ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Sir George Newman's distinguished career in public health administration, his working methods and motivation. It outlines how high infant mortality came to be seen as a problem of national importance, Newman's role within the early child welfare movement and finally both the immediate and longer-term impact of the book's publication. Newman's belief in the value of education probably found its greatest outlet in The Health of the State. Newman's later work essentially falls into two categories; edited collections of previously published papers or publications that allowed Newman to expound his medical philosophy that the best way of improving a nation's health was through preventive medicine. When Newman was appointed Medical Officer of Health (MOH) for Finsbury in 1900 infant health was still a relatively neglected area of research. Consequently, infant mortality was a public health issue of the highest order; George McCleary even suggested that it had become 'fashionable' and had developed 'news value'.
