Aneurin Bevan was born on November 15, 1897, in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, to David Bevan and Phoebe nee Prothero. KidzSearch Safe Wikipedia for Kids. Corrections? [133] The following year, Bevan was voted number one in the 100 Welsh Heroes poll, a response to find the public's favourite Welsh people of all time. His new job arrived in time for him to head the local miners against the colliery companies during the General Strike. In 1934,Aneurin BevanmarriedSocialist MP, Jennie Lee. A free health service is pure Socialism and as such it is opposed to the hedonism of capitalist society. [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. [12] In Parliament, he became noticed as a harsh critic of those he felt opposed the working man and woman. He would be studying economics, history, and politics for the next two years while in that school. [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. [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". He was cremated at Gwent Crematorium, Croesyceiliog. Bevan was as critical of Nasserist Egypt's seizure of the Suez Canal on 26 July 1956 as he was of the subsequent Anglo-French military response. If nations more powerful than ourselves accept the absence of principle, the anarchistic attitude of Eden and launch bombs on London, what answer have we got, what complaint have we got? At an early age of only 19 years, he became a trade union activist and headed the local miners lodge after joining the Tredegar branch of the South Wales Miner Federation. He wasn't cut out to be a leader, he was cut out to be a prophet". [107] He instead stood again for the role of party treasurer and was duly elected, beating George Brown.[108]. His father was a miner and the poor working class family in which Bevan grew up gave him first-hand experience of the problems. Bevan always stood up for the underdog, and was a voice for the unemployed in the period between the two world wars when joblessness was a major domestic political issue. There is a man in the British Army who flung 150,000 men across the Ebro in Spain, Michael Dunbar. 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. In short Hitler is to rule Britain by proxy. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [90] Bevan received unanimous support for his actions from his local Labour constituency leaders. 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". ], In 1951, with the retirement of Ernest Bevin, Bevan was a leading candidate for Foreign Secretary. Bevan, Aneurin (1897-1960). [12], During the Second World War he was one of the main leaders of the left in the Commons, opposing the wartime Coalition government. From 1940 to 1945 he was editor of the independent Socialist Tribune. His agitations for a united socialist front of all parties of the left (including the Communist Party of Great Britain) led to his brief expulsion from the Labour Party from March to November 1939 (along with Stafford Cripps, C. P. Trevelyan and three others). The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. By 1932, Mosley's New Party had migrated from the left over to the far-right of British politics and was rebranded as the British Union of Fascists. Who was Aneurin Bevan, when did he create the NHS and where - The Sun 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. [127] Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell also paid tribute to his former shadow cabinet member and ended his speech by labelling Bevan as "one of the great men of our day". [27] Mosley broke from the Labour Party in early 1931 to form the New Party, but Bevan refused to defect and instead announced that he had no intention of leaving the Labour Party. This is often quoted as "I stuffed their mouths with gold". [102] In July of the same year, Bevan announced his intention to stand for election as the Treasurer of the Labour Party against Hugh Gaitskell. He read Marxism at the college and was a brief follower of Noah Ablett,[11][12] developing his left-wing political outlook. The NHS is a massive employer. [1], Both Bevan's parents were Nonconformists: his father was a Baptist and his mother a Methodist, although he became an atheist. 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]. Photo by Spudgun67 Wikimedia Commons. Read more. With his posture in parliament, he gained great support from his constituents. [99] For the next five years, he was the leader of the left wing of the Labour Party, who became known as Bevanites. Aneurin "Nye" Bevan was a Welsh politician born on November 15, 1897. At the start of World War Two the government realised that, if it was to cope with the huge number of anticipated . He was not a cold-blooded rationalist. In addition, he is known for his wider contribution to the founding of the British welfare state. The same year, Labour were defeated in the General Election. 