William H. DuncanDied 23 May 1863 at age 58 (born 27 Jan 1805).William Henry Duncan was an English physician who was appointed as a Chief Medical Officer, the first such salaried official in Britain, on 1 Jan 1847 in Liverpool, England. He was born of Scottish parents, in Liverpool, received his M.D. in Edinburgh (1829), then returned to Liverpool where he began general practice. He realized the city had poor housing and sanitation conditions for the working people, which threatened the public health with diseases that could be prevented by reform. His 1843 pamphlet, The Physical Causes of the High Mortality Rate in Liverpool, identifed the issues that raised the city's mortality rate far above other towns. Duncan helped create the city's first Sanitary Act (1846) andpioneeredin the Victorian public health movement. He used the power of the media to spread public health messages, by holding weekly press conferences to keep a focus on public health and to advocate improvements.« |
