Occupational Medicine 2014;64:233–234 doi:10.1093/occmed/kqu070
Art and Occupation
Dr Lachlan Grant (1871–1945) Dr Lachlan Grant practised as a doctor in the rural community of Ballachulish, Scotland for over 40 years. His substantial contribution over a professional life time as a general practitioner (GP), medical scientist and occupational physician has recently come to the attention of social historians researching his political contribution
as a social reformer [1]. After gaining a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh and despite a promising career in research and teaching, he dedicated his professional life to rural general practice [2]. He developed an early interest in tuberculosis and established a laboratory service for accurate diagnosis. His multitude of
Downloaded from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/ at East Tennessee State University on June 17, 2015
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected]
234 OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE
The health of GPs in remote and rural communities remains a worldwide challenge. The doctors and their families are often paradoxically disadvantaged by the barrier to personal health care including time off, distance and confidentiality. GP’s for GP’s schemes have been established in Australia and Scotland to ensure personal access to health care. Dr Lachlan Grant’s story of clinical service to a community over 45 years demonstrates his own personal resilience and support from a wide range of people who today we would describe as ‘networks’. It is hoped the portrait will inspire future generations of Scottish GPs. James Douglas Tweeddale Medical Practice, Fort William, Scotland, UK Annie Tindley Senior Lecturer, Department of History, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK Alastair Smyth Artist, 24 Zetland Avenue, Fort William, Scotland, UK e-mail: [email protected]
References 1. Tindley A, Kehoe K. Dr Lachlan Grant of Ballachulish c.1870–1945: a one-day workshop, 10 September 2011. J Scot Hist Stud 2012;32:74–86. 2. MacLeod R. Dr Lachlan Grant of Ballachulish: His Life and Times. Argyll, UK: House of Lochar, 2013. 3. Grant L. Diagnosis of early pulmonary tuberculosis. Br Med J 1935;1:446. 4. Grant L. Observations on tuberculosis and syphilitic diseases of the eye. Lancet 1899;154:145–148. 5. Grant L. Vaccines in general practice. Lancet 1908; 172:931–933. 6. Kirk N. A state of war in the valley of Glencoe: the Ballachulish Quarry disputes 1902–1905. Scott Labour Hist 2003;38:14–36. 7. Kirk N. Custom and Conflict in the ‘Land of the Gael:’ Ballachulish, 1900–1910. Trowbridge, UK: The Merlin Press Ltd, 2007. 8. Oban Weekly News, 16 May 1906. 9. Grant L. A New Deal for the Highlands, 1935: 4–6. 10. Grant L. A New Deal. 11. Grant L. Aluminium and health. Br Med J 1932;9:686. 12. Grant L. Aluminium throat swabs. Br Med J 1922;18:434. 13. PP 1913 Cd. 6920. Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Highlands and Islands Medical Service Committee [Dewar Committee], Evidence of Dr Lachlan Grant. Edinburgh: The Stationery Office, 392–397. 14. Dewar Committee. http://www.ruralgp.com/wp/dewar2012/ (3 January 2014, date last accessed) 15. Alistair Smyth. http://www.alistairsmyth.com/index.htm (11 December 2013, date last accessed).
Downloaded from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/ at East Tennessee State University on June 17, 2015
publications in the Lancet and British Medical Journal made frequent reference to the importance of laboratory medical science, especially in a rural context [3–5]. He returned to the family home in Ballachulish in the late 1890s as a medical employee of the slate quarry and was tasked with looking after slate quarry workers and their families [6,7]. Grant was an ardent writer on social reform, land reform, nationalization and economic development. He campaigned for social justice for agricultural workers and crofters inaugurating the Highland Crofters and Cottars Association in 1906, along trade union lines [8]. He also campaigned nationally against economic migration to Canada and New Zealand which he felt was taking the best young people from his community [9]. In the mid1930s, Grant published his ideas about Highland development in a seminal pamphlet, A New Deal for the Highlands [10]. When British Aluminium established a plant at Kinlochleven, he became the company medical officer (1930). Grant’s experience in occupational health, including challenging his employer over health and safety issues and considering the balance of employment opportunities and health impacts from new industries, remains relevant today [11,12]. In 1912, the British government was so concerned about poor medical services in the Highlands and Islands that they commissioned a report by Sir John Dewar, MP for Inverness-shire. Grant gave crucial evidence to this committee, which stands out in its analytical ability and visionary thinking. He advocated a state-funded and organized health service and mapped out an organizational framework and professional governance structure that we recognize today in the National Health Service (NHS) [13]. The Highlands and Islands Medical Service was established in 1913 [14]. It piloted the concept of a state health care system in the UK and the service administrator Miss Muriel Ritson served on the Beveridge Commission in the early 1940s. It was the Beveridge Report, published in 1942, which set out the concept of the NHS. The painting was commissioned by Dr James Douglas in 2012 and presented to the Scottish Headquarters of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Edinburgh to recognize and celebrate the life of Grant. The artist is Mr Alastair Smyth, D.A. (Edinburgh College of Art) who has a substantial body of work on Scottish cultural themes [15]. The style is of a stained glass window with panels which symbolize elements of Grant’s life and work. The central pane shows Grant immunizing a child; the pony and trap are a reference to transport problems for doctors in the Highland and Islands; the laboratory pane refers to his active research career; the Highland crofters, fisherman and forestry workers were his patients; the slate quarry workers were his occupational health interest. The Dewar Committee in the bottom sepia pane were the official conduit for his vision for a NHS and Ramsay MacDonald M.P. and Prime Minister in the top small triangle, became his friend and correspondent.
