Mackenzie, Melville Douglas

Correspondence, reports, memoranda and other papers relating to various stages of Mackenzie's career including his time with the RAMC in Mesopotamia during WWI; his domestic work in Huddersfield, Liverpool and Newcastle; his work with the Society of Friends' Unit as part of the Russian Famine Relief; various international missions on behalf of the Health Organisation of the League of Nations during the 1930s and 1940s; work after WWII including his involvement with the World Health Organisation.

The collection also contains administrative documents concerning Mackenzie's career, as well as a series of letters by Mackenzie, sent to his wife, mother and brother, between 1923 and 1957. Some of these letters have been annotated at a later date; the majority of these annotations were made by Melville Douglas Mackenzie's wife, although a few were made by his son.

The date range includes the dates of the digital scans included in the archive. The paper material covers the date range 1917-1960 and the digital files date from 2010-2012.

1917-2012

5 boxes, 15 digital items 1.80 GB (1934134631 bytes)

Arranged in sections A-C as follows:

A: Missions and Tours

B: Letters

C: Biographical and Administrative

The majority of these papers were donated to the library at Wellcome Collection by Mackenzie's family in April 2012 (accession no. 1898). Files on the Middle East were added in October 2012 (accession no. 1948). Papers relating to Mackenzie's tour of Libera were donated to the Wellcome by Mackenzie's family in December 2013 (accession no. 2038). Subsequent accessions (2043; 2078) were received in 2014.

Dr Melville Douglas Mackenzie CMG, MD, DPH, DTM&H was born in Huddersfield in 1889 and qualified in medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital London in 1911. Owing to his father's illness, Mackenzie returned from London to Huddersfield in 1912, and took over the running of his father's general practice.

During the First World War, Mackenzie served in the RAMC and was posted to Mesopotamia where he was attached to the British and Indian Hospital for Infectious Diseases at Basra. In Mesopotamia, Mackenzie developed health programmes and designed equipment to control the spread of typhus fever. Later in the war, he became Assistant Port Health Officer in Basra and then Specialist Sanitary Officer.

After the War he held posts in the City Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and as an assistant to the Tuberculosis Officer. In 1920, he obtained a Doctorate and Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and the following year acquired a Diploma in Public Health from the University of Durham. In 1921 he was Assistant Port Health Officer and Aliens Medical Officer in Liverpool, which involved examining crew members to ensure they were free from infectious diseases before landing in the port.

In February 1922 Mackenzie was appointed Medical Officer to the International Quaker Relief Mission to Russia, where he worked to control the spread of infectious diseases during the Russian Famine. He was invalided home in 1924 with fever and malaria.

In 1926 he joined the Ministry of Health and two years later joined the Health Organisation of the League of Nations, undertaking various international missions to assist with refugee relief efforts and provide advice on the provision of health services, including the control of epidemics such as cholera and typhus. While working for the League, Mackenzie travelled around the world to countries including Greece, Bolivia, Liberia, Singapore and China.

Between 1931 and 1932, Mackenzie travelled to Liberia as Special Commissioner to the Council of the League of Nations. His role in Liberia was to pacify and disarm Indigenous tribes, the Kru (Kroo) peoples, and to establish new boundaries in the country. During this period, he was also a member of the Advisory Mission to the Liberian General Health Survey.

In 1936 he became the Acting Director of the League of Nations Epidemiological Bureau, Singapore, and later Chairman of the European Health Committee of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Organization (UNRRA).

In 1940, after the fall of France, Mackenzie returned to England from Geneva and eventually became Principal Medical Officer in charge of Epidemiology and International Health at the Ministry of Health. Mackenzie was also a key figure in the establishment of the World Health Organisation and involved with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Organization. In 1946 he was chief United Kingdom Delegate, with Plenipotentiary Powers, to the World Health Conference in New York. He was also Chairman of the WHO Executive Board between 1953 and 1954.

Between 1953 and 1959, Mackenzie toured the Gulf States as a Medical Advisor, seconded to the Development Division of the Middle East office. Following these visits, Mackenzie provided recommendations on public health and hygiene to the Middle Eastern countries visited. Mackenzie was sent to Jamaica by the Ministry of Health to advise the Government following an outbreak of poliomyelitis. His final mission was in 1960, to Agadir, Morocco, following an earthquake in the region.

Melville Douglas Mackenzie died on 1 December 1972.

