BBC Wales documentary, originally aired December 18th 2012.Aneurin Bevan (pronounced /narn/; Welsh: [an.rin]; 15 November 1897 - 6 July 1960), often k. [34] Bevan was readmitted to the party on 20 December 1939,[35] after agreeing "to refrain from conducting or taking part in campaigns in opposition to the declared policy of the Party".[36][37]. Bevans role as Minister for Health was hugely important given Labours pledge to create a welfare state that included sick pay, unemployment benefits, pensions and free healthcare for all, irrespective of wealth or background. He was adept at construction and added several modern features when the family moved to 7 Charles Street, installing the first gas stove in the street, an inside toilet and running hot water. On the day, Bevan attended a ceremony at the Park Hospital, Trafford (now Trafford General), at which he symbolically received the keys to the hospital. To achieve mastery as a speaker, he had first to overcome a speech impediment. The memorial stones of Aneurin Bevan in Tredegar, 2011. He compared Gamal Abdel Nasser with Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, from One Thousand and One Nights. Bevan had said "I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altruism of a large hospital than expire in a gush of warm sympathy in a small one". [15] Apart from a six-week period as a labourer for Tredegar Council, he did not find work until 1924 and his employer, the Bedwellty Colliery, closed down ten months later. [101] He later said that he had resigned his position to "call attention to the fact that their movement was in grave crisis", and stated his belief that he would have been party chairman by the following year if he had remained. [38], By March 1938, Bevan was writing in Tribune that Churchill's warnings about German intentions for Czechoslovakia were "a diapason of majestic harmony" compared to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's "thin, listless trickle". [2] He was a member of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion and wrote his own poems, one of which won an inter-chapel eisteddfod. Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan (1897-1960) is widely regarded as one of the most influential left-wing politicians in British history. Lee became a considerable influence upon Bevans career. Aneurin Bevan was born on 15 November 1897 at 32 Charles Street in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, a working-class mining town, where an estimated 90 per cent of the town's inhabitants relied on the local mines for employment. Bevan appeared in court but was cleared when he produced confirmation that he suffered from nystagmus. [8][9] He and his brother Billy did eventually leave Ty-Tryst and worked at the Bedwellty pit, but were forced to move again after a disagreement with the site's deputy manager over Bevan reporting information to the miner's inspector. [1] The town was situated in the South Wales Valleys and was on the northern edge of the South Wales coalfield. At a dinner in late 1955 or early 1956 to celebrate the publication of the Guillebaud Report into NHS costs Bevan remarked to Julian Tudor Hart "ultimately I had to stuff their mouths with gold" about his handling of the consultants. His father died by pneumoconiosis (a lung condition caused by long term inhalation of coal dust) but no compensation was paid to him, as it was not classed as an industrial disease under the Workman's Compensation Act. [102], In March 1955, when Britain was preparing for Operation Grapple, the testing of its first hydrogen bomb, Bevan led a revolt of 57 Labour MPs and abstained on a key vote. This club was aimed at helping members in monetary terms in their times of need. [21] His targets included the Conservative Winston Churchill and the Liberal David Lloyd George, as well as Ramsay MacDonald and Margaret Bondfield from his own Labour party (he targeted the latter for her unwillingness to increase unemployment benefits). They have made us ashamed of the things of which formerly we were proud. Aneurin Bevan was born on 15th November 1897 in Tredegar, Monmouthshire (now in Blaenau Gwent). Despite resistance from opposition parties and the British Medical Association, the National Health Service Act 1946 was passed and launched in 1948, nationalising more than 2,500 hospitals within the United Kingdom. He was cremated at Gwent Crematorium, Croesyceiliog. KidzSearch Safe Wikipedia for Kids. At the age of 13, in his last months of schooling, he worked as a butcher's boy at a local store. Reciting long passages by William Morris with the help of an elocution tutor, Bevan gradually began to overcome the stammer that he had since childhood. He criticised figures such as Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George for their attitude towards workers rights, and as a result of his strong stance enjoyed consistent support from his constituency, and was one of few Labour MPs to be unopposed in the 1931 General Election. [69][70] The removal of the criteria of "working class" from local authority housing provision was seen as a first step, widening access to the council housing that was becoming an ever larger part of the UK housing stock and which made up a majority of new homes built after the war. C. 1924. Bevan's death in 1960 led to "an outpouring of national mourning". In short Hitler is to rule Britain by proxy. