The Library
Class, health and the proposed British anthropometric survey of 1904
Tools
Smith, Elise (2015) Class, health and the proposed British anthropometric survey of 1904. Social History of Medicine, 28 (2). pp. 308-329. doi:10.1093/shm/hku085 ISSN 0951-631X.
Research output not available from this repository.
Request-a-Copy directly from author or use local Library Get it For Me service.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/shm/hku085
Abstract
In 1904, amid heightened fears of urban degeneration, members of the British Association's Anthropometric Committee drafted plans to measure thousands of citizens to establish the state of the national physique. Their proposal was presented to the Interdepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, which agreed that such information would help resolve the degeneration debate. However, a comprehensive anthropometric survey was never enacted, and only schoolchildren were measured in subsequent years. This article examines the state of anthropometric knowledge in the late nineteenth century, and the genesis and rejection of the 1904 survey. It reviews the political, medical and moral opinions which were cited both for and against its implementation, focusing particularly on the perceived reluctance of the working class to be measured. The decision of Campbell-Bannerman's government to institute only school medical inspections suggests that this was an area in which Liberal values ultimately prevented too close an interference with British bodies.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > History | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Social History of Medicine | ||||
Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||
ISSN: | 0951-631X | ||||
Official Date: | May 2015 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Volume: | 28 | ||||
Number: | 2 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 308-329 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1093/shm/hku085 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |