SMITH, Professor Brian Abel-, 1926-1996, Professor of Social Administration

Personal and working papers of Professor Brian Abel-Smith, Professor of Social Administration, [1970-1989], mainly comprising correspondence files relating to teaching at the London School of Economics, including examination records, departmental records, papers relating to taught and research degrees, reading lists, and other administrative material; files containing Abel-Smith's notes, correspondence and papers on various research interests; and correspondence files concerning dealings with outside organisations, including the Labour Party and various Government bodies. Papers relating to the Sainsbury Committee on the Pharmaceutical Industry, the Hunter Committee on Medical Administration, and the Fisher Committee on the Abuse of Public Service, [1965-1973], of all of which Abel-Smith was a member, mainly comprising background, evidence and committee papers.

Born 1926; educated at Haileybury College and Clare College, Cambridge University; served in the British Army, 1945-1948, where he gained a commission in the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 1946, and became Military Assistant to the Deputy Commander of the Allied Commission for Austria, 1947-1948; Research Fellow, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, collecting economic evidence for the Guillebaud Committee, 1953-1955; Assistant Lecturer, 1955-1957, and Lecturer, 1957-1961, in Social Science, London School of Economics; Reader in Social Administration, University of London, 1961; Associate Professor, Yale Law School, Yale University, USA, 1961; Professor of Social Administration, London School of Economics, 1965-1991; Consultant and expert advisor to the World Health Organisation on costs of medical care, 1957-; Consultant to the Social Affairs Division of the United Nations, 1959, and the International Labour Organisation, 1967 and 1981-1983; Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for Social Services, 1968-1970 and 1974-1978, and the Secretary of State for the Environment, 1978-1979; Advisor to the Commissioner for Social Affairs, European Economic Community, 1977-1980; Member of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, 1956-1963, the Central Health Services Council Sub-Committee on Prescribing Statistics, 1960-1964, the Sainsbury Committee, 1965-1967, the Long Term Study Group (on the development of the NHS), 1965-1968, the Hunter Committee, 1970-1972, and the Fisher Committee, 1971-1973; Chairman, Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee, 1961-1962; Governor of St Thomas' Hospital, 1957-1968, and Maudsley Hospital and the Institute of Psychiatry, 1963-1967; died 1996.
Publications: Health insurance in developing countries (International Labour Office, Geneva, 1990); Introduction to health policy, planning and financing (Longman, London, 1994); Cost containment and new priorities in health care: a study of the European Community (Avebury, Aldershot, 1992); Cost containment in health care: the experience of 12 European countries, 1977-83 (Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 1984); Planning the finances of the health sector: a manual for developing Countries (World Health Organization, Geneva, 1983); Child poverty (Family Service Units, London, [1976]); Marriage, parenthood and social policy (Liverpool University Press, 1982); Value for money in health services a comparative study (Heinemann, London, 1976); A history of the nursing profession (Heinemann Educational, London, 1975); National Health Service: the first thirty years (H.M.S.O., London, 1978); Report of Professor Brian Abel-Smith and Mr. Tony Lynes on a National Pension Scheme for Mauritius (Government Printer, Port Louis, 1976); Social policies and population growth in Mauritus: report to the Governor of Mauritius (Methuen, London, 1961); Poverty, development and health policy (World Health Organization, Geneva; H.M.S.O., London, 1978).

The personal and working papers are filed alphabetically.

Apply to Archivist.

Temporary handlist available.

Sources: British Library of Political and Economic Science catalogue; Who's Who 1897-1996 (A & C Black, 1996; British Library On-Line Public Access Catalogue 97. Compiled by Sarah Aitchison for the RSLP AIM25 project.

Copyright retained by the depositor and their heirs. For details of the copyright of the committee papers, apply to the Archivist.

The papers relating to the Sainsbury, Hunter and Fisher Committees were given by Professor Abel-Smith in 1977. A second accession of personal papers was given by Professor Abel-Smith in 1991.

The BLPES holds further material relating to Abel-Smith in the papers of the Aegis campaign (Ref: AEGIS/B/5, 1/10/D, 2/11, 2/5/A, 2/6/D, 5/11, 5/33, 5/38, 5/52, 5/60, 7/8 and 7/26); the papers of Hugh Dalton (Ref: Dalton/9/18 and 9/25); the papers of the Fabian Society (Ref: Fabian Society/E55/7, E125/1, E137/22, and G67/2); the papers of James Meade (Ref: Meade/5/1); the papers of Sir Brandon Meredith Rhys-Williams (Ref: Rhys Williams/B/8/3); the papers of the documentary series 'The Seventies' (Ref: 002); and the papers of Richard Titmuss (Ref: Titmuss/1/38, 1/39, 2/133, 2/160, 2/226, 3/357, 3/393, 3/487, 4/616, and 6/722).