Henry Maudsley FRCP (5 February 183523 January 1918) was a pioneering English

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

, commemorated in the

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 ...

in London and in the annual Maudsley Lecture of the

Royal College of Psychiatrists The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental health ...

Life and career

Maudsley was born on an isolated farm near

Giggleswick Giggleswick, a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England, lies on the B6480 road, less than north-west of the town of Settle and divided from it by the River Ribble. It is the site of Giggleswick School. ...

in the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres). From the Restoration it was used as a ...

and educated at

Giggleswick School Giggleswick School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England. Early school In 1499, Giggleswick School was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior and C ...

. Maudsley lost his mother at an early age. His aunt cared for him, teaching him poetry which he would recite to the servants, and secured for him a top tutor and an expensive apprenticeship to

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

medical school.On the Borderland: Henry Maudsley and Psychiatric Darwinism
/ref> He earned ten gold medals and graduated with an M.D. degree in 1857, though is said to have avoided subjects and clinical work he found onerous and to have antagonised his teachers. Maudsley had apparently intended to pursue a career in

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

, but according to his autobiography, he changed his mind when he failed to receive a reply to his first application: it had gone to his previous address. He then decided to leave the country and work for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, although in the event he never did. It would require him first to do a stint in an asylum, and so he spent nine months at the West Riding Asylum in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, followed less happily by a shorter period at the Essex County Asylum in Brentwood.Masters of Bedlam: The Transformation of the Mad-Doctoring Trade

Andrew Scull Andrew T. Scull (born 1947) is a British-born sociologist who researches the social history of medicine and the history of psychiatry. He is a distinguished professor of sociology and science studies at University of California, San Diego, and ...

, Charlotte MacKenzie, Nicholas Hervey. Princeton University Press, 14 Jul 2014 At the age of 23, Maudsley was appointed medical superintendent at the small, middle-class Manchester Royal Lunatic Asylum in Cheadle Royal. Despite being relatively inexperienced clinically and administratively, he managed to raise patient numbers and income. He returned to London in 1862, taking up residence in Queen Anne St,

Cavendish Square Cavendish Square is a public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square in the much l ...

. In 1865 he failed to gain the position of Physician to the

Bethlem Royal 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 ...

, but succeeded at the West London Hospital. So ended Maudsley's relatively brief period in public and charitable asylums. In the same year he was appointed co-editor of the '' Journal of Mental Science'', an influential position he retained for 15 years. Maudsley was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and delivered their Gulstonian Lectures in 1870 on ''Body and Mind''. The text of Maudsley's lectures was studied carefully by Charles Darwin in the preparation of his ''

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals ''The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'' is Charles Darwin's third major work of evolutionary theory, following ''On the Origin of Species'' (1859) and ''The Descent of Man'' (1871). Initially intended as a chapter in ''The Descen ...

'' (1872). Maudsley was appointed Professor of

Medical Jurisprudence Medical jurisprudence or legal medicine is the branch of science and medicine involving the study and application of scientific and medical knowledge to legal problems, such as inquests, and in the field of law. As modern medicine is a legal c ...

at University College London from 1869 to 1879. Maudsley married John Conolly's daughter, Ann Conolly, in February 1866, and from 1866 took over the running of Conolly's private mental asylum, Lawn House, housing six wealthy women, until 1874. He then withdrew from public life and focused on authoring and on an extremely lucrative and secretive private consultancy for the very wealthy, often aristocratic, in the West End of London.Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England, 2012
/ref>

Influence

Maudsley acquired a reputation as an outstanding essayist on medical and literary topics. An early success was a spectacular essay on

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widel ...

. He made numerous contributions to the '' Journal of Mental Science''. His position as Britain's foremost mental specialist was sealed by his acquaintance with Charles Darwin and other leading Victorian intellectuals and by his magisterial textbooks ''The Physiology and Pathology of Mind'' (1867), ''Body and Mind'' (1870) and ''Mental Responsibility in Health and Disease'' (1874). His popularity was exemplified by his influence on many novels by Rosa Nouchette Carey. Maudsley adhered to degeneration theory and believed that inherited "taints" were exaggerated through succeeding generations (

Lamarckism Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...

). He argued that

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

was the most frequent trigger of inherited degeneracy, and that drunkenness in one generation would lead to frenzied need for drink in the second, hypochondria in the third, and idiocy in the fourth. However, having significantly contributed to the British uptake of

degeneration theory Social degeneration was a widely influential concept at the interface of the social and biological sciences in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century, scientific thinkers including Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, Johann Fr ...

for over two decades, by the 1890s he was cautioning about it being used in a meaninglessly vague way. His views on maternity have been critiqued for displaying a "revulsion to both

parturition Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...

and the care of an infant," which he claimed was an expression of the rational objective truth. He was challenged even at the time for his generally negative views on women; a notable early critic was the pioneering female physician

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (9 June 1836 – 17 December 1917) was an English physician and suffragist. She was the first woman to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon. She was the co-founder of the first hospital staffed by women, ...

. Maudsley has been described as "a prime example of how the medical establishment naturalised and reinforced social divisions and hierarchies during the latter part of the 19th century."The Cambridge Companion to the Fin de Siècle, 2007
/ref> He has also been described as "consistently inconsistent". Maudsley was agnostic, and as such critical of religion and reports of ostensibly supernatural phenomena. In his book ''Natural Causes and Supernatural Seemings'' (1886) he wrote that so-called

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

experiences were disorders of the mind and simply "malobservations and misinterpretations of nature". His book is seen as an early text in the field of

anomalistic psychology In psychology, anomalistic psychology is the study of human behaviour and experience connected with what is often called the paranormal, with few assumptions made about the validity (or otherwise) of the reported phenomena. Early history Accordin ...

