Haldane Philp Tait (1911–1990) was the Principal Medical Officer for the Child Health Service, Edinburgh and co-founder of the Scottish Society of the History of Medicine and as a result of his contributions, became its President in 1977 and Honorary President in 1981.
He was particularly interested in the training of medical and nursing staff and in 1966–67, on behalf of the World Health Organization, he spent a year as Visiting Lecturer at the University of Baroda in India.
He also wrote many articles and a collection of his papers, correspondence and scrapbooks are kept with the Lothian Health Service Archive at the University of Edinburgh Library.
[7][8] The SSHM holds an annual dinner in his memory at which an invited speaker gives a pre-dinner speech.
Past speakers have included Magnus Magnusson and Professor Tom Devine.