Veta Bailey was the wife of a man who wrote medical textbooks.  His name was Hamilton Bailey - a name probably familiar to doctors who trained in the middle of the 20th century, when his textbooks were essential reading.  Not only was she his wife but, as a commercial photographer, she also provided the photographs to illustrate his work.  Arguably it was these photographs that set Hamilton Bailey’s work apart.  First published in 1926 at a time when medical textbooks were largely words with a few hand-drawn illustrations, the inclusion of so much visual material was innovative and certainly must have contributed to the success of the publications. 

Hamilton Bailey died in 1961 and Veta continued to live until 1989.  Unfortunately, their only child was killed in a tragic railway accident when he was only 15 years old and so a large part of Veta’s estate was passed over to the Veta Bailey Charitable Trust, which had been created just over a year before her death. 

The Veta Bailey Charitable Trust continues to this day and aims to help fund the training of medical professionals in developing countries. 

Photograph from "Hamilton Bailey A Surgeon's Life" by Adrian Marston

© Cambridge University Press

Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.