Douglas Macmillan

"Douglas MacMillan" redirects here. For the Scottish theologian, see J. Douglas MacMillan.

Douglas Macmillan

Douglas Macmillan MBE^[1] (born 10 August 1884, in Castle Cary, Somerset, England - died 1969) was a civil servant and charity founder. He was the seventh of eight children of William Macmillan (1844-1911) and his wife Emily (1843-1937). He was educated at [1]Sexey's School, Bruton (1894-7), the Quaker Sidcot School, Winscombe (1897-1901), and then at the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institute, London (1901). Macmillan entered the civil service in London in 1902 and worked in the Board of Agriculture and, later, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, retiring as a staff officer in 1945.

The death of his father from cancer, in 1911, left a deep impression on Macmillan, and the following year he founded the Society for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer^[2] against a background of resistance. The National Health Service had yet to be established, and registration of nurses was not introduced until 1919. At the time no Health and Safety acts had been passed by Parliament and public health had yet to become a priority by the state.^[3] In setting up the society Macmillan "wanted to see homes for cancer patients throughout the land, where attention will be provided freely or at low cost, as circumstances dictate... [and]... panels of voluntary nurses who can be detailed off to attend to necessitous patients in their own homes."^[4] This organisation has since flourished and is today known as Macmillan Cancer Support.

A blue plaque was erected to honour him at his former residence of 15 Ranelagh Road, Pimlico in 1997.^[5] In October 2010, The Bexley Civic Society invited the Mayor of Bexley, Cllr Val Clark, to unveil another plaque on his house in Knoll Road, Sidcup where he lived for 30 years.

Douglas Macmillan was a vegetarian. In 1909, he wrote an open letter to all Christians entitled 'SHALL WE SLAY' which encouraged orthodox Christians to consider vegetarianism.

Works

• Cancer research and vivisection, 1919.
• 'SHALL WE SLAY' 1909
• 'The various animals and fish exist as part of the intricate design of nature, and in our present state of ignorance it might not be easy in every case to state the precise use of each. But whether we regard them as the direct creations of God, manifesting His manifold diversity and wisdom, or as the varied offspring of our Mother Nature, the simple fact remains that they live more or less the same as we do, having similar organs, nerves, sensations of pain or pleasure, the same joy of life and fear of death, and the same right to live their full span upon the free earth.' Douglas Macmillan, The Better Quest, 1911

Notes

1. ^ "Pastimes: Rambling - Seven routes to Stow" Birmingham Post, (Birmingham); Feb 21, 2004; Richard Shurey; p. 54
2. ^ Hunt, Timothy (2004). "Macmillan, Douglas (1884–1969)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 
3. ^ Howarth,, Glennys; Oliver Leaman (2001). Encyclopedia of death and dying. Taylor & Francis. pp. 291. ISBN 0415188253. 
4. ^ Raven, Ronald William (1990). The Theory and Practice of Oncology. Informa Health Care. ISBN 1850701792. 
5. ^ "Search Blue Plaques". English Heritage. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.001002006005/chooseLetter/M. Retrieved 2008-08-13.  Archived on 13th Aug 2008

Further reading

• Pioneers of Their Time: The Stories of Douglas Macmillan MBE & Dame Ethel Smyth Denise Baldwin, Katherine Harding, Iris Morris, Lamorbey & Sidcup Local History Society, 1996. ISBN 0952466112

External links

Shall We Slay

• Macmillan Cancer Support website
• Macmillan nurse fact sheet
• Macmillan 4x4 UK Challenge
• Douglas Macmillan Hospice

Persondata
Name	Macmillann
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	10 August 1884
Place of birth
Date of death	1969
Place of death

This biographical article about a United Kingdom activist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: 1884 births 1969 deaths British charity and campaign group workers English civil servants English vegetarians Christian vegetarians Members of the Order of the British Empire Civil servants in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food People educated at Sidcot School British activist stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР Scrotum Fast Girl/Beware Wolf Look at other dictionaries: J. Douglas MacMillan — (September 30, 1933 ndash; August 3, 1991) was a Christian minister in the Free Church of Scotland. MacMillan was born the youngest of six children, on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Argyll. He was converted at the age of 21, and studied at the… …   Wikipedia Macmillan Cancer Support — is one of the largest British charities and provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer.As well as helping with the medical needs of people affected by cancer, Macmillan also looks at the social …   Wikipedia Douglas Clyde Macintosh — (1877–1948) was a theologian who did his graduate work at the University of Chicago and then joined Yale in 1909, becoming an assistant professor of systematic theology. In 1916 he was named the Dwight Professor of Theology and later served as… …   Wikipedia Douglas Waples — (March 3, 1893 April 25, 1978) was a pioneer of the University of Chicago Graduate Library School in the areas of print communication and reading behavior.[1] Waples authored one of the first books on library research methodology, a work directed …   Wikipedia Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig — Douglas Haig redirects here. See also Douglas Haig (disambiguation). The Earl Haig Earl Haig Nickname …   Wikipedia Douglas (Wyoming) — Douglas Yellowstone Highway (Stadtzentrum), Blickrichtung nach Westen Lage in Wyoming …   Deutsch Wikipedia Douglas Frantz — is an American investigative journalist, and Managing Director of Kroll’s Business Intelligence Washington office.[1] Contents 1 Life 2 Awards 3 Works 4 …   Wikipedia Douglas Gresham — Gresham at the UK premiere of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Born November 10, 1945 (1945 11 10) (age 65) New York City …   Wikipedia DOUGLAS-HOME (A.) — Alexander (Alec) Frederick HOME 1903 1995 Descendant d’une fort ancienne dynastie écossaise, qui lui vaut, en 1951, d’hériter du titre de quatorzième comte de Home, il brise cette continuité. Mort à quatre vingt douze ans, le 9 octobre 1995, dans …   Encyclopédie Universelle Douglas Reed — (1895–1976) was a British journalist, playwright, novelist and author of a number of books of political analysis. His book Insanity Fair (1938) was influential in publicizing the state of Europe and the megalomania of Adolf Hitler before the… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”