Exploring how the City of Edinburgh City local authority handled matters relating to the health and well-being of its citizens; from the appointment of its first Medical Officer of Health, Henry Duncan Littlejohn in 1862, to the eventual establishment of Public Health Scotland. The Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA), based at the Centre for Research Collections in the University of Edinburgh’s Main Library, looks after a large collection relating to the Public Health Department of the City of Edinburgh. The three series listed below are a small fraction of our holdings.Reports of City of Edinburgh Public Health Department, 1865 – 1973, available online. (LHB16/2)Infectious diseases registers, 1906 – 1997 (LHB16/3)Annual reports of the Registrar General for Scotland, 1907 – 1967 (LHB16/6)Edinburgh was the first Scottish local authority to appoint a Medical Officer of Health: Henry Duncan Littlejohn was appointed in 1862. Following the Public Health (Scotland) Act of 1867, a Public Health Committee was set up by the Town Council in 1872. The Public Health Committee was responsible for sanitary matters and the control of infectious diseases. Its remit was gradually extended to cover: the administration of municipal hospitals; maternity and child welfare; the control of venereal diseases; veterinary matters; food hygiene; environmental health; mental health services; health visiting and home nursing services.In 1948 the municipal hospitals became part of the National Health Service. Several more functions of the Health Department were transferred to the Lothian Health Board in 1974, and the Community Services and Communicable Diseases Division was formed to administer child health services, community health and nursing services, epidemiological and preventative services.The reports and registers in this collection can tell us so much about living conditions in the City in the later Nineteenth Century and beyond. We can see which diseases were prevalent and why and how they spread. We can trace the impact of population increase, poverty and insanitary conditions on human health and mortality.Can we see history repeating itself in these collections?How much of our modern understanding of health, disease and well-being do we owe to early pioneers of public health? Can we discern changes in the environment and climate and their impact on the inhabitants of the City through these records?Please contact LHSA directly if you wish to access these records or would like further information, lhsa@ed.ac.uk This article was published on Wednesday 10 June 2026
