This film is part of Free

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x

The Story of John M'Neil

Here in this tuberculosis nest lived the family of John M'Neil...

Drama 1911 22 mins Silent

Overview

This dramatised account of the experiences of a Scottish family devastated by tuberculosis is believed to be the first British health education film. Ill-ventilated slum tenements, such as the one shown here (the "Tuberculosis Nest") were breeding grounds for the deadly disease. The film offers practical guidance as well as a message of hope and was widely shown across Britain, usually accompanied by a lecture.

The filmmaker, Halliday Gibson Sutherland, was a British doctor and author. He researched and wrote widely about tuberculosis and in the year he made this film he founded a tuberculosis clinic and an open-air school for children - like the one featured in this film - in the bandstand of Regent's Park in London.