The Medical Officer: Editorial Papers

This section comprises papers found in one of two boxes labelled 'Elliston', which were originally deposited at the Wellcome Unit in Oxford in 1981 by George Lewis Causton Elliston (see Section K for Historical Material found in the other box). The papers relate mainly to the management of the journal The Medical Officer and the company which printed and published it up to 1968, Hodgett's Limited. Although originally described on index cards, the material in this section has been weeded of routine correspondence and non-archival papers and re-arranged under general subject headings. The index cards have not been retained.

The Medical Officer and G S and G L C Elliston: The journal was founded and edited by George Sampson Elliston, originally issued as a supplement to The Local Government Officer and Contractor. In 1908, when that journal expired due to financial difficulties, the first volume of The Medical Officer was published as a journal in its own right. After his death in 1954, aged 78, Elliston was succeeded by his son G L C 'Lewis' Elliston. Although the former was prominent in the Society - he was Secretary 1919-1930 and 1941-1945 and elected an Honorary Fellow in May 1946 - his journal was in many respects a competitor to Public Health. Lewis Elliston edited the journal up to 1970 until his retirement. In 1971 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Society. The journal title was altered to Community Medicine in 1971 and merged with the Health and Social Service Journal from 1 Mar 1973. The last issue was 23 Feb 1973.

Further biographical information on G S Elliston can be found in Public Health Centenary issue by W S Walton, Sep 1956. An article 'The passing of a journal' on the merger with the weekly Health and Social Service Journal can be found in Public Health Vol 87, No 3 pp85-86, Mar 1973.

1897-1973

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