Harold Dearden (13 December 1882 – 6 July 1962) was a British psychiatrist and screenwriter.

Biography

Dearden was born in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

. He was educated at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

and

London Hospital The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...

. He qualified as a physician in 1911.Anonymous. (1962). ''Harold Dearden, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P''. ''

The British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origina ...

'' 2 (5298): 197–198. During

World War I 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 joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was a medical officer for the 3rd Battalion of the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

. In 1916, he became honorary Captain. At the Battle of the Somme he was wounded, suffering from a lost eye and

shell shock Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a react ...

. He was later invalided out of the war."Dr. Harold Dearden - Psychiatrist at Camp 020"
Giselle K. Jakobs, 2014. West, Nigel. (2009). ''The A to Z of British Intelligence''. The Scarecrow Press. p. 139. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Dearden worked as a psychiatrist and was principal interrogator at

Camp 020 Camp 020 at Latchmere House in southwest London was a British interrogation centre for captured German agents during the Second World War. It was run by Lieutenant Colonel Robin "Tin Eye" Stephens. Although other wartime interrogation centres we ...

. He wrote the play ''

Interference Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to: Communications * Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message * Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extr ...

'' (with

Roland Pertwee Roland Pertwee (15 May 1885 – 26 April 1963) was an English playwright, film and television screenwriter, director and actor. He was the father of ''Doctor Who'' actor Jon Pertwee and playwright and screenwriter Michael Pertwee. He was al ...

). He also wrote the ''

Two White Arms ''Two White Arms'', also known as ''Wives Beware'', is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Fred Niblo and starring Adolphe Menjou, Margaret Bannerman and Claud Allister. It is adapted from a play by Harold Dearden. Produced by Eric Hakim Pr ...

'' which became a successful film. In 1943, he married Ann Verity Gibson Watt, they had four children. He died at his home in Hay-on-Wye from cerebral thrombosis.

Spiritualism

Dearden was skeptical of claims of psychical phenomena and

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...

. In his book ''Devilish But True: The Doctor Looks at Spiritualism'' (1936), he compared cases of

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...

to spiritualist mediums. He noted the similarity of hysterical behaviour and

hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinati ...

s. In 1927, he wrote an article ''How Spiritualists are Deluded''. Dearden attended

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spea ...

s and was a judge for a group formed by the ''

Sunday Chronicle The ''Sunday Chronicle'' was a newspaper in the United Kingdom, published from 1885 to 1955. The newspaper was founded in Manchester by Edward Hulton in August 1885. He was known for his sporting coverage, already publishing the ''Sporting Chro ...

'' to investigate the materialization medium Harold Evans. During a séance Evans was exposed as a fraud. He was caught masquerading as a spirit, in a white nightshirt.

Publications

*''Insanity: Prevention or Cure?'' (1922) *''The Moral Imbecile'' (1922) *''The Technique of Living'' (1924) *''The Doctor Looks at Life'' (1924) *''The Science of Happiness'' (1925) *''Exercise and the Will: With a Chapter on Obesity'' (1927) *''How Spiritualists are Deluded'' (1927) *''Medicine and Duty: The First World War Diary of Dr Harold Dearden'' (1928, 2014) *''Two White Arms: A Comedy-Farce in Three Acts'' (1928) *''The Mind of the Murderer'' (1930) *''Such Women are Dangerous'' (1933) *''The Fire Raisers: The Story of Leopold Harris and His Gang'' (1934) *''A Confessor of Women'' (1934) *''Queer People'' (1935) *''Devilish But True: The Doctor Looks at Spiritualism'' (1936) *''The Wind of Circumstance'' (1938) *''Time and Chance'' (1940)"Time and Chance"
The Spectator. *''Creation's Heir'' (1947) *''Some Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury and Others: Death Under the Microscope'' (1948)

References

External links

* {{authority control 1882 births 1962 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Critics of parapsychology English psychiatrists English sceptics English male screenwriters People from Bolton 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English male writers