A Wee Yellow Badge
The December 2022 version of IHN’s Update featured this little yellow badge. It was found in a box of buttons handed into the owner of The Wee Crafty Owl in Jamaica Street, who donated it to the Watt Institution. Mairi asked if we could find out why the badge had been printed and distributed.
IHN quickly got responses from several people who were happy to share their memories of the badge.
Reminiscences
Hector told us that when he was a boy, he had a badge which he thinks originally must have belonged to one of his parents. It was lost long ago.
Likewise, Jennifer recalls her mum having one which had been given to her for attending an X-ray screening session which was possibly held in Craigeknowes School.
The badge was given to participants in a mass X-ray campaign which was rolled out in 1957, which Elliott says was linked to an increase in tuberculosis (TB) after WW2. This was the largest ever mass X-ray campaign organised and as well as badges, he tells us prizes were offered from a draw for those who had attended.
A later campaign between 1966 and 1972 was remembered when the whole workforce at Scotts Engine Works was X-rayed and possible BCG vaccinations given if needed. Mary, who worked there at the time, said that she was X-rayed though perhaps she had not needed it as she had had TB as a child.
Described as an 'intensive campaign to identify TB carriers', it is recalled that an X-ray station was set up in [Greenock] Town Hall and the programme was run under the direction of the local medical officer at the time, Gordon Carrick. There was a considerable amount of publicity including loud-speaker vans [the Instagram/TikTok of the 50s?] driving around encouraging everyone over the age of 14 years to attend for a check after which they would receive their yellow badge. A Pathé newsclip about Glasgow’s campaign gives good background information.
Scotland-wide Campaign
A quick web search using '1957 X-ray campaign greenock' produced a plethora of results: most of which - on the first page of the results - referenced Glasgow’s campaign.
In its Report of Proceedings (1995-96), The Society of the History of Medicine identified Scotland and Portugal as being the two countries that had the highest numbers of cases of TB across Europe (p.36). Subsequently, The Scottish Health Department decided on one last attempt to improve Scotland’s health which resulted in the mass X-ray campaign which was launched in 1957.
An interesting item printed earlier in the same publication (p.20) suggests that Greenock’s early entry into the use of X-rays came in 1899 when an 'enthusiastic pioneer in the use of all sorts of electrical equipment’, Mr. Matthew Blackwood of Port Glasgow, gave the use of his apparatus to [*Greenock Infirmary].
On 14 May 1957, a question was asked in Parliament regarding other areas planning a mass X-ray anti-tuberculosis campaign similar to Glasgow’s (Hansard, 1957). Mr. N.J. Brown, Secretary of State of Scotland, replied that the 18 local authorities selected had the greatest incidence of TB. Greenock and Port Glasgow were listed for testing.
Greenock and Port Glasgow
A final check of the dates showed that in 1957, 14th April was a Sunday and 9th May was a Thursday. So, it looked like the Greenock campaign was actually 1958!
This indeed turned out to be the case - but this was not Greenock’s first mass X-ray campaign. In September 1953, Greenock was the subject of the first-ever such campaign when 20% or 13,500 adults were screened.
The target for 1958 was 70% or 40,000 over 14 years of age with 700 people per day at each unit situated in East, Central, West and South-West areas. To encourage participation, Dr Gordon S. Carrick, the Medical Health Officer for Greenock, prepared a letter to be sent out to all households - the Girl Guides and Girls Guildry were to put the letters in envelopes and the Boys Brigade and Boy Scouts would deliver them to all households in the area. Draw prizes are listed as being from 'actual cash of £50 to a season ticket for Cappilow'.
Port Glasgow’s campaign ran from 17th - 23rd June 1957 and was opened by Mr John S. Maclay, M.P., the Secretary of State for Scotland. Three units - Bardrainnay area, Town Hall and near the Greenock boundary - were used but this campaign also took in other [unspecified] parts of what was then West Renfrewshire.
It is interesting to note that of the areas included, the take-up rate for Greenock was between 75-80% with Port Glasgow at 65-70% of the population. Greenock’s response was second only to Dundee at just over 80% with a 68% average across Scotland (MacGregor, 1960).
Bigger Picture
For anyone interested in a more comprehensive reporting on this mass radiography campaign, the University of Glasgow Doctoral Theses in 1960 by Ian Murray MacGregor MD DPH FRCP (1913-1998) is available online. MacGregor includes details of the planning, undertaking and effectiveness of the campaign for which he had the responsibility as the Department of Health for Scotland’s advisor on tuberculosis.
MacGregor attributes high success rates to locally organised publicity including the loud speaker vans mentioned above, plus printed materials - posters, banners, articles, bookmarks in libraries and stickers for cars; information was put into pay packets and rent demands; films and news items were shown in cinemas including local and visiting celebrities being examined for radio and television. Random prizes were given in most areas - again, as mentioned above.
One of the most successful ways of raising awareness was the wee yellow badges specially designed for the campaign.
Thank you
Many thanks to Mairi at the Wee Crafty Owl and to those who contributed their memories about this wee but not so insignificant wee yellow badge.
Sources
*see Ferrier, John, The Greenock Infirmary 1806-1968, Greenock 1968 p.103
The Society of the History of Medicine, Report of Proceedings (1995-96). Available at: http://sshm.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/PROCEEDINGS-SESSION-1994-1995-and-1995-1996.pdf#page=%22%201%20target=%22new%22 (Accessed 4th February 2023.)
Hansard, HC Deb 14 May 1957 [Q.22] vol 570 cc200-201. Available at: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1957/may/14/mass-x-ray-anti-tuberculosis-campaigns (Accessed 4th Feb 2023.)
The Port Glasgow Express, (1958), 26 February. Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002707/19580226/050/0004 (Accessed: 6th Feb 2023.)
The Port Glasgow Express, (1958), 12 March. Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002707/19580312/57/0004 (Accessed: 6th Feb 2023.)
The Port Glasgow Express, (1957), 12 June. Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002707/19570612/056/0004 (Accessed: 6th Feb 2023.)