Sir (William) Wilson Jameson (12 May 1885 – 18 October 1962) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

medical doctor and the ninth

Chief Medical Officer Chief medical officer (CMO) is the title used in many countries for the senior government official designated head of medical services, sometimes at the national level. The post is held by a physician who serves to advise and lead a team of medical ...

of England 1940 - 1950. Jameson was born in

Perth, Scotland Perth (Scottish English, locally: ; gd, Peairt ) is a city in central Scotland, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population o ...

and educated at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

. He moved to London before the First World War and was appointed as

Medical Officer of Health A medical officer of health, also known as a medical health officer, chief health officer, chief public health officer or district medical officer, is the title commonly used for the senior government official of a health department, usually at a m ...

in Finchley and St Marylebone in 1920. He also trained in law and was called to the Bar in 1922. He was appointed Dean of the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The inst ...

in 1931. He introduced much more public health information than had been seen before and was not afraid to tackle sensitive subjects such as

venereal disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral se ...

, the subject of a BBC broadcast in October 1942. He was influential in the detailed planning for the introduction of the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

where he worked closely with

Aneurin Bevan Aneurin "Nye" Bevan PC (; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour Party politician, noted for tenure as Minister of Health in Clement Attlee's government in which he spearheaded the creation of the British National Health ...

. Subsequently, healthcare services came to be the main focus of the work of the Chief Medical Officer, rather than public health. After retirement in 1950 he became medical adviser to the King Edward's Hospital Fund for London. In 1952 Jameson chaired the Second British National Conference on

Social Work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

, which was held in London.Kendal Archive, WC/W/A1568/Box 17/W/1/2/A

References

1885 births 1962 deaths Chief Medical Officers for England 20th-century Scottish medical doctors Scottish knights Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath {{Scotland-med-bio-stub