One Man's Story

Disease-ridden Victorian slum dwellings, 50% unemployment, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, rickets - welcome to Stockton-on-Tees in the inter-war years. This government-sponsored film is a fitting tribute to Dr George M'Gonigle who, as the town's Medical Officer of Health from 1924 to 1939, went beyond the call of duty to improve the quality of life for the town's poorest residents.

M'Gonigle's field studies took him to all corners of Stockton, from the slums of Housewife Lane to the newly-built Mount Pleasant Estate. His findings challenged conventional wisdom: relocating people from slums to newly built estates might seem an obvious way of improving health, but, he discovered, higher rents meant less money for food. The film also offers glimpses of the doctor's day job, from routine diagnoses to tracing the source of a scarlet fever epidemic. M'Gonigle never forgot the people behind the statistics: an infant mortality rate of 'only' 5% still meant a hundred bereavements. His findings influenced housing policy both nationally and internationally - little wonder that the film's sponsor, the Central Office of Information, used his story to illustrate the post war Labour Government's 'cradle to grave' welfare policies. Look out for the Yorkshire Penny Bank which was renamed Yorkshire Bank Limited in 1959, and the Northern Echo building. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.