Douglas Macmillan

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

Douglas Macmillan

MBE
DougMacmillan.jpg
Born(1884-08-10)10 August 1884
Castle Cary, Somerset, England
Died9 January 1969(1969-01-09) (aged 84)
Castle Cary, Somerset, England
NationalityBritish
Alma materBirkbeck, University of London
OccupationCivil servant, charity founder
Years active1911—1945
Known forMacmillan Cancer Support
Parent(s)
  • William Macmillan
  • Emily Macmillan

Douglas Macmillan MBE[1] (10 August 1884 – 9 January 1969) was a British civil servant, and founder of the Macmillan Cancer Support charity, now one of the largest charities in the UK.

Early life and education[]

He was born on 10 August 1884, in Castle Cary, Somerset, England, the seventh of eight children of William Macmillan (1844–1911) and his wife Emily, formerly White (1843–1937). His father became Managing Director of John Boyd & Co. (manufacturers of horsehair-based products), was a Somerset County Alderman, and for fifteen years edited and published the monthly Castle Cary Visitor.[2]

He was educated at Sexey's School, Bruton (1894–1897), the Quaker Sidcot School, Winscombe (1897–1901), and then at Birkbeck, University of London in 1901.

Career[]

Macmillan entered the civil service in London in 1902. He worked as a civil servant for more than forty years – in the Board of Agriculture and later in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. He retired as a staff officer in 1945, having been made MBE, for his government service, the previous year.[3] He was a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.[4]

He was prominent in the affairs of the Society of Somerset Folk in London, founding and chairing its Arts Circle which promoted interest in folklore and dialect, drama, literature and music.[5] He edited the Society's journal, the Somerset Year Book, from 1921 to 1932 and was Director of its London-based publishing arm, Folk Press Ltd. Among Folk Press's numerous publications in the 1920s were several monographs on historical topics by Macmillan and two volumes of his poetry (Sea Drift and By Camel and Cary) which contain verses celebrating some of the districts that lie along the route now known as the Macmillan Way West.[6]

Cancer charity[]

In 1911 Macmillan's father died of cancer. This made a profound impression on him. The following year, despite having no medical background himself, he set up the Society for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer, with a donation of £10. The aim was to establish what caused cancer and how best to treat it.[7][8]

At that time the National Health Service (NHS) had yet to be established; registration of nurses was not introduced until 1919. No health and safety acts had been passed by Parliament, and public health had yet to become a priority for the state.[9] In founding 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."[10]

Initially Macmillan ran the charity while continuing to work full-time as a civil servant. He was aided by his wife, but only after twelve years did he take on his first volunteer assistant.[8] In 1924 he and the charity moved to Knoll Road, Sidcup. In 1930 they recruited a first full-time member of staff, and the offices were relocated to Victoria in 1936.[8]

Macmillan retired from running the organisation in 1966, in which year he moved from Sidcup back to Castle Cary. The organisation he founded has since flourished and is today known as Macmillan Cancer Support.

Personal life, recognition, and death[]

He married Margaret Fielding Miller in 1907,[11] and the couple afterwards lived in her parents' house at 15 Ranelagh Road, Pimlico, which provided office space for the Folk Press operation and served as the first headquarters of the Cancer Relief charity. Margaret was a vice-president of the charity and organised its annual sale of work.[12] She died, from cancer, in 1957 and in the following year Macmillan married Nora Primrose Owen.[13]

A blue plaque was erected to honour him at his former residence of 15 Ranelagh Road, Pimlico in 1997 and another in 2019 at his birthplace in Castle Cary.[14] 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.[8]

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.[15]

Macmillan died of cancer on 9 January 1969 at his home Carylande, Ansford in Castle Cary, aged 84.[8][16]

Works[]

  • Shall we slay?, 1909.
  • The Better quest, 1911.
  • Cancer research and vivisection, 1919.

Notes[]

  1. ^ "Pastimes: Rambling – Seven routes to Stow" Birmingham Post, (Birmingham); 21 February 2004; Richard Shurey; p. 54
  2. ^ Western Gazette, 7 July 1911, p. 6.
  3. ^ The London Gazette (Supplement), 4 January 1944, p. 67.
  4. ^ Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer, 3 June 1932, p. 1.
  5. ^ Taunton Courier, 2 March 1927, p. 4.
  6. ^ Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer, 29 September 1922, p. 3, and 3 June 1932, p. 1; Somerset County Herald, 4 October 1947, p. 2; Devon and Exeter Daily Gazette, 1 March 1922, p. 5; Somerset Standard, 12 January 1923, p. 6.
  7. ^ Hunt, Timothy (2004). "Macmillan, Douglas (1884–1969)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Surnames beginning with M". bexley.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  9. ^ Howarth, Glennys; Oliver Leaman (2001). Encyclopedia of death and dying. Taylor & Francis. pp. 291. ISBN 0-415-18825-3.
  10. ^ Raven, Ronald William (1990). The Theory and Practice of Oncology. Informa Health Care. ISBN 1-85070-179-2.
  11. ^ Stonehaven Journal, 4 April 1907, p. 2.
  12. ^ Aberdeen Press and Journal, 20 December 1937, p. 3.
  13. ^ Probate Calendar for England and Wales, 1958 (entry for Margaret Fielding Macmillan recording date of death as 15 December 1957); Somerset County Herald, 4 October 1958, p. 10.
  14. ^ "Search Blue Plaques". English Heritage. Archived from the original on 13 August 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ^ Shall we slay?
  16. ^ "Deaths." Times [London, England] 11 January 1969: 16. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 18 December 2015.

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 0-9524661-1-2

External links[]

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