Editing Aneurin Bevan (section)

==Death==
Bevan had said "I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altruism of a large hospital than expire in a gush of warm sympathy in a small one".<ref>{{cite book |author1=Rex Pope |author2=Alan Prat |author3=Bernard Hoyle |title=Social Welfare in Britain 1885–1985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bppJ7TSq85YC&pg=PA138 |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |page=138|isbn=9781135785420 }}</ref> He checked into the [[Royal Free Hospital]] in London on 27 December 1959 to undergo surgery for an ulcer, but malignant [[stomach cancer]] was discovered instead in a major operation two days later.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=73-Trt8fqz8C&pg=PA118 |page=118 |title=The labour party and British Society: 1880–2005 |last=Rubinstein |first=David |publisher=Sussex Academic Press |year=2006 |isbn=1-84519-056-4}}</ref>

After a lengthy period in hospital, on 14 February 1960 Bevan returned home and announced he would not be returning to politics in the near future, so as to be able to recuperate and plan an extended holiday.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRzGa0 |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. Bevan Plans Prolonged Holiday |newspaper=The Times |page=7 |date=29 March 1960 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref>  In May 1960 [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], [[Prime Minister of India]], while in England visited Bevan at his home in Asheridge Farm (where Bevan was a keen amateur farmer, keeping cattle and pigs).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Did you know NHS founder Aneurin Bevan lived in Bucks?|url=https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/18469736.nhs-founder-aneurin-bevans-life-bucks/|access-date=2021-04-18|website=Bucks Free Press|date=24 May 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

Bevan died in his sleep at 4.10pm on 6 July 1960, at the age of 62, at his home, Asheridge Farm, [[Chesham]], [[Buckinghamshire]]. His remains were cremated at Gwent Crematorium in [[Croesyceiliog]] in a private family ceremony.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BRzgg9 |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. Bevan Dies Peacefully in his Sleep |newspaper=The Times |page=12 |date=7 July 1960 |access-date=29 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BSMxk8 |url-access=subscription |title=Mr. Bevan's Body Taken Home |newspaper=The Times |page=12 |date=8 July 1960 |access-date=30 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> An open-air service was held in his constituency of Ebbw Vale and was presided over by [[Donald Soper]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BSMzf7 |url-access=subscription |title=Farewell From People of the Valleys |newspaper=The Times |page=14 |date=16 July 1960 |access-date=30 July 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> Jennie Lee explained in a letter to [[Michael Foot]], who would be elected to Bevan's seat in the [[1960 Ebbw Vale by-election|by-election]] that ensued following his death, that Bevan had specifically chosen to have a non-religious funeral and not a Christian service, because he was a firm [[secular humanist|humanist]].

{{blockquote|'Nye is asleep next door. Later today he will be taken home to Wales. Tomorrow he will be cremated in keeping with his known views. [Nye] was never a hypocrite. No falsity must touch him once he is no longer available to defend his views. He was not a cold-blooded rationalist. He was no calculating machine. He was a great [[secular humanism|humanist]] whose religion lay in loving his fellow men and trying to serve them... He knelt reverently in respect to a friend or friend's faith, but he never pretended to be anything other than what he was, a humanist.|Jennie Lee to Michael Foot, 7 July 1960.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Beckett|last2=Beckett|first1=Claire|first2=Francis|page=129|title=Bevan|year=2004}}</ref>}}
In his 2014 biography, [[Nick Thomas-Symonds]] described "an outpouring of national mourning" that followed Bevan's death. ''[[Daily Herald (United Kingdom)|The Daily Herald]]'' stated that some MPs were seen to be crying in Parliament and described how there was "sorrow at every street corner" in the South Wales Valleys.<ref name="ns"/> Harold Macmillan ended his [[Prime Minister's Questions]] session in Parliament two days after Bevan's death by paying tribute to the opposition MP, describing him as "a great personality and a great national figure". Macmillan said that despite being a "controversial figure" during his career, Bevan's death had seen an outpouring of genuine "admiration and affection".<ref name="tributes">{{cite news |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BTTvS1 |url-access=subscription |title=House of Commons |newspaper=The Times |page=6 |date=8 July 1960 |access-date=3 August 2019 |via=The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell also paid tribute to his former shadow cabinet member and ended his speech by labelling Bevan as "one of the great men of our day".<ref name="tributes"/>