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. In 2002, Bevan was voted the 45th greatest Briton of all time by a BBC public opinion poll. Bevan argues that the percentage of tax from personal incomes rose from 9% in 1938 to 15% in 1949. [4] Aneurin Bevan attended Sirhowy Elementary School, where he achieved little. [125] Jennie Lee explained in a letter to Michael Foot that Bevan had specifically chosen to have a non-religious funeral and not a Christian service, because he was a firm humanist. Bevan gained more than twice the votes of Liberal candidate William Griffiths, receiving 20,000 votes to Griffiths' 8,000. The National Health Service and the Welfare State have come to be used as interchangeable terms, and in the mouths of some people as terms of reproach. [40] Bevan now called unsuccessfully for a Popular Front against fascism under the leadership of the Labour Party, including even anti-fascist Tories. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. [10] The Query club started in 1920 or 1921 and they met in Tredegar. Photo by Jeremy Segrott from Cardiff, Wales, UK - Wikimedia Commons Bevan was largely responsible for the distribution of strike pay in Tredegar and the formation of the Council of Action, an organisation that helped to raise money and provide food for the miners. 3. He had also seen disputes with some of Attlee's closest allies, Ernest Bevin and Herbert Morrison, who were appointed Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House respectively. History Hit brings you the stories that shaped the world through our award winning podcast network and an online history channel. A poll in 2013 conducted on behalf of British Future found that the NHS was more popular then than at its creation, and was more popular than the monarchy, BBC and British Armed Forces. [Nye] was never a hypocrite. [29][30] They were early supporters of the socialists in the Spanish Civil War, and Bevan visited the country in 1938. [50], Bevan was subject to further disciplinary action in 1944, when he deliberately voted against Labour's stance on new defence regulations. Photo by Howard Coster Wikimedia Commons. [117] His last speech in the House of Commons, in the debate of 3 November 1959 on the Queen's Speech,[118] referred to the difficulties of persuading the electorate to support a policy which would make them less well-off in the short term, but more prosperous in the long term. Aneurin Bevan was born on 15 November 1897 in Tredegar in Wales. His new job arrived in time for him to head the local miners against the colliery companies during the General Strike. In its early stages this proved true, as the service went vastly over budget in its inaugural year, and Attlee was forced to make a radio address to the nation in an attempt to limit the strain on the system. Bevan was the sort of principled politician we seem to lack these days. With his posture, the manager of the colliery found reasons to lay him off but with support from the Miners Federation, he was re-employed by the company as his case was seen as victimization. [9][20] In keeping with his background, Bevan described his initial thoughts on the House of Commons as a shrine to "the most conservative of all religions ancestor worship". He was born in Tredegar, Wales, on 15th November 1897. Later today he will be taken home to Wales. [127], Bevan's most significant legacy is the National Health Service. [51] He also voiced criticism of trade union leaders, which drew complaints from both the Miners' Federation and the Trades Union Congress. Bevan ended up in a fist fight with a group of miners who refused to strike over his rejection. Like many other students of Bevans class, his formal education ended when he was 14 years of age when he began to work in the mines. Aneurin " Nye " Bevan PC (15 November 1897 - 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour politician. He is particularly noted for his tenure as Minister for Health in Clement Attlee's government, in which he pioneered the creation of the British National Health Service. Bevan was critical of the leadership of the British Army, which he felt was class bound and inflexible. They have offended against every principle of decency and there is only one way in which they can even begin to restore their tarnished reputation and that is to get out! [43] Bevan was relieved that the country had united against Nazi Germany in the fight against fascism to provide a common enemy away from the working class. Aneurin Bevan. The pair went to work at Whitworth Colliery, but fell foul of management when Bevan refused to use cheaper second-hand timber as he deemed it unsafe. [6] He worked at the butcher's for several months before leaving school, instead working in the local Ty-Trist Colliery. Nonetheless, for the next few years, Bevan was at the centre