training in Schools (London, 1906), pp. 4-6.
35. W. P. Herringham, On Physical Training in Schools (London, 1906), p. 7;
36. K. Bathurst, 'The Physique of Girls', The Nineteenth Century and After, 59 (1906), pp. 830-3.
37. R. Baden-Powell, Scouting for Boys (London, 1908), p. 301.
38. P. P. 1910, XXIII (Cd. 5426), Report of the CMO, 1909, pp. 178, 183-4;
39. P. P. 1914, XXV (Cd. 7184), Report of the CMO, 1912, p. 300.
40. P. P. 1910, XXIII (Cd. 5426), Report of the CMO, 1909, p. 175;
41. Bradford Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1908, p. 69;
42. Staffordshire Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1909, p. 98.
43. P. P. 1911, XVII (Cd. 5925), Report of the CMO, 1910, p. 244;
44. P. P. 1912-13, XXI (Cd. 6530), Report of the CMO, 1911, p. 14;
45. A. Paterson, Across the Bridges: Or Life by the South London Riverside (London, 1911), pp. 97-8.
46. R. A. Roper, Organised Play at Home and Abroad: Physical Recreation for Elementary School Children out of School Hours (London, 1911), p. 10;
47. Gorst, The Children of the Nation, p. 202;
48. W. L. MacKenzie, The Health of the School Child (London, 1906), p. 44.
49. P. P. 1914, XXV (Cd. 6463), Report of the Departmental Committee Appointed to Inquire into Certain Questions in Connexion with the Playgrounds of Public Elementary Schools, pp. 7-8, 15-17, 46-50.
50. R. H. Crowley, The Hygiene of School Life (London, 1909), p. 226;
51. A. M. Burn, 'Clothing of School Children in Relation to Physique and Physical Exercise', Medical Officer, 6 (1911), pp. 277-8.
52. A. Freeman, Boy Life and Labour: The Manufacture of Inefficiency (London, 1914), p. 86;
53. P. P. 1918, IX (Cd. 9206), Report of the CMO, 1917, p. 117.
54. Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society, pp. 134-5, appendices II and III.
55. Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society, Ibid., pp. 98-101;
56. A. Warren, 'Sir Robert Baden-Powell, The Scout Movement and Citizen Training in Great Britain, 1900-1920', English Historical Review, 399 (1986), pp. 387, 395.
57. P. P. 1914-16, XVIII (Cd. 8055), Report of the CMO, 1914, pp. 160, 197;
58. E. A. Impey, Military Training Considered as Part of General Education (London, 1913), p. 5;
59. P. P. 1920, XV (Cmd. 995), Report of the CMO, 1919, p. 35;
60. R. Baden-Powell, Aids to Scoutmastership (London, 1920), p. 59.
61. P. P. 1918, IX (Cd. 9206), Report of the CMO, 1917, p. 122;
62. P. P. 1920, XV (Cmd. 995), Report of the CMO, 1919, p. 169.
63. P. P. 1919, XXI (Cd. 420), Report of the CMO, 1918, p. 117;
64. P. P. 1920, XV (Cmd. 995), Report of the CMO, 1919, pp. 141-2, 178-9.
65. P. P. 1914-16, XVIII (Cd. 8055), Report of the CMO, 1914, pp. 187, 198-200;
66. P. P. 1918, IX (Cd. 9206), Report of the CMO, 1917, pp. 113, 117, 124;
67. P. P. 1920, XV (Cmd. 995), Report of the CMO, 1919, p. 169.
68. Public Record Office (hereafter PRO) ED 50/242: G. Newman to N. D. Bosworth-Smith, 18/10/16; ibid. cutting from The Times, 27/6/17;
69. The Times, ibid. J. M. Campbell to G. Newman, 31/8/17.
70. PRO ED 50/242: E. H. Pelham to L. C. Bromley, 16/1/17; P. P. 1920, XV (Cmd 995), Report of the CMO, 1919, p. 35;
71. P. P. 1914-16, XVIII (Cd. 8055), Report of the CMO, 1914, p. 195;
72. F. C. C. Egerton, The Future of Education (London, 1914), p. 87.
73. P. P. 1922, VII (Cmd. 1718), Board of Education Annual Report 1920-21, p. 12.
74. Board of Education, Health of the School Child, 1921 (London, 1922), pp. 18, 22;
75. PRO ED 50/104: A. H. Wood to G. Newman, 27/3/22; PRO ED 50/150B: Board of Education, Circular 1269, Special Services of Elementary Education, 5/7/22, p. 2.
