Ministry of Health Says : Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases...

British Second World War poster depicting a woman sneezing over her horrified colleagues. The poster, produced by the British Ministry for Health, was intended to help prevent colds and disease. The first body which could be called a department of the British government was the Ministry of Health, created in 1919 through the Ministry of Health Act, consolidating under a single authority the medical and public health functions of central government. The co-ordination of local medical services was expanded in connection with emergency and wartime services, from 1935 to 1945, and these developments culminated in the establishment of the NHS (National Health Service) in 1948. Henry Mayo Bateman (1887 – 1970) was a British humorous artist and cartoonist. He was born in Sutton Forest, New South Wales, but grew up in England. He was drawing from an early age and at fourteen had already decided that he would draw for publications. At 16 he studied at the Westminster School of Art and later at the Goldsmith Institute. In 1904 he produced ten drawings and two illustrations in a fourpenny monthly magazine called 'The Royal'. Later he produced illustartions for 'The Tatler' and was greatly influenced by the style of American cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman. He was encouraged by Phil May and John Hassall to spend some time in the studio of Charles van Havermaet at the New Art School, Stratford Studios, Kensington (1904-7). He developed his inimitable style around 1911 when, as he put it, he ‘went mad on paper’ by drawing people’s mood and character rather than their physical appearance. In the years before the First World War, he lived in London and joined a London regiment, but was soon discharged on the grounds of ill health. The beginning of the post-war period was marked by solo shows of Bateman’s work at the Leicester Galleries (1919, 1921). Throughout his career he contributed to almost all the leading periodicals and illustrated a number of books. His career reached a peak in the 1930s, and following his retirement in 1939, he moved to the Mediterranean island of Gozo.