The Papers of (Harold) Montgomery Belgion

This early experiment in social health care was started by Dr. G. Scott Williamson and Dr. Innes H. Pearse in 1924 and depended entirely on voluntary contributions. It achieved considerable success and a high reputation and obviously filled a badly needed role in South London. At the beginning of World Wax II its activities had to be stopped and the buildings were finally taken over as a factory - with consequential serious deterioration. In 1950, after the introduction of the National Health Service, the London County Council refused to take over the Centre as part of the NHS, and it was finally closed. The involvement of HMB and his wife in what was at the time an advanced concept of health care for the poor appears in the file.

Correspondence, articles and pamphlets on the Health Centre [not by HMB].