The peckham experiment

Abstract

[Editorial Note: The Pioneer Health Centre at Peckham (often called the Peckham Health Centre) has recently attracted a good deal of historical attention, including an article in this journal by Jane Lewis and Barbara Brookes (Med. Hist., 1983, 27:151-161). The author of the present article, Dr Kenneth Barlow, has long been associated with the Pioneer Health Centre Ltd, presently serving as its vice-chairman. He believes that the philosophy which underpinned the activities of George Scott Williamson, Innes Pearse, and their associates has been insufficiently appreciated by historians and health professionals alike. Accordingly, we have been pleased to allow him to expound that philosophy “from the inside”, and hope that our readers will find it a convincing example of the kind of thinking that led to the Peckham experiment]. © 1985, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.