Maudsley Hospital

In 1907, Maudsley collaborated with Frederick Mott, a neuropathologist, to make an offer to

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 found a new

, for which Maudsley donated £30,000, with the council finding another £30,000 plus. This was to be a new

mental hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

that would treat early and acute cases and have an out-patient clinic. The hospital also housed teaching and research. The buildings were ready in 1915, temporarily used for war veterans, and officially opened in 1923. A special

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament be ...

had made voluntary treatment there financially possible. Maudsley's £30,000 has been described as an astonishingly high sum, and he still had at least £60,000 spare upon his death.Henry Maudsley – psychiatrist, philosopher and entrepreneur by Trevor Turner
In Anatomy of Madness. A bronze bust of Maudsley overlooks the main staircase at the

Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and diseases of the brain. In addition, its aim is to help identify new treatments for them and way ...

next to the Maudsley Hospital.

Later life

In his later years, Maudsley became something of a recluse, resigning from the Medico-Psychological Association and, in some scattered writings, expressing regret at his career choice of psychiatry. He submitted articles to the philosophy journal ''Mind'', watched

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

matches and sent postcards. While earlier he had argued, per

Bénédict Morel Bénédict Augustin Morel (22 November 1809 – 30 March 1873) was a French psychiatrist born in Vienna, Austria. He was an influential figure in the field of degeneration theory during the mid-19th century. Biography Morel was born in Vienna, A ...

, that degenerate families would die out, he would begin in the 1890s to consider degeneration as a regressive force and threat to evolution and moral progress. This appears to have had a significant influence on psychiatrists such as George Alder Blumer who became at least for some time converts to

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 ...

. Maudsley's wife died before him, and they had no children. He appears to have destroyed his own papers and correspondence.

Quotes

Works

''The Physiology and Pathology of Mind,''
D. Appleton & Company, 1867.
''Body and Mind: An Inquiry into their Connection and Mutual Influence,''
D. Appleton and Company, 1871.
''Responsibility in Mental Disease,''
D. Appleton and Co., 1896 st Pub. H. S. King, 1874
''The Physiology of Mind,''
Macmillan & Co., 1876 nlarged and revised, 3rd edition
''The Pathology of Mind,''
Macmillan, 1879 f the 1867 work
''Body and Will: In its Metaphysical, Physiological and Pathological Aspects,''
D. Appleton & Co., 1884 st Pub. Kegan, Paul, Trench & Co., 1883
''Natural Causes and Supernatural Seemings,''
Kegan, Paul, Trench & Co., 1886.
''Life in Mind and Conduct: Studies of Organic in Human Nature,''
Macmillan & Co., 1902.
''Heredity, Variation and Genius, with Essay on Shakespeare and Address on Medicine,''

John Bale John Bale (21 November 1495 – November 1563) was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory in Ireland. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English (on the subject of King John), and developed ...

, Sons & Danielsson, 1908.
''Organic to Human: Psychological and Sociological,''
Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1916. *''Religion and Realities,'' John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, 1918.

Articles

"The Love of Life"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. VII, N°. 36, January 1861.
"The Genesis of Mind"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. VII, N°. 40, January 1862.
"Delusions"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. IX, N°. 45, April 1863.
"Homicidal Insanity"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. IX, N°. 47, October 1863.
"Considerations with Regard to Hereditary Influence"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. IX, N°. 48, January 1864.
"Insanity and its Treatment"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. XVII, N°. 79, October 1871.
"Sex in Mind and Education"
''The Fortnightly Review'', Vol. XV, 1874.Reprinted i
''School-Room Classics''
N°. 9, C. W. Bardeen, 1884. Also available from https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly
"The Alleged Increase of Insanity"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. XXIII, N°. 101, April 1877.
"Hallucinations of the Senses"
''The Eclectic Magazine'', Vol. XXVIII, July/December 1878.
"Alleged Suicide of a Dog"
''Mind'', Vol. 4, No. 15, Jul. 1879.
"The Moral Sense and Will in Criminals"
''The Medico-Legal Journa''l, Vol. II, 1885.
"The Physical Conditions of Consciousness"
''Mind'', Vol. 12, No. 48, Oct. 1887.
"Remarks on Crime and Criminals"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. XXXIV, N°. 146, July 1888.
"The Double Brain"
''Mind'', Vol. 14, No. 54, April 1889. *"The Physical Basis of Mind", ''The Forum'', February 1891.
"Memory"
in ''Little Masterpieces of Science'', George Iles, ed., Doubleday, Page & Company, 1902.
"Optimism and Pessimism"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. LXIII, N°. 260, January 1917.
"Materialism and Spiritualism"
''The Journal of Mental Science'', Vol. LXIII, October 1917.

Miscellany

''"An Address on Medical Psychology,"''
The Journal of Mental Science, Vol. XVIII, 1873.
''"Introductory Lecture Delivered at University College, on October 2nd 1876,"''
The Lancet, N°. 12, December 1876.

References

External links

*
Mind Matters: Neuroscience and Psychiatry
King's College, London {{DEFAULTSORT:Maudsley, Henry English psychiatrists 1835 births 1918 deaths Anomalistic psychology British agnostics British sceptics Critics of parapsychology People educated at Giggleswick School People from Settle, North Yorkshire Alumni of University College London Academics of University College London History of mental health in the United Kingdom