Art and Occupation
Dr Lachlan Grant (1871–1945) Dr Lachlan Grant practised as a doctor in the rural community of Ballachulish, Scotland for over 40 years. His substantial contribution over a professional life time as a general practitioner (GP), medical scientist and occupational physician has recently come to the attention of social historians researching his political contribution
as a social reformer [1]. After gaining a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh and despite a promising career in research and teaching, he dedicated his professional life to rural general practice [2]. He developed an early interest in tuberculosis and established a laboratory service for accurate diagnosis. His multitude of
Downloaded from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/ at East Tennessee State University on June 17, 2015
© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected]
234 OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE
The health of GPs in remote and rural communities remains a worldwide challenge. The doctors and their families are often paradoxically disadvantaged by the barrier to personal health care including time off, distance and confidentiality. GP’s for GP’s schemes have been established in Australia and Scotland to ensure personal access to health care. Dr Lachlan Grant’s story of clinical service to a community over 45 years demonstrates his own personal resilience and support from a wide range of people who today we would describe as ‘networks’. It is hoped the portrait will inspire future generations of Scottish GPs. James Douglas Tweeddale Medical Practice, Fort William, Scotland, UK Annie Tindley Senior Lecturer, Department of History, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK Alastair Smyth Artist, 24 Zetland Avenue, Fort William, Scotland, UK e-mail: [email protected]
References 1. Tindley A, Kehoe K. Dr Lachlan Grant of Ballachulish c.1870–1945: a one-day workshop, 10 September 2011. J Scot Hist Stud 2012;32:74–86. 2. MacLeod R. Dr Lachlan Grant of Ballachulish: His Life and Times. Argyll, UK: House of Lochar, 2013. 3. Grant L. Diagnosis of early pulmonary tuberculosis. Br Med J 1935;1:446. 4. Grant L. Observations on tuberculosis and syphilitic diseases of the eye. Lancet 1899;154:145–148. 5. Grant L. Vaccines in general practice. Lancet 1908; 172:931–933. 6. Kirk N. A state of war in the valley of Glencoe: the Ballachulish Quarry disputes 1902–1905. Scott Labour Hist 2003;38:14–36. 7. Kirk N. Custom and Conflict in the ‘Land of the Gael:’ Ballachulish, 1900–1910. Trowbridge, UK: The Merlin Press Ltd, 2007. 8. Oban Weekly News, 16 May 1906. 9. Grant L. A New Deal for the Highlands, 1935: 4–6. 10. Grant L. A New Deal. 11. Grant L. Aluminium and health. Br Med J 1932;9:686. 12. Grant L. Aluminium throat swabs. Br Med J 1922;18:434. 13. PP 1913 Cd. 6920. Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Highlands and Islands Medical Service Committee [Dewar Committee], Evidence of Dr Lachlan Grant. Edinburgh: The Stationery Office, 392–397. 14. Dewar Committee. http://www.ruralgp.com/wp/dewar2012/ (3 January 2014, date last accessed) 15. Alistair Smyth. http://www.alistairsmyth.com/index.htm (11 December 2013, date last accessed).
Downloaded from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/ at East Tennessee State University on June 17, 2015
publications in the Lancet and British Medical Journal made frequent reference to the importance of laboratory medical science, especially in a rural context [3–5]. He returned to the family home in Ballachulish in the late 1890s as a medical employee of the slate quarry and was tasked with looking after slate quarry workers and their families [6,7]. Grant was an ardent writer on social reform, land reform, nationalization and economic development. He campaigned for social justice for agricultural workers and crofters inaugurating the Highland Crofters and Cottars Association in 1906, along trade union lines [8]. He also campaigned nationally against economic migration to Canada and New Zealand which he felt was taking the best young people from his community [9]. In the mid1930s, Grant published his ideas about Highland development in a seminal pamphlet, A New Deal for the Highlands [10]. When British Aluminium established a plant at Kinlochleven, he became the company medical officer (1930). Grant’s experience in occupational health, including challenging his employer over health and safety issues and considering the balance of employment opportunities and health impacts from new industries, remains relevant today [11,12]. In 1912, the British government was so concerned about poor medical services in the Highlands and Islands that they commissioned a report by Sir John Dewar, MP for Inverness-shire. Grant gave crucial evidence to this committee, which stands out in its analytical ability and visionary thinking. He advocated a state-funded and organized health service and mapped out an organizational framework and professional governance structure that we recognize today in the National Health Service (NHS) [13]. The Highlands and Islands Medical Service was established in 1913 [14]. It piloted the concept of a state health care system in the UK and the service administrator Miss Muriel Ritson served on the Beveridge Commission in the early 1940s. It was the Beveridge Report, published in 1942, which set out the concept of the NHS. The painting was commissioned by Dr James Douglas in 2012 and presented to the Scottish Headquarters of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Edinburgh to recognize and celebrate the life of Grant. The artist is Mr Alastair Smyth, D.A. (Edinburgh College of Art) who has a substantial body of work on Scottish cultural themes [15]. The style is of a stained glass window with panels which symbolize elements of Grant’s life and work. The central pane shows Grant immunizing a child; the pony and trap are a reference to transport problems for doctors in the Highland and Islands; the laboratory pane refers to his active research career; the Highland crofters, fisherman and forestry workers were his patients; the slate quarry workers were his occupational health interest. The Dewar Committee in the bottom sepia pane were the official conduit for his vision for a NHS and Ramsay MacDonald M.P. and Prime Minister in the top small triangle, became his friend and correspondent.
