Dame Beulah Rosemary Bewley ( Knox; 2 September 1929 – 20 January 2018) was a British

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

physician and past president of the

Medical Women's Federation The Medical Women's Federation is the largest United Kingdom, UK body of women doctors. The organisation is dedicated to the advancement of the personal and professional development of women in medicine and to improving the health of women and t ...

on the

General Medical Council The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of physician, medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the pu ...

Early life and education

Bewley was born Beulah Rosemary Knox on 2 September 1929 in a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

family in

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

, Northern Ireland, the second of three daughters of Ina Eagleson Knox (née Charles), who came from a wealthy family, and John Benjamin Knox, who worked for the

Ulster Bank Ulster Bank is one of the traditional Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group was subdivided into two separate legal entities: National Westminster Bank Plc, trading as Ulster Bank (registered in England and Wales and operating i ...

. Aged 14 she became a boarder at Dublin's

Alexandra College Alexandra College () is an independent day and boarding school for girls in Milltown, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under a Church of Ireland ethos. History The school was founded in 1866 and takes its name from Princess Alexandra of ...

. Aged five, Bewley decided that she wanted to become a doctor, and went on to qualify as a doctor at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

in 1953. In 1955, she married Thomas Bewley and moved to England where she worked in paediatrics for fifteen years, before undertaking a MSc degree in

social medicine Social medicine is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the profound interplay between socio-economic factors and individual health outcomes. Rooted in the challenges of the Industrial Revolution, it seeks to: # Understand how specific soci ...

at the

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The institu ...

, where she was the only woman in the class.

Career

After training in public health, she worked at several institutions in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

including the Academic Department of Community Medicine at

King's College Hospital Medical School King's College London GKT School of Medical Education (often referred to simply as GKT) is the medical school of King's College London. The school has campuses at three institutions, Guy's Hospital (London Borough of Southwark, Southwark), Kin ...

, the Department of Community Medicine, St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School, London and the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public hea ...

. In 1982, she served on the

Faculty of Public Health Medicine The Faculty of Public Health (FPH) is a public health association in the United Kingdom established as a registered charity. It is the standard setting body for public health specialists within the United Kingdom, setting standards for training ...

of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. She served on the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society based at 1 Wimpole Street, London, UK. It is a registered charity, with admission through membership. Its Chief Executive is Michele Acton. History The Royal Society of Medicine (R ...

's section on

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

and Public Health. Her medical school, Trinity College, celebrated its tercentenary in 2011, and Bewley served on the tercentenary board from 2007 to 2012.

Awards and honours

General

* 2000:

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

for services to public health, and in recognition of her leading role in promoting

equal opportunities Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified. For example, the intent of equa ...

for women. * 2002: Honorary LLD by Trinity College Dublin.

Medical

* Fellow of the

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, often referred to as the RCPCH, is the professional body for paediatricians (doctors specialising in child health) in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the postgraduate training of pa ...

* Fellow of the

Selected works

Autobiography

* (autobiography)

Publications on smoking

* Bewley BR, Bland JM, Harris R. (1974) Factors associated with the starting of cigarette smoking by primary school children. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine 28, 37–44. * Bland JM, Bewley BR, Day I. (1975) Primary schoolboys: image of self and smoker. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine 29, 262–266. * Bland JM, Bewley BR, Banks MH, Pollard VM. (1975) Schoolchildren's beliefs about smoking and disease. Health Education Journal 34, 71–78. * Bewley BR, Bland JM. (1976) Smoking and respiratory symptoms in two groups of schoolchildren. Preventive Medicine 5, 63–69. * Bewley BR, Bland JM. (1976) Academic performance and social factors related to cigarette smoking by schoolchildren. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine 31, 18–24. * Bewley BR, Bland JM. (1978) The child's image of a young smoker. Health Education Journal 37, 236–241. * Banks MH, Bewley BR, Bland JM, Dean JR, Pollard VM. (1978) A long-term study of smoking by secondary schoolchildren. Archives of Disease in Childhood 53, 12–19. * Bland JM, Bewley BR, Pollard V, Banks MH. (1978) Effect of children's and parents' smoking on respiratory symptoms. Archives of Disease in Childhood 53, 100–105. * Bewley, B.R., Murray, M., & Johnson, M.R.D. (1978). Smoking by Derbyshire schoolchildren. Finnish Journal of Social Medicine, 15: 197–203. * Bland JM, Bewley BR, Banks MH. (1979) Cigarette smoking and children's respiratory symptoms: validity of questionnaire method. Revue d'Epidemiologie et Sante Publique 27, 69–76. * Bewley BR, Johnson MRD, Bland JM, Murray M. (1980) Trends in children's smoking. Community Medicine 2, 186–189. * Johnson, M.R.D., Murray, M., Bewley, B.R., & Clyde, D.C. (1981). Social class, parents, children and smoking. Bulletin of International Union against Tuberculosis nternational Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease 57: 258 262. * Banks MH, Bewley BR, Bland JM. (1981) Adolescent attitudes to smoking: their influence on behaviour. International Journal of Health Education 24, 39–44. * Murray, M., Swan, A.V., Johnson, M.R.D., & Bewley, B.R. (1983). Some factors associated with increased risk of smoking by children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 24: 223 232. * Murray, M. Swan, A.V., Bewley, B.R., & Johnson, M.R.D. (1983). The development of smoking during adolescence. International Journal of Epidemiology 12: 185 192. * Johnson MRD, Bewley BR, Banks MH, Bland JM, Clyde DV. (1985) Schools and Smoking: school features and variations in cigarette smoking by children and teachers. British Journal of Educational Psychology 55, 34–44.

Other publications

Quotes

* "As early as 1902 Ballantyne had found an increase in the abortion rate in French and Austrian women working in tobacco factories." * "There certainly was discrimination. They used to look at you and say she is married, or she has got children and if you were not married, they were expecting you to get married." *"Promotion by tobacco companies may then be seen for what it is—the ‘pushing' of a dangerous drug."

Personal life

In Bewley's fourth year at

, she met a young psychiatrist, Thomas Bewley, from a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

family that owned Bewley's coffee shops. They married in 1955, and had five children. Their second daughter, born with Down Syndrome, defied early expectations regarding her health, and lived until the age of 44. She was greatly upset when her daughter

Susan Susan is a feminine given name, the usual English version of Susanna or Susannah. All are versions of the Hebrew name Shoshana, which is derived from the Hebrew ''shoshan'', meaning ''lotus flower'' in Egyptian, original derivation, and severa ...

came out as a lesbian, but the rift was healed. Susan went on to become a medical professor, and to write her mother's memoirs.

Death

Dame Beulah Bewley died from cardiovascular disease and dementia on 20 January 2018 at the age of 88 in London.Obituary
thelancet.com; accessed 1 January 2022. She was survived by four children and her husband.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bewley, Beulah 1929 births 2018 deaths People educated at Alexandra College Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 20th-century English medical doctors Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Medical doctors from County Londonderry Place of birth missing Women medical doctors from Northern Ireland People associated with St Thomas's Hospital Medical School Presidents of the Medical Women's Federation Beulah 20th-century British women medical doctors 20th-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century women writers from Northern Ireland 20th-century medical doctors from Northern Ireland 20th-century women medical doctors from Northern Ireland