DR JAMES Burn Russell was appointed in 1872 as the city’s first full-time Medical Officer of Health.

He worked tirelessly for the city’s poor and his crusade to improve living conditions and health provision lasted more than a quarter of a century. He was one of the truly great figures of late Victorian Glasgow

Dr Russell was born on Robertson Street in 1837, amid the noise and bustle of the Broomielaw. He was brought up in his grandfather’s house in the more rural surroundings of Rutherglen. He went to the High School and then to Glasgow University, where he graduated with a BA in 1858 and Doctor of Medicine and Master in Surgery in 1862.

His first job was as House Physician in the Royal Infirmary and City Poor House before being appointed Physician Superintendent of Glasgow’s first municipal hospital, the Parliamentary Road Fever Hospital.

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These early experiences convinced Russell of the need for improvements in living conditions as a first step towards effective preventive medicine. In 1872 he became the Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow. Sanitary reform had already begun with the Loch Katrine Water Works. His predecessor Dr Gairdner had taken steps to establish a proper Department of Public Health, including the passing of the City Improvement Act to clear Glasgow slums, the formation of Health Committee in the Town Council, appointment of a Sanitary Inspector, and the opening of new hospitals, such as Belvidere.

At the beginning of the Victorian era, Glasgow was judged to have the worst living conditions in the ‘civilised’ world. By the end of the 19th century, it was internationally renowned for its Public Health Service.

Dr Russell took a modern view of his duties, bringing together all the scientific advances by Pasteur and Lister to establish better protection against the spread of disease in the slums.

He was constantly out and about in the poorest part of the city and his accounts of what he saw and heard offer incomparable insights into slum conditions. He sought to raise a sense of social responsibility towards the less fortunate and he used his papers, such as ‘Life in One Room’ to link that lifestyle with the disadvantages it imposed on unfortunate inhabitants. He advocated parks and open spaces, children’s playgrounds,and areas for sport to be located near their dwellings. He planned local baths and washhouses.

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‘Glasgow’s doctor’ succeeded in persuading the Town Council to play an active role in improving sanitation, pollution control and slum clearance.

Reforms such as compulsory notice of infectious diseases helped reduce the city’s death rate, which in turn established Russell’s world-wide reputation as a public health pioneer.