Bevan is the most significant figure in the history of the NHS and deserves a page to himself. He was never a member of the Socialist Medical Association, but clearly got to know some of the leading figures quite well during the agitation around the establishment of the NHS. He is still invoked in argument, especially in Wales – see What Bevan would think of Blair. A dramatic presentation of Nye Bevan and the Fight for the NHS.
Aneurin Bevan and the Socialist Ideal – Professor Vernon Bogdanor
Tredegar’s role in the foundation of the NHS:
The text of speeches and memoranda reproduced here where not otherwise indicated is taken with kind permission from Charles Webster’s collection “Aneurin Bevan on the National Health Service” published by the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford 1991.
Aneurin Bevan: An appreciation of his services to the health of the people. Pamphlet published by the Socialist Medical Association about 1960
Aneurin Bevan – Labour’s lost leader BBC site with recordings
Website of the Aneurin Bevan Society
- NHS debate House of Commons 30 July 1958
- Local Government Management of the Hospitals, 12 March 1954
- In Place of Fear 1952: (Essay on A Free Health Service)
- Resignation speech 23 April 1951
- Cabinet Discussion 9 April 1951
- Bevan’s speech to the Institute of Hospital Administrators 5 May 1950
- Cabinet discussion 3 April 1950
- Bevan’s speech on the introduction of the prescription charge 9 December 1949
- Nye Bevan, Housing and Harold Hill November 1949
- Press Conference 6 October 1949
- Radio broadcast 1949
- Bevan’s speech on the estimates 17 February 1949
- Bevan’s speech to the Executive Councils Association 7 October 1948
- Bevan’s speech to The Society of Medical Officers of Health 16 September 1948
- Bevan’s speech Preston 5 July 1948
- Bevan’s speech “lower than vermin” Manchester 4 July 1948
- Bevan’s speech to the Royal College of Nursing 2 June 1948
- Pioneers of Public Health 7 May 1948
- Bevan’s speech to the House of Commons on the Appointed Day 9 February 1948
- Bevan’s speech at East Glamorgan County Hospital 17 January 1948
- Bevan’s speech to The Society of Medical Officers of Health 20 September 1946
- Bevan’s speech to the Royal College of Nursing 21 June 1946
- Bevan’s speech on the Second reading of the NHS Bill 30 April 1946
- Bevan’s speech to the Institute of Hospital Administrators, 6 April 1946
- Correspondence between Somerville Hastings and Bevan 1946
- Correspondence between Dr David Stark Murry and Bevan, February and March 1946 – from the SHA archives, Hull University
- Cabinet Memorandum Proposals for a National Health Service 13 December 1945
- Cabinet Memorandum The Future of the Hospital Services 5th October 1945
- Bevan’s speech to the Royal Medico-Psychological Association, 5 September 1945
Brief biography of Bevan
Portraits of Bevan in the National Portrait Gallery
Jennie Lee’s papers in the archive of the Open University