Introduction

By the time of his LSE appointment, Titmuss's reputation as a social scientist, historian, commentator on social affairs, and advisor to official bodies was well established. His work on population continued to resonate and led, for example, to an invitation to lecture on the subject at the University of Nottingham in late 1949. This suggests, too, that his findings were favourably viewed in at least some academic circles, a point further borne out by his ability to gain research grants, and to undertake work for bodies such as the MRC. Problems of Social Policy had finally been published in March 1950, and was well received. A further review, in The Times, was likewise upbeat. The anonymous reviewer (conceivably François Lafitte, employed at the paper since 1943, and its social policy expert) praised Titmuss's ‘lucid account’ of the development of government policy suggesting, in a sentiment of which the author would have approved, that the ‘war was, in fact, the forcing house of the contemporary welfare State’. Such positive notices in the run-up to his appointment can only have helped Titmuss’s cause. Titmuss also had a strong media presence, in both published and broadcast formats. He was by this point an experienced public speaker to a range of audiences. And, importantly, Titmuss was now extremely well connected. He knew, and had the backing of, the LSE director, Carr-Saunders, as well as the influential support of colleagues such as Keith Hancock. In the very small world of British social science, this counted for a lot.

In a curious incident which nonetheless flags up some of Titmuss’s key concerns, in spring 1948 he wrote to David Weitzman, barrister and Labour MP, who had been imprisoned for illegally supplying cosmetics, the production of which had been scaled down in wartime. His conviction was quashed on appeal, and Titmuss expressed his delight at the end of Weitzman's ‘cruel and bitter experience’. The latter's ‘courage and honesty in making a stand for prison reform’ was admirable, and Titmuss wished him well in his ‘efforts to make this new Bill a real reforming instrument’. This was a reference to what was soon to be the 1948 Criminal Justice Act.