| AdminHistory | Sir George Newman (1870-1948) was one of Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's closest lifelong friends. Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury's memoirs reveal that their friendship began during Newman's youth. Like Taylor Cadbury, Newman came from a Quaker family, his father serving as editor of 'The Friend', the journal of the Society of Friends, for many years. Whilst studying medicine George Newman became involved in philanthropic work in the Edinburgh slums. Newman actively supported temperance and ambulance work and promoted the improvement of hygiene and the reform of insanitary living conditions in London. In 1893 he became the warden of Chalfont House, a Quaker Settlement in Bloomsbury. Newman's prominent involvement in public health work led to his appointment as Medical Officer of Health to the Borough of Finsbury in 1900 where he developed his views on the links between medical and moral health and the importance of preventive medicine. Newman also worked with the Royal Sanitary Institute and published works on hygiene and public health during this period.
In 1907, through his association with Beatrice Webb and Sir Robert Laurie Morant, Newman was appointed Chief Medical Officer to the Board of Education, promoting preventive medicine and the development of the school medical service. Sturdy suggests that Newman remained with the Board of Education until his retirement 'with the aim of ensuring co-ordination between the school medical service and other health services'. Through his role as Chief Medical Officer Newman worked closely with Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury in her capacity as Chair of Birmingham City Education Committee's Hygiene Sub-Committee. Newman was also involved in the establishment of the Friends' Ambulance Unit and led experiments in the treatment of tuberculosis. In 1919 he was appointed Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health. In his later life Newman continued to publish reports on national health and lecture about the merits of preventive medicine, playing an important role in the development of postgraduate medical education. Newman was knighted in 1911, becoming Sir George Newman. |