DR. WILLIAM HENRY DUNCAN

The country's first Medical Officer of Health

(Athenaeum share no.: 380 )

Born in Seel Street, Liverpool, he graduated in Medicine at Edinburgh 1829. He published a pamphlet "The Physical Causes of the High Mortality Rate in Liverpool" in 1843 and was appointed Liverpool's Medical Officer of Health, the first in the country, in 1847, a post in which he continued until 1863.

Died Elgin 1863

Duncan's appointment as Liverpool's Medical Officer of Health on 1st Jan 1847 heralded the start of the UK's widely-admired modern public health system. He started his professional career as a General Practitioner (GP), working in two practices in Liverpool. During the cholera epidemic of 1832, he saw at first hand the link between disease, overcrowding and poverty. He became interested in the health of the poor and started researching the living conditions of his patients. He was shocked by what he found and started a lifelong campaign for improved sanitation and housing for the poor. Through his duties at the Liverpool Dispensaries, he collected information on the insanitary state of Liverpool which he supplied to the great campaigner for sanitary reform, Edwin Chadwick, for national Parliamentary enquiries. As a key member of the Health of Towns Association in Liverpool (established April 1845) he helped in creating Liverpool's first Sanitary Act in 1846. The Health of Towns Association brought together people from many different backgrounds to secure improvements in the health of local people.

Following his appointment as Medical Officer of Health, Duncan was further convinced of the link between housing conditions and the outbreak of diseases such as cholera, smallpox and typhus and worked with the Borough Engineer, James Newlands, tackle the problems of poor housing and sanitary provision in the city. His 1843 pamphlet "The Physical Causes of the High Mortality Rate in Liverpool" highlighted these issues.

He was one of the pioneers of the Victorian public health movement and thus established Liverpool's great public health tradition. He had a passionate concern for the health of the poor of Liverpool and was well ahead of his time in recognising the power of the media to get across public health messages. He in his time as Medical Officer of Health used to hold weekly press conferences to keep public health in the headlines and to press for change. His concern for health inequalities was reflected in his research interests, chiefly sanitary conditions and housing.

He was a founder proprietor of the Athenaeum and his work was frequently discussed at its meetings and at those of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society.

A pub in Liverpool called Doctor Duncan's is named in his honour. One of the buildings of the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Liverpool is named after William Duncan, The Duncan Building the entrance of which is on Daulby Street.

(Information supplied by Dr Kate Ardern)