Alfred Frank Tredgold
FRSE 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 o ...
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 List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
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 Fifth ...
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. His proposers were Sir
Thomas Clouston
Sir Thomas Smith Clouston (22 April 1840 – 19 April 1915) was a Scottish psychiatrist.
Life
Clouston was the youngest of four sons of Robert Clouston (1786–1857) 3rd of Nisthouse, in the Birsay parish of Orkney, and his wife Janet (né ...
, Sir
German Sims Woodhead
Sir German Sims Woodhead, KBE FRSE PRMS LLD (29 April 1855 – 29 December 1921) was an English pathologist.
Life
He was born at Woodland Mount, a large country house near Huddersfield, on 29 April 1855 the son of Joseph Woodhead, a newspap ...
, 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 fightin ...
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 ar ...
in
Gallipoli,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
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 a ...
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 Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films and TV series, most notably ''Bedlam'', a 1946 film with Bo ...
(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 ...
. 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 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 p ...
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