Somerville Hastings,

FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal ...

(4 March 1878 – 7 July 1967) was a British surgeon and Labour Party politician.

ODNB The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

article by John Stewart
'Hastings, Somerville (1878–1967)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
accessed 16 Feb 2016

Early life and career

The son of the Reverend H G Hastings, he was born in

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-c ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. He was educated at

Wycliffe College (Gloucestershire) Wycliffe College is a public school (co-educational, independent, day and boarding) in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, England, founded in 1882 by G. W. Sibly. It comprises a Nursery School for ages 2–4, a Preparatory School for ages 4–13, and ...

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

(receiving the gold and silver medals for

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

) and the

Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...

, London. He qualified as MRCS LRCP in 1902,

in 1904 and MB (London) in 1908. On 19 October 1911 Hastings married Bessie Tuke (1882–1958), the daughter of the architect William Tuke. They had two children.

Working life

Hastings was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, in Berkshire, from 1923 to 1924, and from 1929 to 1931. He returned to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

at the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgarian ...

as MP for

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

, holding the seat until his retirement at the 1959 general election.

Thora Silverthorne Thora Silverthorne (1910–1999), also known as "Red Silverthorne", was a British Communist, healthcare activist, and a nanny for Somerville Hastings, and former president of the Socialist Medical Association (SMA). She is most known for her s ...

worked for Hastings as a nanny and went on to be secretary of the

Socialist Medical Association The Socialist Health Association (SHA, called the Socialist Medical Association before May 1981) is a socialist medical association based in the United Kingdom. It is affiliated to the Labour Party as a socialist society. History The Social ...

. Hastings was founder President of the

(SMA) 1930–51. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, followed by work as an aural surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital. He was a Member of the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

for fourteen years.

Edith Summerskill Edith Clara Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill, (19 April 1901 – 4 February 1980) was a British physician, feminist, Labour politician and writer. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 1949. Early life Summerskill was educated at King's ...

felt that the "idea of a National Health Service germinated in the hospitable atmosphere" of Hastings’ home. He successfully proposed a resolution at the 1934

Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conference season when th ...

that the party should be committed to the establishment of a State Health Service. He was a member of the Party's Medical Services sub-committee which produced the report ''A State Health Service'' which was accepted as the basis for the Party's policy.

Death

Somerville Hastings died at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, on 7 July 1967, aged 89.

Publications

Hastings was the author of: *''Toadstools at Home'' (1906) *''Wild Flowers at Home'' (1906) *''Alpine Plants At Home'' (1908) *''Summer Flowers Of The High Alps'' (1910) *''First Aid for the Trenches'' (1917) *''The Future of Medical Practice in England''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

(1928) *Fabian Tracts no. 24
''A National Physiological Minimum''
(January 1934) *''The Future of Medical Practice: A Personal View'' (1942) *''The Development of the Health Services'' (February 1943) (and many other leaflets and tracts for the Socialist Medical Association)
''The Family And The Social Services''
with

Peggy Jay Margaret Christian Jay, Baroness Jay ( Garnett; 4 January 1913 – 21 January 2008) was an English Labour councillor. Education and professional life As a young girl, Garnett attended St Paul's Girls' School in London, where she befriended Shi ...

(February 1965)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hastings, Somerville 1878 births 1967 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of London County Council Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Reading UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 National Health Service people 20th-century English medical doctors Alumni of University College London English health activists English surgeons Royal Army Medical Corps officers British Army personnel of World War I Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons 20th-century surgeons