Introduction

By the mid-1950s Titmuss's reputation was spreading abroad. For instance, in 1955 he was asked by the Technical Assistance Department of the United Nations to take part in seminar, in Vienna, on comparative social research. As we shall see in a later chapter, by this point he was also becoming well known in the United States. Here we examine four public addresses from the first half of the 1950s. In 1952 Titmuss delivered the Millicent Fawcett Lecture, in 1955 the James Seth and the Eleanor Rathbone Lectures, and in 1956 he spoke at the International Conference on Social Work. The first, second, and fourth of these were reproduced, in 1958, in Essays on ‘The Welfare State’. Although the Rathbone Lecture and the social work talk had already appeared in print, they had done so as a Liverpool University pamphlet, and in a rather obscure American professional journal. The Fawcett Lecture was previously unpublished. The Seth Lecture, given in Edinburgh, is included because of its insights into the ‘philosophical’ background to Titmuss's approach to welfare. These were far from the only public addresses Titmuss gave in this period, and we shall variously encounter others. But each was important both in its own right, and as illustrating central themes in Titmuss's thought as he sought to develop a ‘philosophy of welfare’ in his early years at the LSE. A brief summary of the four speeches is given, followed by an attempt to draw out the main points Titmuss sought to make.

‘The Position of Women’

Titmuss's Millicent Fawcett Lecture, ‘The Position of Women: Some Vital Statistics’, was delivered at Bedford College, London, in early 1952. Topics of this sort, and what was seen as the associated issue of the role and future of the family, were clearly popular in this period. Equally clearly, Titmuss was a leading contributor to these discussions. A few days before his Fawcett Lecture, for example, he addressed London County Council staff on ‘The Family and the Welfare State’. Bedford College was particularly appropriate for Titmuss's 1952 address, as was the lecture series to which he contributed. The student body was allfemale, while Millicent Fawcett had been a prominent campaigner for women's voting rights. Bedford College was also where Titmuss's friend, Barbara Wootton, was at this point having a difficult time as a member of staff.