76. Staffordshire Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1923, pp. 40-3;
77. Bradford Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1925, pp. 148-9;
78. Health of the School Child, 1925 (London, 1926), p. 110;
79. Oxfordshire Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1925, pp. 7-8.
80. Health of the School Child, 1928 (London, 1929), p. 157, table XVIII;
81. Health of the School Child, 1932 (London, 1933). pp. 80, 85, 165, table XV.
82. Staffordshire Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1927, p. 41;
83. Oxford Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1931, pp. 14-17;
84. Health of the School Child, 1932 (London, 1933), p. 116;
85. Health of the School Child, 1934 (London, 1935), p. 108;
86. Merthyr Tydfil Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1929, p. 15.
87. Board of Education, Syllabus of Physical Training for Schools, 1919 (London, 1925), pp. 213-14.
88. P. P. 1920, XV (Cmd. 995), Report of the CMO, 1919, p. 174; PRO ED 50/44: E. Wood to D. G. Somerville, 9/3/23.
89. PRO MH 55/691: A. Eichholz, J. E. Underwood and A. F. Birch Jones, 'South Wales Coal Mining Areas', 11/1/28, pp. 8, 12-15, 29-30;
90. PRO MH 55/280: E. Percy to N. Chamberlain, 16/1/28; PRO MH 55/691; R. J. Davies, F. W. Pethwick-Lawrence and H. Evans, 'The Distress in Wales', 8/3/28, p. 11;
91. PRO ED 50/77: A. Eichholz, 'Durham Coal Mining Areas. Investigation into the Physique of School Children', 4/28, pp. 40-2;
92. E. Percy, Some Memories (London, 1958), p. 118.
93. PRO ED 50/77: J. E. Underwood, 'Blyth Borough', 5/2/29;
94. J. E. Underwood, ibid. 'Hebburn', 5/2/29, p. 6.
95. PRO ED 50/243: J. H. Hallam to W. C. Eaton, 25/2/30; 'Hebburn' ibid. W. C. Eaton to J. H. Hallam, 7/5/30.
96. PRO ED 24/1124: 'Education (Provision of Footwear) Bill', 19/11/30;
97. ibid. E. H. Pelham, 'Boots Bill', 16/1/31;
98. ibid. C. P. Trevelyan, 'Education (Provision of Footwear) Bill', 9/2/31.
99. Health of the School Child, 1924 (London, 1925), p. 128;
100. Health of the School Child, 1925 (London, 1926), p. 144.
101. Health of the School Child, 1926 (London, 1927), p. 90;
102. Health of the School Child, 1928 (London, 1929), p. 214.
103. Health of the School Child, 1931 (London, 1932), p. 118;
104. Health of the School Child, 1932 (London, 1933), pp. 78, 89;
105. Board of Education, Syllabus of Physical Training for Schools 1933 (London, 1933), pp. 6-7.
106. Health of the School Child, 1934 (London, 1935), pp. 8-9;
107. Health of the School Child, 1935 (London, 1936), pp. 8, 50-2;
108. Cambridgeshire Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1935, p. 7.
109. Ministry of Health, On the State of the Public Health, 1933 (London, 1934), p. 254;
110. Health of the School Child, 1933 (London, 1934), p. 57.
111. N. A. Semashko, Health Protection in the U.S.S.R. (London, 1934), pp. 60-2.
112. PRO ED 50/243: A. F. Birch Jones to S. J. Parker, 11/35.
113. Ibid. A. Robinson to E. H. Pelham, 13/7/35; P. S. Lelean, 'National Physical Unfitness and Some Remedies', Medical Officer, 56 (1936), pp. 113-15.
114. PRO ED 50/252: Board of Education, 'Minutes of Meeting of Physical Training Inspectors held on Monday 12th October, 1936', p. 7;
115. PRO ED 121/192: cuttings from The Times, 24-25/11/36;
116. ibid. 'Physical Education in Germany', pp. 2, 34, 71;
117. Board of Education, Physical Education in Germany, (London, 1937), pp. 75-8.
118. Lancet (1937), II, p. 90;
119. Newman, Building of a Nation's Health, pp. 262-4.
120. Oxford Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1933, p. 26;
121. Bradford Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1933, p. 187;
122. Merthyr Tydfil Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1932, pp. 22-5.
123. A. Hutt, The Condition of the Working Class in Britain (London, 1933), p. 43; PRO ED 50/248: E. N. Strong, minute, 30/10/34.