Timeline:

1889: Born in Huddersfield

1911: Qualified with MBBS from Bartholomew's Hospital, London

1912: Returned to Huddersfield to take over his father's general practice

1916: Commissioned in the RAMC, WWI; Assistant Port Health Officer, Basra; Medical Officer, Basra

1920: Doctorate and Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London

1921: Diploma in Public Health and Bachelor of Hygiene, Durham University; appointed Medical Officer, City Hospital for Infectious Diseases; Assistant Tuberculosis Officer, Newcastle; Assistant Port Health Officer, Aliens Medical Officer, Liverpool

1922: Worked for the Russian Famine Relief Expedition with the Friends Relief Committee, Russia

1926: Appointed Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health, Department for the Control of Infectious Diseases

1928: Appointed to the Health Organisation of the League of Nations; travelled to Greece to provide medical advice and assistance during a pandemic of dengue

1929: Travelled to Greece, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia to conduct public health surveys and advise on the development of health services

1930: Travelled to Spain and Bulgaria to advise on the control of malaria and health service; travelled to Bolivia to make recommendations for the reorganisation of the country's health services

1931-1933: Sent to Liberia to advise on reforms in the country's administration

1936: Travelled to Singapore as Director of the Epidemiological Bureau of the League of Nations to provide recommendations on the control of cholera, plague and small pox in the Far East

1939: Visited China on behalf of the League of Nations to report and advise on epidemics resulting from the Sino-Japanese war

1945-1948: UK Delegate to International Health Conference, Interim Commission of WHO; member of WHO Executive Board and UNICEF/WHO Joint Committee on Health Policy

1947: Appointed CMG

1953-1959: Undertook tours of the Gulf States as Medical Advisor to provide recommendations on public health and hygiene

1954: Travelled to Jamaica to advise the government following a polio outbreak

1960: Final mission to Agadir, Morocco, to provide advice following an earthquake

1972: Died

Some abbreviations used in this catalogue:

FEWVRC: Friends Emergency & War Victims Relief Committee

LNHO: League of Nations Health Organisation

UNRRA: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Organization

WHO: World Health Organisation

This collection has been catalogued and is available to library members. Some items have access restrictions which are explained in the item-level catalogue records.

Copies of papers and photographs of Mackenzie, relating to his time as Special Commissioner, League of Nations Mission to the Kru (Kroo) peoples of Liberia, 1931-1932 are held at the School of Oriental and African Studies (Ref. MS 380483). Copies of papers relating to Mackenzie's work with the Society of Friends are held by Friends House, London.

The following is an interim description of material that has been acquired since this collection was catalogued. This description may change when cataloguing takes place in future:

24 files and 1 USB of digital surrogates received on 09/12/2013 (acc. 2038), consisting of papers relating to Mackenzie's tour of Liberia in the 1930s. Includes the following files:

French translations

Map of Liberia (1922)

Report on Liberian Government radio service

Reports (1932)

Boundary settlements (1932)

Staff references and correspondence (1932)

Terms of reference, meetings and instructions (1932)

Report and correspondence (1933)

Correspondence (1933)

Initial Contacts and arrangements (1932)

Personal account of time in Liberia (1932)

Official Liberian documents, including constitution (1924-1929)

1931 Backgound Dr Rajchman

Reports of Dr Smith (1931)

Morais pamphlet; legal system proposals (1931)

Clean up Monrovia; yellow fever (1931)

Caranda (1931)

Press cuttings on slavery (1931)

Election documents (1931)

Official correspondence and reports from MDM to Director General LNO (1932)

Appointment and terms of reference (1932)

MDM speeches to tribes (1932)

Press cuttings (1932)

Background Liberian Government correspondence (1931)

USB stick containing photographs, mostly of Mackenzie's Bolivian tour

Letter home (1931), left out of original donation.

A further accession (acc. 2048) was received on 08/01/2014. This accession includes various letters and reports by MDM, mostly concerning his work for League of Nations, including work in Liberia and his mission to China. Also includes condolence letters following the death of Mackenzie in 1972. This material includes both originals and photocopies.

Acc 2078 was received on 07/05/2014, containing photographs from Mackenzie's travels, some in the original albums; an album of press cuttings; and a copy of manuscript by Jock Haswell about the life of Melville Douglas Mackenzie.

Bound volumes of photographs:

"Prevention of diseases press cuttings: 1922-"

"Bolivia: Book 1, pages 1-48"

"Bolivia: Book 2, 49-112"

"Bolivia: Book 3, pages nos 13-141 and maps"

"Liberia: Book 1, nos 1-50"

"8" Russia?

Loose photos: "Liberia, not annotated"; "Liberia, annotated"; "miscellaneous annotated"; "miscellaneous, not annotated"; "MDM's staff for his mission in Liberia"; "Russia".

Jock Haswell, MSS on life of MDM: Not for Money: the adventures and achievements of Dr Melville Douglas Mackenzie CMG "The man who stoppped a war".