Halliday Gibson Sutherland (1882–1960) was a Scottish medical doctor, writer, opponent of eugenics and the producer of Britain's first public health education cinema film in 1911.
Private life
Halliday Sutherland was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 24 June 1882, the son of John Francis Sutherland and his wife, Jane MacKay, daughter of John MacKay, a Free Church minister in Caithness. His father was physician to HM Prisons at the time of his birth, and later Depute Commissioner in Lunacy for Scotland. The family lived at 19 Roslea Drive in Glasgow. then moved to Edinburgh around 1895, living at 4 Merchiston Bank Avenue, close to the Edinburgh Asylum at Craig House. By 1905 the family were living at 3 Moston Terrace in the Mayfield district.
Halliday was educated at High School of Glasgow and Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. Shortly after the First World War he became a Roman Catholic. In 1920 he married Muriel Fitzpatrick. They lived at 5 Stafford Terrace Kensington in London and had six children. He died aged 77 in the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, St Marylebone, London on 19 April 1960.
Career
Sutherland graduated from Edinburgh University with a MB, Ch B in 1906 and MD with honours in 1908. Following graduation he worked closely with Robert William Philip (later "Sir"), a "pioneer of modern anti-tuberculosis schemes". In 1911, Sutherland founded a tuberculosis clinic and an open-air school in the bandstand of Regent's Park in London and produced "The Story of John M'Neil", thought to be Britain's first cinema film on health education. During the First World War, Sutherland served in the Royal Navy (including service on RMS Empress of Britain) and in the Royal Air Force.
After the war he held the following posts: Physician to St Marylebone Hospital (later St Charles Hospital), Ladbroke Grove. Assistant physician to the Royal Chest Hospital. 1920–25 Deputy Commissioner (Tuberculosis) for the South-West of Britain and joined the medical service of the London County Council. 1941 Deputy Medical Officer of Health for Coventry 1943–1951 Director of the mass radiography centre in Birmingham
Sutherland was President of the Tuberculosis Society of Great Britain and an honorary physician to, and council member of, the Queen Alexandra Sanatorium Fund.
In 1954 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic and awarded the Pope John XXI Medal in 1955.
Books
Sutherland was a writer of books and articles. His major works were: The Control and Eradication of Tuberculosis: A Series of International Studies by Many Authors (Contributing Editor) (1911) Pulmonary Tuberculosis in General Practice (1916) Birth Control: A Statement of Christian Doctrine against the Neo-Malthusians (1922) Birth Control Exposed (1925) The Arches of the Years (1932) A Time to Keep (1934) Laws of Life (1935) In My Path (1936) Tuberculin Handbook (1936) Lapland Journey (1938) Hebridean Journey (1939) Southward Journey (1942) Control of Life (1944) Spanish Journey (1948) Irish Journey (1956)
The Arches of the Years was Sutherland's most successful book. It was a best-seller for 1933, ran to 35 editions in English, and was translated into eight languages. G. K. Chesterton described Sutherland's writing as follows: "Dr. Halliday Sutherland is a born writer, especially a born story-teller. Dr. Sutherland, who is distinguished in medicine, is an amateur in the sense that he only writes when he has nothing better to do. But when he does, it could hardly be done better."
Film
In 1911, Sutherland produced "The Story of John M'Neil", Britain's first public health education cinema film. The 22-minute film was produced for the then new and highly popular silent films shown in cinemas. It depicts various aspects of tuberculosis including the transmission of the disease between family members, the treatments of the various stages of the disease and Sir Robert Philip's "Edinburgh System" for the prevention, treatment and cure of tuberculosis.
Public opposition of eugenics, Malthusianism and disputes with Marie Stopes
Sutherland publicly opposed the doctrines of eugenics and Malthusianism. This brought him into a bitter and public dispute with Dr Marie Stopes.