124. PRO ED 50/243: C. W. Maudslay to G. Newman, 6/7/34; Health of the School Child, 1935 (London, 1936), p. 58.
125. PRO MH 61/11: C. W. Maudslay, 'A Brief Survey of the "Special Services" Administered by Local Education Authorities in the Special Areas', p. 9;
126. Board of Education, Circular 1444, Administrative Programme of Educational Development, 6/1/36, p. 10.
127. Board of Education, Circular 1445, Physical Education, 13/1/36, pp. 2, 6, 8.
128. British Medical Association, Report of the Physical Education Committee of the British Medical Association (London, 1936), pp. 5-7, 20-2, 28-9, 41-3.
129. Health of the School Child, 1935 (London, 1936), pp. 48-9.
130. PRO ED 50/244: Board of Education, Circular 1450, Clothing and Shoes for Physical Training, 20/10/36, pp. 2-3.
131. PRO ED 50/293: C. W. Maudslay to E. N. Strong, 3/11/36; PRO ED 50/178: C. W. Maudslay, 'Provision of Boots for School Children', 26/6/37, pp. 2, 8-9.
132. PRO ED 50/290: W. J. Kearns to L. N. Ure, 31/3/38; C. W. Maudslay, Provision of Boots for School Children ibid. C. W. Maudslay to Secretary, 31/3/38.
133. H. Herd, 'Physical Education', Public Health, 50 (1937), p. 254; PRO ED 50/178: cutting from Education, 14/4/39, p. 449; PRO ED 50/205: cutting from Education, 19/5/39.
134. The Times, The Nation's Health (London, 1937), p. 114.
135. PRO ED 50/243: E. G. Savage to L. G. Duke, 20/2/36; The Times, ibid.The Nation's Health ( L. G. Duke to E. G. Savage, 28/2/36;
136. PRO ED 50/244: L. G. Duke, 'Note on Voluntary Physical Training and its Requirements', 10/8/36, pp. 4, 15.
137. PRO MH 56/215: cutting from Hansard, vol. 119, 8/7/36, c. 1320.
138. N. Chamberlain MSS, University of Birmingham Library, NC 15/17: cutting from The Times, 3/10/36.
139. T. Jones, A Diary with Letters 1931-1950 (Oxford, 1954), pp. 309-10;
140. Chamberlain MSS, NC 8/23/1: Lord Aberdare to N. Chamberlain, 3/10/36; T. Jones, A Diary with Letters 1931-1950 ( ibid. NC 8/23/18, 20-21, 23:
141. cuttings from Daily Mail, 7/10/36,
142. Education, 9/10/36,
143. News-Letter, 10/10/36,
144. and The Times, 19/10/36;
145. J. Simon MSS, Bodleian Library, Oxford, 193: cutting from Leicester Daily Mercury, 17/10/36, p. 44.
146. PRO ED 24/1367: H. Ramsbotham (speech), 12/12/34; PRO ED 136/71: K. Wood, 'Milk in Relation to Physical Fitness', 28/10/36, p. 3.
147. Chamberlain MSS, NC 8/23/17: cutting from The Times, 6/10/36;
148. PRO MH 56/213: PEP, Planning, 88 (1936), p. 13; PRO ED 136/72: draft broadcast, 2/2/37. This concluded that 'just as you can't be really fit unless your body is properly fed, so you can't be really fit unless your body is properly trained and exercised', and it reassured listeners that the Government was taking action on nutrition.
149. PRO ED 50/250: National Association of Schoolmasters, 'Physical Training', 22/4/37.
150. G. Newman MSS, The Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London: N. Chamberlain to G. Newman, 12/10/36; PRO ED 136/80: 'Formation of Medical Committee', 24/5/38.
151. PRO MH 56/247: Advisory Committee on Nutrition, 'Minutes of the Fifteenth Meeting', 30/7/37, p. 4.
152. See also H. Mainwaring Holt, 'Physical Education in Relation to the Duties of a School Medical Officer', Public Health, 50 (1937), p. 386;
153. Herd, 'Physical Education', p. 251;
154. W. Hannington, The Problem of the Distressed Areas (London, 1937), p. 84;
155. PRO ED 50/216: M. Green, School Feeding in England and Wales (London, 1938), pp. 1-2;
156. National Union of Teachers, The School Health Services: Their Initiation, Growth and Character (London, 1938), p. 43.
