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The Northern Ireland government and the welfare state, 1942–8: the case of health provision*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2015

John Privilege
John Privilege*
Affiliation:
Ulster University
*
Centre for the History of Medicine in Ireland, Ulster University, j.privilege@mypostoffice.co.uk
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Abstract

Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom’s only self-governing region, recorded year-on- year the worst statistics on health and poverty. However, it was far from certain that the Unionist government in Belfast would enact the kind of sweeping post-war reform that occurred in England and Wales. The raft of legislation governing health and social care introduced in 1948 was, therefore, the product of conditions and circumstances peculiar to Northern Ireland. The government in Belfast needed to overcome the conservative instincts of Ulster Unionism as well as suspicions regarding Clement Attlee’s Labour administration. Although the process was somewhat blighted by sectarianism, the government of Sir Basil Brooke enacted what amounted to a revolution in health and social care provision.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 155 , May 2015 , pp. 439 - 459
Copyright
© Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2015 

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Footnotes

*

With thanks to Professor Greta Jones for her invaluable suggestions on an earlier draft.

References

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36 Brooke’s diary, 28 Oct. 1948 (P.R.O.N.I., D3004/D/38).

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46 Ibid., 30 Mar. 1946.

47 Ulster Unionist Council, 6 Feb. 1947 (P.R.O.N.I. FIN/30/A/B/24).

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50 Ulster Unionist Council, 14 Nov. 1947 (P.R.O.N.I., PM/5/31/5).

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58 British Medical Journal, issue 4481 (23 Nov. 1946), p. 413.

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77 Ibid., 2965, 26 Nov. 1947.

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79 Ibid., McClure to Brooke, 20 Oct. 1947.

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91 Cabinet conclusions, 17 Jul. 1947 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9/C/65/1).

92 Ibid., Hollis to Gage, 26 Sept. 1947.

93 Hansard N. I. (Commons), i, xxxi, 1470–2, 24 Sept. 1947.

94 Ibid., 1512.

95 Ibid., 1766, 9 Oct. 1947.

96 Freer to McWilliam, 16 Oct. 1947 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9/C/65/1).

97 Ibid., Porter to Brooke, 11 Nov. 1947.

98 Brooke’s diary, 3 and 10 Oct. 1946 (P.R.O.N.I, D3004/D/37).

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100 Hansard N.I. (Commons), i, xxxi, 2982–3, 26 Nov. 1947.

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102 Irish News, 9 Feb. 1948.

103 Ibid., 19 Nov. 1948. Similar provisions for the preservation of the religious character of voluntary hospitals were enacted in Scotland. See Brooke to Gage, 21 Oct. 1947 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9/C/65/1). These avoided the kind of acrimony witnessed in Belfast: see Douglas Hyde’s article on the Mater in the Catholic Herald, 21 May 1954.

104 The Lancet, cclii, no. 6529 (16 Oct. 1948), p. 633.

105 British Medical Journal, issue 4547 (28 Feb. 1948), p. 423.

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109 Belfast Newsletter, 16 Apr. 1948.

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115 Grant’s memorandum to the Cabinet, 30 Jun. 1947 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 9/C/65/1/).