Chalke, Dr Herbert Davies (1897-1979)

Lecture notes, papers and publications, including re alcoholism, TB, care of the elderly, and food safety. Also papers re service with RAMC in North Africa.

1924-c.1980

10 boxes Uncatalogued: 1 transfer box

These papers were transferred to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre in June 1996 from the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, Oxford, where they had been placed on permanent loan by Mrs Kathleen Chalke in 1979.

Chalke worked as a Medical Officer of Health (MOH) in North Wales, Dorset, Hampstead and Camberwell from 1930-1963, and was in charge of the 1933 investigation into tuberculosis in South Wales. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps as Assistant Director of Medical Services to the Allied Forces in North Africa, and Senior Hygiene Officer, Italy. In 1945 returned to his job as MOH in Hampstead. After his retirement in 1963 he became involved in work on alcoholism, and was one of the founders and the first editor of The Bulletin of Alcoholism in 1963.

At Wellcome Collection: A paper by Chalke is held in the Western Manuscripts sequence as MS.1544. Papers relating to his wartime service are found in the muniments collection of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC/651).

This collection has been partially catalogued and the catalogued part is available to library members. Some items have access restrictions which are explained in the item-level catalogue records. Requests to view uncatalogued material are considered on a case by case basis. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org for more details.

The following is an interim description of material that has been acquired since this collection was catalogued. This description may change when cataloguing takes place in future:

Accession 1319 received in 1996 consisting of:

Miscellaneous papers, including 1 pocket diary of Chalke's, 1942-1943 (with several months pages torn out), 1 wartime pocket diary in Italian, index cards to various diseases and conditions, 3 ink stamping blocks for for graphs and charts (possibly for a publication by Chalke), miscellaneous notes including some entitled 'war diary', and typescript of report of the 'Adrian Committee on safety levels with regard to radiation given off by medical x-rays', 1961 [presumably relates to the Adrian Committee on Radiological Hazards to Patients].