157. F. Le Gros Clark and R. M. Titmuss, Our Food Problem (London, 1939), p. 101.
158. PRO ED 136/70: 'Draft Statement of the Government's Proposals for Extending Facilities for Physical Training and Recreation', 21/12/36, p. 5;
159. PRO ED 136/71: minutes of the Cabinet Committee on Physical Training, 18/1/37; Jones, Diary, p. 309.
160. PRO MH 56/252: Physical Training and Recreation: Memorandum Explaining the Government's Proposals for the Development and Extension of the Facilities Available, (Cmd. 5364) (1937), pp. 4-5, 11-12;
161. British Medical Journal (1937), I, p. 333.
162. PRO ED 136/86: 'Notes for Second Reading Speech', p. 10;
163. Hansard, vol. 322 no 85, 7/4/37, c. 199-200, 225, 256-7.
164. PRO ED 136/86: 'Physical Training and Recreation Bill and the Question of Nutrition', 7/4/37;
165. Hansard, vol. 322, no. 85, 7/4/37, c. 202, 211-15, 230, 267.
166. Hansard, vol. 324, no. 87, 11/6/37, c. 2191-2.
167. PRO ED 136/76: 'Physical Recreation Committees'.
168. See also M. Grant, 'The National Health Campaigns of 1937-1938', in D. Fraser (ed.), Cities, Class and Communication: Essays in Honour of Asa Briggs (Hemel Hempstead, 1990), 217-33.
169. The National Advisory Committee and the Grants Committee for Physical Training and Recreation, National Fitness: The First Steps (London, 1937);
170. National Fitness Council, In Work or Play Fitness Wins: Twenty-Four Ways of Keeping Fit (London, 1938);
171. V. Williams, Women Photographers: The Other Observers 1900 to the Present (London, 1986), p. 49.
172. PRO T161/1279/S41627/4: F. N. Tribe to J. A. N. Barlow, 20/10/38.
173. PRO ED 113/25: Earl de la Warr to J. Simon, 2/11/38, pp. 2-3.
174. Ibid. N. F. W. Fisher, minute, 13/12/38; PRO ED 136/92: M. G. Holmes to Earl de la Warr, 16/12/38; ibid. J. Simon to Earl de la Warr, 21/12/38.
175. PRO T161/1279/S41627/5: National Fitness Council, Report of the Grants Committee to the President of the Board of Education for the Period ended 31st March 1939 (London, 1939), pp. 6-9.
176. PRO T161/928/S41627/020: F. N. Tribe to J. A. N. Barlow, 19/7/39; PRO ED 113/25: J. A. N. Barlow to M. G. Holmes, 3/8/39.
177. PRO ED 113/67: Girl Guides grant application; PRO ED 113/59; H. B. Jenkins to the Boy Scouts Association, 2/9/39; PRO ED 113/85: H. B. Jenkins to the YHA, 4/9/39.
178. Health of the School Child, 1937 (London, 1938), p. 37.
179. Oxford Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1937, p. 15;
180. Tottenham Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1938, pp. 28-9;
181. Cambridgeshire Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1936, p. 30;
182. Bradford Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1938, p. 185.
183. A. F. C. Bourdillon (ed.) A Survey of the Social Services in the Oxford District (Oxford, 1940), vol. 2, pp. 58-63.
184. PEP [Political and Economic Planning], Report on the British Health Services: A Survey of the Existing Health Services in Great Britain with Proposals for Future Development (London, 1937), pp. 8, 22, 125-6, 339-40, 344-50;
185. S. M. Herbert, Britain's Health (Harmondsworth, 1939), pp. 145, 180.
186. Health of the School Child, 1938 (London, 1940), p. 68, table XV;
187. Health of the School Child, 1939-45 (London, 1947), p. 113.
188. PRO ED 50/243: Grenfell, 'Physical Training', 13/1/39;
189. Newman, Building of a Nation's Health, p. 277;
190. Health of the School Child, 1938 (London, 1940), p. 28;
191. G. Newman, English Social Services (London, 1941), p. 29.
192. PRO ED 50/243: Grenfell, 'Physical Training', 13/1/39.
193. PRO ED 136/94: Earl de la Warr, 'Future Policy for the Promotion of Physical Training and Recreation in England and Wales', 19/7/39, pp. 5-7;
194. Future Policy for the Promotion of Physical Training and Recreation in England and Wales ibid. Earl de la Warr, 'The Institution of a National Badge Scheme', 28/7/39.
195. Oxford Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1938, p. 41;
196. Staffordshire Education Committee, Report of the SMO, 1939, p. 25;
197. Health of the School Child, 1939-45 (London, 1947), pp. 9, 113-19.