# Mildred Blaxter

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{{short description|British sociologist and writer}}

{{Infobox person
| name         = Mildred Blaxter
| image        =
| image_size   =
| caption      = 
| birth_name   = Mildred Lillington Blaxter Hall
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1925|03|27|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [Jesmond](/source/Jesmond), [Newcastle-upon-Tyne](/source/Newcastle-upon-Tyne), England
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|2010|08|29|1925|03|27|df=y}}
| death_place  = [Weston-super-Mare](/source/Weston-super-Mare), England
| education    = [St Anne's College, Oxford](/source/St_Anne's_College%2C_Oxford)
| occupation   = sociologist and writer
| known for    = 
| spouse       = [Kenneth Blaxter](/source/Kenneth_Blaxter_(animal_nutritionist))
| children     = 3
}}

'''Mildred Lillington Blaxter''' (née Hall; 27 March 1925 – 29 August 2010) was a British sociologist and writer. According to her obituary in ''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'', she "shed new light on the causes of deprivation".<ref name="Guardian">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/sep/21/mildred-blaxter-obituary-sociologist|title=Mildred Blaxter obituary|first=Jennie|last=Popay|date=21 September 2010|work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian) |accessdate=25 November 2017|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>

==Early life==
She was born Mildred Lillington Hall on 27 March 1925 in [Jesmond](/source/Jesmond), [Newcastle-upon-Tyne](/source/Newcastle-upon-Tyne), the elder child and only daughter of Robert Charlton Hall, a bank manager, and his wife, Mildred Violet Hall, née Gleed (1897–1963), an actress.<ref name="ONDB">{{cite ODNB|last1=Popay |first1=Jennie |title=Blaxter [née Hall], Mildred Lillington (1925–2010) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/102533 |year=2004 |publisher=OUP |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/102533 |isbn=978-0-19-861411-1 |accessdate=25 November 2017}}</ref> She was educated at [St Anne's College, Oxford](/source/St_Anne's_College%2C_Oxford), and earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1949, and was the first woman to be assistant editor of the student newspaper, ''[Isis](/source/Isis_magazine)''.<ref name="ONDB"/>

==Career==
Blaxter was in her 40s, and her children were at school, when she read [Peter Townsend](/source/Peter_Townsend_(sociologist))'s study of old people's homes ''The Last Refuge'', and decided she wanted to be a sociologist.

In 1967, she enrolled at the newly established department of sociology at the [University of Aberdeen](/source/University_of_Aberdeen), alongside [Raymond Illsley](/source/Raymond_Illsley), [Gordon Horobin](/source/Gordon_Horobin), [Phil Strong](/source/Phil_Strong), and [Alan Davies](/source/Alan_Davies), and earned a master's degree in 1972, becoming a medical sociologist.<ref name="ONDB"/>

In 1972, she was appointed to the Aberdeen-based Medical Sociology Unit, as scientific officer.<ref name="ONDB"/> In 1976, Blaxter published her first book, ''The Meaning of Disability''. Her 1982 book, ''[Mothers and Daughters](/source/Mothers_and_Daughters_(book))'' is considered "a classic".<ref name="ONDB"/>

In 1982, when her husband retired, she joined the [University of East Anglia](/source/University_of_East_Anglia), rising to professor of medical sociology in 2000, and was senior sociologist at the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge).<ref name="Guardian"/> In 1990, she published ''Health and Lifestyles''.<ref name="Guardian"/> Her last book came out in 2004, ''Health: Key Concepts''.<ref name="Guardian"/>

==Selected publications==
*''The Meaning of Disability''
*''[Mothers and Daughters](/source/Mothers_and_Daughters_(book))''
*''Health and Lifestyles''
*''Health: Key Concepts''

==Personal life==
On 12 October 1957, she married [Kenneth Blaxter](/source/Kenneth_Blaxter_(animal_nutritionist)) (1919–1991), an animal nutritionist, and they had three children.<ref name="ONDB"/>

==Later life==
She died of lung cancer on 29 August 2010 at Weston Hospicecare, Uphill, [Weston-super-Mare](/source/Weston-super-Mare).<ref name="ONDB"/><ref name="Guardian"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaxter, Mildred Lillington}}
Category:1925 births
Category:2010 deaths
Category:British sociologists
Category:Academics of the University of East Anglia
Category:Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford
Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge
Category:Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne
Category:Deaths from lung cancer in England
Category:British women sociologists
Category:Medical sociologists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mildred Blaxter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Blaxter) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Blaxter?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.