Alfred Frank Tredgold

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soc ...

FRCP TD (5 November 1870 – 17 September 1952) was a 20th-century British neurologist and psychiatrist and expert in Amentia. He also wrote on

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

from the early 20th century. He was a member of the

Eugenics Education Society Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

Life

He was born at 49 Liversage Street in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

on 5 November 1870, the son of Joseph Tredgold, a builder's foreman, and his wife Bessie Smith. He studied Medicine at Durham University and graduated in 1899. He immediately began to specialise in mental health, working mainly in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

hospitals. He won a scholarship from

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

to study mental deficiency and worked for two years in London's asylums. This included a period working at the innovative

Claybury Hospital Claybury Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Woodford Bridge, London. It was built to a design by the English architect George Thomas Hine who was a prolific Victorian architect of hospital buildings. It was opened in 1893 making it the Fift ...

under Dr F. W. Mott. He worked as a GP for two years then in 1905 as Physician to the Littleton Home for Defective Children gave evidence to the Royal Commission on the Feeble Minded. His findings came to fruition in the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913. In 1914 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Sir Thomas Clouston, Sir German Sims Woodhead, Sir James Barr, and

Edwin Bramwell Edwin Bramwell FRSE PRCPE LLD (1873–1952) was a 20th-century Scottish neurologist. He was President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from 1933 to 1935. Life He was born in North Shields on 11 January 1873 the son of Martha ( ...

. From 1905 he had served as an officer in the Territorial Army so at the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighti ...

he was immediately required to serve. He served with the 2nd

Queen's Regiment The Queen's Regiment (QUEENS) was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1966 through the amalgamation of the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade. Then, until 1971 the regiment remained one of the largest regiments in the arm ...

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles s ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

and Sinai. The authorities rejected his offer to serve in the

RAMC The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps ...

advising on mental health as the usefulness of this was yet to be recognised. He was invalided out of active service in 1916 due to

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

. He received his doctorate (MD) in 1919. He remained linked to the Territorial Army for most of his life. He became neurologist to the Royal Surrey County Hospital. He lectured at the

Bethlem Hospital Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and wikt:bedlam, Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films and TV series, most notably ''Bedlam (1946 fil ...

(the legendary Bedlam) and

Maudsley Hospital The Maudsley Hospital is a British psychiatric hospital in south London. The Maudsley is the largest mental health training institution in the UK. It is part of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and works in partnership with the I ...

. He served on the Brock Committee on forced sterilisation, but advocated voluntary sterilisation.The Lancet: obituary October 1952 In 1947, he developed

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye rem ...

and lost his sight in one eye. He died at home, "St Martins" on Clandon Road in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildfo ...

on 17 September 1952.

Family

In 1899, he was married to Zoe Hanbury (d.1947) daughter of F A Hanbury, a barrister. His children included Roger Francis Tregold (1911–1975) who aided in his later publications. He was also an Olympic fencer. His daughter Joan Alison Tregold (1903–1989) was Principal of

Cheltenham Ladies' College Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...

from 1953 to 1964.

Publications

*''Mental Deficiency: Amentia'' (1908) *''Moral Imbecility'' (1921) *''Inheritance and Educability'' *''A Manual of Psychological Medicine'' (1943) *''A Textbook of Mental Deficiency'' (1956) *''The Problem of the Feeble-Minded'' *''Mental Retardation''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tredgold, Alfred Frank 1870 births 1952 deaths People from Derby British neurologists British eugenicists British psychiatrists Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British Army personnel of World War I Queen's Regiment officers Alumni of Durham University College of Medicine