Labour and Childhood

Celebrated for her pioneering work to improve the education, health and welfare of slum children, Margaret McMillan (1860-1931) was an active socialist campaigner and member of the Independent Labour Party. Her involvement with Bradford school boards drew her attention to the poor state of health of the pupils - rickets, scurvy, anaemia and malnutrition were commonplace. Working with her sister Rachel (1859-1917), as well as lobbying for improved standards, Margaret opened the country's first school clinic in Bow in 1908. The sisters' most famous enterprise, the Deptford Camp School, soon followed, and the Rachel McMillan College for training nurses and teachers was founded in 1930. One of her many influential books on pre-school and primary education, this work of 1907 considers the vital role of the school doctor and argues that the practice of poor schoolchildren engaging in part-time labour is detrimental to their well-being.