of controversy within the party earning the nickname Nye the Rhetorician and ultimately gave his name to the partys more left-leaning radical wing, which included campaigning for nuclear disarmament. Conway was a local miner who had been elected to the Bedwellty Board of Guardians and offered Bevan advice on overcoming his stammer, stating "if you can't say it, you don't know it". In 2004, more than 44 years after his death, he was voted first in a list of 100 Welsh Heroes, having been credited for his contribution to the founding of the welfare state in the UK. [61], The free National Health Service was paid for directly through public money. Aneurin Bevan was a reversed and famous Wales Labour politician who championed social justice, the right of workers, and democratic socialism. His father was a miner and the poor working class family in which Bevan grew up gave him first-hand experience of the problems of poverty and disease. [105] After the 1955 general election, Attlee retired as Labour leader. [22][23] He had solid support from his constituency, being one of the few Labour MPs to be unopposed in the 1931 General Election, and this support grew through the 1930s and the period of the Great Depression. In 1957, Bevan, Richard Crossman and the Labour Party's General Secretary Morgan Phillips sued The Spectator magazine for libel, after one of its writers described them as drinking heavily during an Italian Socialist Party conference. [84][85] During his tenure, he helped to secure a deal for railwaymen which provided them with a significant pay increase. This is often quoted as "I stuffed their mouths with gold". After a Labour landslide victory in 1945, Clement Attlee appointed Bevan Minister of Health, with a remit that also covered housing, given the severe post-war shortage. [82] It was later claimed that his words had cost Labour more than two million votes. His "vermin" speech still resonated: imagination shuddered at a repetition of that on the international stage. [12] Bevan resigned from his position two weeks later, stating both the proposed changes and the increase in military expenditure that necessitated the need for such proposals. To achieve mastery as a speaker, he had first to overcome a speech impediment. [113] According to the journalist Paul Routledge, Donald Bruce, a former MP and Parliamentary Private Secretary and adviser to Bevan, had told him that Bevan's shift on the disarmament issue was the result of discussions with the Soviet government, where they advised him to push for British retention of nuclear weapons so they could possibly be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the United States.[114]. [12] In Parliament, he became noticed as a harsh critic of those he felt opposed the working man and woman. Bevan was named Minister of Labour in 1951, but resigned after two months in office, when the Attlee government proposed the introduction of prescription charges for dental and vision care and decided to transfer funds from the National Insurance Fund to pay for rearmament. [42] He emphasised that the government had no arguments to persuade young men to fight "except merely in another squalid attempt to defend themselves against the redistribution of international swag". Bevan was actually against British membership of the Common Market. When Labour supported the government's scheme with no such conditions, Bevan denounced Labour for imploring the people on recruiting platforms to put themselves under the leadership of their opponents. Thus, the responsibility for instituting a new and comprehensive National Health Service, as well as tackling the country's severe post-war housing shortage, was given to Bevan, the youngest member of Attlee's Cabinet in his first ministerial position at the age of 47. He went on to serve as shadow foreign secretary from 1956-59 and deputy leader of the Labour party from 1959-60. Bevan, however, became an atheist. [1][3], The couple had ten children altogethersix boys and four girlsalthough four died in infancy and one died at the age of eight. In parliament, he became a fierce critic of those who did not represent the interest of the working force including members of his party. Aneurin Bevan was born on 15 November 1897 in Tredegar in Wales. Aneurin Bevan with his eye on the Ball. Tomorrow he will be cremated in keeping with his known views. In his 2014 biography, Nick Thomas-Symonds described "an outpouring of national mourning" that followed Bevan's death. He was elected head of his Miners' Lodge when aged 19, where he frequently railed against management. He is particularly noted for his tenure as Minister for Health in Clement Attlees government, in which he pioneered the creation of the British National Health Service. full audio of Bevan's speech at the 4 November 1956 Trafalgar Square rally against British action in Suez. Why this is so it is not difficult to understand, if you view everything from the angle of a strictly individualistic competitive society. [57][58] These reforms were achieved in the face of great financial difficulty following the war. For the next few years Bevan was the centre of controversy within the Labour Party and involuntarily gave his name to the partys radical wing. Discover Walks contributors speak from all corners of the world - from Prague to Bangkok, Barcelona to Nairobi. When Winston Churchill said that the Labour Party should refrain from giving Adolf Hitler the impression that Britain was divided, Bevan rejected this as sinister: The fear of Hitler is to be used to frighten the workers of Britain into silence. Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan (1897-1960) was the Labour MP for Ebbw Vale in south Wales from 1929-60. Aged 14, he left school to start working in the mines, starting at 5:30am each day and returning home late in the evening. There he earned around ten shillings per week with most going to his parents to help support the family. 11. He was readmitted in November, the same year after he agreed to desist from involving himself in campaigns that opposed the declared policy of the Party. [45] Clement Attlee expressed his support that Bevan should have been the leader of the Labour Party during his lifetime but was held back by his demeanour, stating "he wants to be two things simultaneously, rebel and official leader, and you can't be both". Bevan was not good academically and was at a time repeated for a year in school. While this was not an insignificant achievement: the 850,000 homes built in the four years immediately after the war ended was the biggest housing programme ever introduced,[78] Bevan's rate of house-building was seen as less of an achievement than that of his Conservative (indirect) successor, Harold Macmillan, who was able to complete some 300,000 new homes a year as Minister for Housing in the 1950s. With his activism and exuberance, his employer Tredegar Iron Company saw him as a troublesome person but he amazingly became a popular local speaker. In the coming decade, his support grew, particularly through the Great Depression. [59] Bevan had clashed frequently with Attlee during his time as an MP, believing that the Labour leader failed to apply enough pressure on the Tory government during the war. [12] Harold Macmillan ended his Prime Minister's Questions session in Parliament two days after Bevan's death by paying tribute to the opposition MP, describing him as "a great personality and a great national figure". Bevan, Aneurin (1897-1960). Born into a working class family in Monmouthshire, Wales, Bevan worked in a coal mine as a teenager, and it was through a miners union that he first became interested in politics. Aneurin Bevan was the son of coal miner David Bevan and Phoebe, a seamstress. Perhaps the greatest and certainly one of the most controversial of Labour Party politicians, Bevan was born in Tredegar, a miner's son in a dissenting family. You cannot collaborate, you cannot accept the logic of collaboration on a first class issue like rearmament, and at the same time evade the implications of collaboration all along the line when the occasion demands it.[38]. Confrontation with the British Medical Association (BMA) was led by Charles Hill, who published a letter in the British Medical Journal describing Bevan as "a complete and uncontrolled dictator". Photo by Geoff Charles Wikimedia Commons. Aneurin "Nye" Bevan PC (/narn bvn/; Welsh:[an.rn]; 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 Service. [16][17] In 1926 he found work as a paid union official. Conway is in the middle of the picture. Bevan is widely regarded as one of the most influential left-wing politicians in British history. He was no calculating machine. The three won their case, and obtained financial damages of 2,500 each. ", "The NHS: even more cherished than the monarchy and the army", "Aneurin Bevan / 100 Welsh Heroes / 100 Arwyr Cymru", "Hospital named after Aneurin Bevan opens in Ebbw Vale", contributions in Parliament by Aneurin Bevan, Aneurin Bevan and the foundation of the NHS: Socialist Health Association website. He would be studying economics, history, and politics for the next two years while in that school. His wage of 5 a week was paid by the members of the local Miners' Lodge. Bevan had been inspired by the Tredegar Medical Aid Society in his hometown, where residents would pay a subscription that would fund access for all of the town's inhabitants to have free access to medical services such as nursing or dental care. Photo by Lesbardd Wikimedia Commons. 