History
The charity was founded, as the Society for the Prevention and Relief of Cancer, in 1911 by Douglas Macmillan following the death of his father from the disease. In 1924 the name was changed to the National Society for Cancer Relief, which it retained until 1989 when it was changed to Cancer Relief Macmillan Fund, later changed again to Macmillan Cancer Relief. From 5 April 2006 Macmillan Cancer Relief became known as Macmillan Cancer Support as this more accurately reflects its role in supporting people living with cancer. It has adopted the principles of being a "source of support" and a "force for change".
Douglas Macmillan was a vegetarian. In 1909, he wrote an open letter to all Christians entitled Shall We Slay which encouraged orthodox Christians to consider vegetarianism.
As the National Society for Cancer Relief, the organization provided funding to support the work of the Breast Care and Mastectomy Association of Great Britain which would later become Breast Cancer Care.
Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the 50 largest UK charitable organizations ranked by annual expenditure. It is governed by a Board of Trustees and Executive Management Team.
The charity's head office is based in London Macmillan Cancer Support merged with cancer information charity Cancerbackup in 2008.
Macmillan works in partnership with other cancer research organisations and is a partner of the National Cancer Research Institute.
Read more about this topic: Macmillan Cancer Support
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