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. Aneurin Bevan and the setting up of the NHS - BBC Bitesize Bevan was the sort of principled politician we seem to lack these days. Bevan's key speeches in the legislative arena are to be found in: For the local health board headquartered in Caerleon, Wales, see, Minister of Labour and National Service (1951). This club was aimed at helping members in monetary terms in their times of need. My history hero: Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan (1897-1960) Born in a modest family, Bevan's exposure to poverty and deprivation gave him a first-hand experience of unfortunate condition of . With his activism and exuberance, his employer Tredegar Iron Company saw him as a troublesome person but he amazingly became a popular local speaker. [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). At the age of 13, in his last months of schooling, he worked as a butcher's boy at a local store. He died on 6 July 1960. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. In 1987, a bronze statue of Bevan was erected in the city centre of Cardiff, while the Aneurin Bevan Memorial Stones were erected at the beginning of the Sirhowy Valley Walk with three smaller stones (representing three towns of his constituency Ebbw Vale, Rhymney and Tredegar) surrounding a larger stone, which represents Bevan. After Bevan left the Health ministry in 1951 he could never regain his level of success and feuded with fellow Labour leaders, using his strong political base as a weapon. [103] Although unsuccessful in his bid, he did celebrate 25 years as the MP for Ebbw Vale. Discover Walks contributors speak from all corners of the world - from Prague to Bangkok, Barcelona to Nairobi. 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. Despite his conflict with Attlee, Bevan was instrumental in developing a program that oversaw the building of 850,000 new homes between 1945 and 1950, which were good quality houses, owned by local councils and rented out to people at affordable prices. In 1959, he was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and held the post for a year until his death from stomach cancer at the age of 62. [60] He earned a rebuke from Attlee, but Bevan contended that his Welsh mining constituency did not send him to Parliament to "dress up", and he declined to wear formal attire at further Buckingham Palace functions. Nye Bevan Speech (1946) - YouTube [132] In 2002, Bevan was voted as the 45th greatest Briton of all time by the BBC public opinion poll, 100 Greatest Britons. "[97], In March 1952, a poorly prepared Bevan came off the worse in an evening Commons debate on health with Conservative backbencher Iain Macleod, whose performance led Churchill to appoint him as Minister of Health some six weeks after the debate. [51] He also voiced criticism of trade union leaders, which drew complaints from both the Miners' Federation and the Trades Union Congress. One of ten children (though four died in infancy and one at eight years old), Bevans father was a coal miner and Baptist, while his mother a seamstress and follower of Methodism. [88][89] Two other ministers, John Freeman and Harold Wilson, resigned at the same time. [104] The Parliamentary Labour Party voted 141 to 113 to withdraw the whip from him, but it was restored within a month, due to his popularity. His "vermin" speech still resonated: imagination shuddered at a repetition of that on the international stage. [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". [72], Substantial bombing damage, with over 700,000 homes needing repair in London alone,[74] and the continued existence of pre-war slums in many parts of the country made the task of housing reform particularly challenging for Bevan. [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". Bevan, however, became an atheist. Bevan's death in 1960 led to "an outpouring of national mourning". Bevan Festival. We may all come from different walks of life but we have one common passion - learning through travel. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says, "Bevan alone kept the flag of left-wing socialism aloft throughoutwhich gave him a matchless authority amongst the constituency parties and in party conference". 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. 11. An infuriated Bevan stated that he would never be a member of a government that imposed charges on the National Health Service. Updates? The son of a miner, Bevan became a colliers helper at age 13 but had to leave the mines in a few years because of eye disease. On July 5 1948 the National Health Service took control of 480,000 hospital beds in England and Wales. The Labour conference voted to drop its opposition to rearmament. Photo by University of Liverpool Faculty of Health & Life Sciences from Liverpool, United Kingdom Wikimedia Commons. Labour Party deputy leader Herbert Morrison complained that Bevan's attack had backfired, for his words "did much more to make the Tories work and vote than Conservative Central Office could have done". Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). They would collect money weekly for any member who needed it. Aneurin Bevan Facts: Aneurin Bevan was a Welsh Labour politician widely considered the architect of the National Health Service. Photo by Lesbardd Wikimedia Commons. His contribution to the Welfare State has been immense. Aneurin Bevan was born on 15th November 1897 in Tredegar, Monmouthshire (now in Blaenau Gwent). [80], At a party rally in 1948, during a speech, Bevan stated: "That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. During the 1926 General Strike, Bevan emerged as one of the leaders of the South Wales miners. [13], Bevan was one of the founding members of the "Query Club" with his brother Billy and Walter Conway. He went on to serve as shadow foreign secretary from 1956-59 and deputy leader of the Labour party from 1959-60. . Aneurin Bevan. 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. You can also find out more about the Bevan Society, our activities and programme of lectures. 70 years of the NHS: How Aneurin Bevan created our beloved health Bevan and Cripps had previously been threatened with disciplinary action by the party for sharing a stage with a Communist speaker, and all party members were threatened with expulsion if they were associated with the Popular Front. Photo by Duncan from Leicestershire, UK Wikimedia Commons. They collected monies among themselves was what they did to support a member who needed it each week. [31] In 1936 he joined the board of the new socialist newspaper Tribune. 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. Aneurin Bevan | Biography & Facts | Britannica Get time period newsletters, special offers and weekly programme release emails. 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. He was born in Tredegar, Wales, on 15th November 1897. 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. [129], A bronze statue was commissioned by South Glamorgan County Council and erected in 1987 in the city centre of Cardiff. 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. [16][17] In 1926 he found work as a paid union official. [87] The Labour MP David Marquand has stated that the savings were introduced by Gaitskell simply to "impose his will" upon Bevan who he saw as a political rival. After the landslide Labour victory in the 1945 general election, Bevan was appointed minister of health, responsible for establishing the National Health Service. In 1955, he stood as one of the candidates for party leader but was defeated by Hugh Gaitskell. Raised in Monmouthshire by a Welsh working-class family, he was the son of a coal miner and left school at 14. It was Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health in the UK from 1945 to 1951, who started the NHS in 1948. Aneurin Bevanwas selected as the Labour Partys parliamentary candidate for Ebbw Vale for the 1929 General Election. For local insights and insiders travel tips that you wont find anywhere else, search any keywords in the top right-hand toolbar on this page. [92], Bevan's last decade saw his political position weaken year by year as he failed to find a winning issue that would make use of his skills. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aneurin-Bevan, British Broadcasting Corporation - Biography of Aneurin Bevan, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Aneurin Bevan. In his political career, Bevan served as a minister of health in Clement Attlees Labor government of 1945, he was responsible for developing housing programs and for establishing the National Health Service. Bevan's maternal grandfather John was a blacksmith who had moved to Tredegar from Hay-on-Wye to work in the Bedwellty mines. He began attending fortnightly meetings of the local Plebs' League where he studied, among other things, Marxism. Bevan's past association with Mosley would be used against him in subsequent years by his political rivals. Pronunciation of Aneurin Bevan: Learn how to pronounce the word Aneurin Bevan.Definition and meaning can be found here: https://www.google.com/search?q=defin. Bevan was not good academically and was at a time repeated for a year in school. Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan (1897-1960) was the Labour MP for Ebbw Vale in south Wales from 1929-60. [11] Bevan remained at the college until 1921, attending at a time when a number of his contemporaries from South Wales, including Jim Griffiths, were also students at the college. [110] He was a vocal critic of the Conservative government's actions in the Suez Crisis, noticeably delivering high-profile speeches at a protest rally in Trafalgar Square on 4 November 1956, and criticising the government's actions and arguments in the Commons on 5 December 1956. Aneurin Bevan - Powered by, Weapons for squalid and trivial ends House of Commons, December 5 1956, NHS 70th Anniversary and 2018 Annual Lecture, The 2017 Aneurin Bevan Memorial Lecture Professor John Bew. [75][76][77] 1946 saw the completion of 55,600 new homes; this rose to 139,600 in 1947 and 227,600 in 1948.
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