Mildred Blaxter

Mildred Lillington Blaxter (née Hall, 27 March 1925 – 29 August 2010) was a British sociologist and writer. According to her obituary in The Guardian, she "shed new light on the causes of deprivation".^[1]

Early life[]

She was born Mildred Lillington Hall on 27 March 1925 in Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the elder child and only daughter of Robert Charlton Hall, a bank manager, and his wife, Mildred Violet Hall, née Gleed (1897–1963), an actress.^[2] She was educated at St Anne's College, Oxford, and earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1949, and was the first woman to be assistant editor of the student newspaper, Isis.^[2]

Career[]

Blaxter was in her 40s, and her children were at school, when she read Peter Townsend's study of old people's homes The Last Refuge, and decided she wanted to be a sociologist.

In 1967, she enrolled at the newly established department of sociology at the University of Aberdeen, alongside , , , and Alan Davies, and earned a master's degree in 1972, becoming a medical sociologist.^[2]

In 1972, she was appointed to the Aberdeen-based Medical Sociology Unit, as scientific officer.^[2] In 1976, Blaxter published her first book, The Meaning of Disability. Her 1982 book, Mothers and Daughters is considered "a classic".^[2]

In 1982, when her husband retired, she joined the University of East Anglia, rising to professor of medical sociology in 2000, and was senior sociologist at the University of Cambridge.^[1] In 1990, she published Health and Lifestyles.^[1] Her last book came out in 2004, Health: Key Concepts.^[1]

Selected publications[]

• The Meaning of Disability
• Mothers and Daughters
• Health and Lifestyles
• Health: Key Concepts

Personal life[]

On 12 October 1957, she married Kenneth Blaxter (1919–1991), an animal nutritionist, and they had three children.^[2]

Later life[]

She died of lung cancer on 29 August 2010 at Weston Hospicecare, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare.^[2][1]

References[]