Margot Jefferys (Margaret, ; 1 November 1916 – 3 March 1999) was Professor of Medical Sociology at

Bedford College, London Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a leading role in the advancement of women in highe ...

, from 1968 to 1982. She also lectured at 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 ...

. She is considered a pioneer of

medical sociology Medical sociology is the sociological analysis of health, Illness, differential access to medical resources, the social organization of medicine, Health Care Delivery, the production of medical knowledge, selection of methods, the study of action ...

Early life and education

Margot Jefferys, also known as Margaret, was born in 1916 in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, India, where her father was the principal of a law college. She was the third of four children. The family returned to England when Jefferys was seven, and she was educated at

Berkhamsted School for Girls Berkhamsted School is a private day school (known in the UK as a public school), in the market town of Berkhamsted, in Hertfordshire, England. The present school was formed in 1997 by the amalgamation of the original Berkhamsted School, founded ...

. She attended the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

from 1935 to 1938, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts with honours in history.

Career

Jefferys married James Jefferys in 1941, and the couple moved to the US when he was offered a scholarship to attend Harvard. They returned to the UK at the outbreak of the Second World War, and Jefferys worked as the manager of the Communist Party bookshop in Coventry. Moving to London in 1944, Jefferys taught part-time at the

Workers’ Educational Association Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) are not-for-profit bodies that deliver further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. WEA UK WEA UK, founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult edu ...

, and began working as a research assistant at Bedford College in 1949. In 1953, she was appointed as a postgraduate lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which marked the beginning of her career in medical sociology. She came to be considered a pioneer in the field. From 1965, Jefferys was director of Bedford College’s Social Research Unit, and she was awarded a personal chair as Professor of Medical Sociology at

, from 1968 to 1982. She edited an essay collection on ageing ''Growing Old In The Twentieth Century'', and published her first book in 1954 (''Mobility and the Labour Market''), which was followed by ''An Anatomy of Social Welfare'' (1965), and ''Rethinking General Practice: Dilemmas in Primary Medical Care'' (1983). Jefferys was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1984 and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1988. Jefferys died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

on 3 March 1999 at her home in London, at the age of 82. She had three children, and divorced from her husband in 1959.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferys, Margot 1916 births 1999 deaths British sociologists British women academics Academics of Bedford College, London British women sociologists Medical sociologists