Janet Mary Campbell

Dame Janet Mary Campbell, DBE, JP (5 March 1877 – 27 September 1954) was a British physician and medical officer. Active in refugee relief, Campbell assisted orphaned Basque children following the fascist bombings of the Basque region of Spain, particularly Guernica, during the Spanish Civil War. Early life Janet Mary Campbell was born in Brighton, the daughter of George Campbell, and Mary Letitia Rowe. Her father was a Scottish bank manager. She earned her medical degree in 1904, after study at the London School of Medicine for Women. Career Campbell worked as a surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital and the Belgrave Hospital for Children early in her career. She served as Senior Medical Officer for Maternity and Child Welfare at the Ministry of Health and, from 1907, Chief Woman Medical Adviser to the Board of Education. She helped in preparing the 1923 Hadow Report, Differentiation of the curriculum for boys and girls respectively in secondary schools. She took particular interest in maternal death, vaccination, and child protection. In 1927, she gave a course of lectures at the Kings College, London, on "Maternal Mortality", saying "We need more study and better investigation into the cause of this tragedy". She suggested subsidised midwifery services and postnatal clinics as two possible measures. Campbell visited Australia in 1929, to consult on maternal and child health policy. In 1934 she married and had to resign her civil service job. In 1937, she assisted orphaned Basque children following the fascist bombings of the Basque region of Spain, particularly Guernica, during the Spanish Civil War. In 1938, she chaired the Public Health Committee of the International Council of Women, presenting a report on malnutrition.