The British Diabetic Association, now known as Diabetes UK, was founded in 1934 by RD Lawrence and HG Wells.
The British Diabetic Association, now known as Diabetes UK, was founded in 1934 by RD Lawrence and HG Wells. Lawrence and Wells met in July 1931, when Wells became a private patient of Lawrence at King's College Hospital.
Appeal to improve facilities
In 1933 RD Lawrence was becoming frustrated with the cramped conditions of the out-patient department of the Diabetic Department of King’s college Hospital, where he was now Physician-in-charge. He decided to make a personal appeal to his wealthier private patients to help fund improvements to the department, and possibly build a small in-patients’ department.
HG Wells contributed a meagre 2/6d, which left Lawrence unimpressed. Wells responded by pleading poverty and added that: “Such charity should be and was the concern of all diabetics.” With this in mind, he offered to write a letter to 'The Times' appealing to readers for donations. A letter from a personality with such prominence and academic stature was bound to draw attention and its appearance sparked a huge response from far and wide and meant Lawrence soon had the money for the department he wanted.
Support for an association
Along with the donations came letters of support for the concept of an association for people with diabetes. This prompted 12 people to gather in Wells’ flat on 3 November 1933, to discuss the possibility. The group included doctors, nurses, dieticians and lay people with diabetes, and they agreed unanimously that an association should be formed. The aim of the association would be to provide people with diabetes with help in social matters, raise money for research and publish a journal to “unify and spread our efforts”.
Wells was appointed President and in February 1934, his second letter to 'The Times' was published announcing the formation of the Diabetic Association - you can read the letter in full here.
The bedrock of Diabetes UK
The name may have changed – from the Diabetic Association to the British Diabetic Association in 1954 and to Diabetes UK in 2000 – but the aims set out in Wells’ second letter to 'The Times' are broadly similar to those of the charity today: “To promote the study, the diffusion of knowledge, and the proper treatment of diabetes in this country.”
In January 1935, on the opening pages of the first issue of 'The Diabetic Journal', the very first incarnation of 'Balance', Wells wrote: “Our characters are strengthened by a perpetual self-control; we have come to detest the pasty and the saccharine in thought, word and deed. We shall be plain and fine with each other. Formerly diabetics died, but now I shall begin to look for the diabetic influence in every aspect of life, in art, science, conduct, a new delicate strength, a restraint and a clearness. Am I writing nonsense? Not altogether. For my own part I have certainly found diabetes an invigorating diathesis.”
Seeing those stirring words now serves to remind us of the kind of sentiments that have provided such a firm bedrock upon which Diabetes UK has been able to build all its great achievements.
In 1935, The Diabetic Association awarded its first research grant of £50 and its second in 1936 - £40 to pay for six months of a researcher's salary. Today, Diabetes UK has a research grant budget of over £7m.
Bibliography
Jackson, JGL (1996) RD Lawrence and the Formation of the Diabetic Association. Diabetic Medicine, 1996, 13: 9-22 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lawrence, RD (1952) The Beginning of the Diabetic Association in England in Diabetes: Its Medical and Cultural History, D Von Engelhardt (Ed) 1989, Springer-Verlag, Germany.