Malcolm Delevingne

Sir Malcolm Delevingne, (11 October 1868 – 30 November 1950) was a British civil servant who worked in the British Home Office from 1892 through his retirement in 1932. He was a significant influence on safety regulations in factories and mines, and was an original member of the League of Nations' Opium Advisory Committee.

Family and education Malcolm Delevingne was born in London, the second child of Ernest Thomas Shaw Delevingne and wife Hannah Gresswell. His father, a wine and liquor merchant, was born in Paris to British parents of French Huguenot descent. His elder brother, Edgar, was a teacher at the City of London School for 40 years, while his younger brother, Walter, had his own distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service.

Worker safety Though Delevingne was involved with many aspects of the Home Office, he was particularly concerned with occupational health and safety, with special focus on regulations for factories and coalmines. He was instrumental in the passage of the Police, Factories, & c. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916 (6 & 7 Geo. 5. c. 31) which required workplaces to provide first aid, washrooms, drinking water and other amenities. He did a considerable amount of work on the Coal Mines Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 50),

While heading the Factory Department at the Home Office, he was one of the principal movers behind the establishment of the International Labour Office and initially served on its Governing body. He was also influential in reorganised the Factory Department and establishing an industrial museum, the Home Office Industrial Museum, to promote worker safety, health and welfare. In his 1950 obituary, The Times wrote that Delevingne was "undoubtedly an unobtrusive, but powerful, force behind much of the factory legislation that was passed during the first quarter of the present century. This was a subject that he knew from end to end, not only on its practical but also on its historical side." a promotion to Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1919, and a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1932.