2. Aneurin Bevanand other members were briefly suspended from the Labour Party in March 1939 as he advocated for a united socialist front of all parties of the left. Icon of 1960s Britain: Who Was Mary Quant? Aneurin had a stammer as a child which he would later overcome and be recognised as a great public speaker. Did the Wars of the Roses End at the Battle of Tewkesbury? Aneurin Bevan was born on November 15, 1897, in Tredegar in Wales. "Oratory in Political Life,", This page was last edited on 14 April 2023, at 03:25. Bevanism was opposed by the Gaitskellites, moderate social democrats within the party. Bevan foresaw that it would always be the subject of public debate, warning that "This service must always be changing, growing and improving; it must always appear to be inadequate." A statue of Aneurin Bevan in Cardiff. The NHS is a massive employer. He grew up steeped in the traditions of Welsh miners radicalism; self-help organizations, trade unionism, religious dissent, and socialism. The collective principle asserts that no society can legitimately call itself civilised if a sick person is denied medical aid because of lack of means. The Tredegar Query Club by friends including Aneurin Bevan and Walter Conway. [103] Although unsuccessful in his bid, he did celebrate 25 years as the MP for Ebbw Vale. The former aimed to provide a uniform standard of consultant led care and expertise throughout the country and to replace the patchwork of voluntary and municipal hospitals which existed at that point. When the strike started on 3 May 1926, Bevan soon emerged as one of the leaders of the South Wales miners. Two of the key elements of Bevan's proposals were this nationalisation of the hospital services and the abolition of the sale and purchase of goodwill by general practitioners. Bevan also failed in a bid to become deputy leader, losing out to Jim Griffiths. Image Credit: Anenurin Bevan, Minister of Health, on the first day of the National Health Service, 5 July 1948 at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, near Manchester / Wikimedia Commons. [45][by whom? The manager of the colliery found an excuse to have him dismissed; however, with the support of the Miners Federation, Bevans case was judged to be one of victimisation and the company was forced to re-employ him. [112] Speaking at the 1957 Labour Party conference, he decried unilateral nuclear disarmament, saying "It would send a British Foreign Secretary naked into the conference-chamber". Aneurin Bevan, was born at 32 Charles Street, Tredegar, on 15th November 1897. Before entering Parliament, Bevan was involved in miner's union politics and was a leading figure in the 1926 general strike. He first became an MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929. He was first elected as MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929, and used his Parliamentary platform to make a number of influential criticisms of Winston Churchill and his Conservative government during the Second World War. We want the complete political extinction of the Tory Party, and twenty-five years of Labour Government. [48][65] They threatened to derail the National Health Service scheme before it had even begun, as medical practitioners continued to withhold their support just months before the launch of the service. Get out! It was around this time that he first "reject[ed] his chapel upbringing" and became an atheist. [46] Historian Max Hastings described Bevan's role in Parliament during the war as "his figures were accurate but his scorn was at odds with the spirit of the momentfull of gratitude, as was the prime minister". The True Tale of Wales Legendary Hay Castle, 8 Formidable Fighters of the Hellenistic Period, Operation Unthinkable: Churchills Postwar Contingency Plan, The Pirates Code: Laws and Life Aboard Ship, How the Island of Rhodes Overcame a Superpower, Historical Trips - Book your next historical adventure, 10 Must-See Medieval Landmarks in England, Join Dan Snow for the Anniversary of the D-Day Landings, Lost Literature: Why Most English Texts Didnt Survive the Middle Ages, The Legacy of Hal 9000: How Science Fiction Depictions of AI Have Changed Over Time. [44] Churchill was a frequent target of Bevan's, who already held a dislike of him following his intervention in the Tonypandy riots and the 1926 United Kingdom general strike which Bevan considered heavy handed. Bevan first worked as a miner during his teens where he became involved in local miner's union politics. [14], Upon returning home in 1921, he found that the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company refused to re-employ him. Photo by Elliott & Fry Wikimedia Commons. Although he was defeated, he gained attention from his peers and he won a scholarship to the Central Labour College in London, sponsored by the South Wales Miners' Federation. After General Neil Ritchie's retreat across Cyrenaica early in 1942 and his disastrous defeat by General Erwin Rommel at Gazala, Bevan made one of his most memorable speeches in the Commons in support of a motion of censure against the Churchill government. His dad was a miner and the poor working class family in which Bevan grew up gave him first-hand experience of the problems of . [10], 1919 saw the foundation of the Tredegar Labour Party and Bevan was selected as one of four Labour delegates to contest the West Ward in the Tredegar Urban District election. Image Credit: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw58048/Aneurin-Bevan / Wikimedia Commons, The Road to the Crown - Elizabeth I's Coronation Procession, Built by a Giantess? Photo by No Swan So Fine Wikimedia Commons. He read Marxism at the college and was a brief follower of Noah Ablett,[11][12] developing his left-wing political outlook.
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