John Monro (16 November 1716 – 27 December 1791) was a physician specializing in the treatment of madness at

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 ...

in London, better known as Bedlam.

Family

John Monro was the eldest son of James Monro, who was the physician of the Bethlem Hospital until his death in 1752, and his wife Elizabeth. James was the first of the Monro family of physicians who formed a dynasty of mad-doctors between 1728 and 1855. Monro had four sons with his wife, Elizabeth: John, Charles, James, and

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

and a daughter Charlotte.

Career

John Monro graduated from

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

in 1737 and received a Radcliffe travelling fellowship that enabled him to study in Europe for 10 years, which included Edinburgh, Leiden, Paris and Rome. He was formally appointed as joint physician at Bethlem and

Bridewell Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of corre ...

in 1751 to aid his ailing father, although he had been a governor since 1748, and as physician when his father died a year later. He became a fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

in 1753. Bethlem had lost its institutional monopoly for the treatment of insanity by the creation of St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in 1751, and in 1758, he quickly responded to

William Battie William Battie (sometimes spelt Batty;) 1 September 1703 – 13 June 1776) was an English physician who published in 1758 the first lengthy book on the treatment of mental illness, ''A Treatise on Madness'', and by extending methods of treatment ...

, the physician of this hospital, who published a ''

Treatise on Madness A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions."Trea ...

'' in 1758, which appeared to criticise the practices of Bethlem. His ''Remarks on Dr Battie's Treatise'' have been characterised as narrow and reactionary but he has recently been defended in the first biography published about him in recent years. :"Notwithstanding we are told in this treatise, that madness rejects all general methods, I will venture to say, that the most adequate and constant cure of it is by evacuation; which can alone be determined by the constitution of the patient and the judgment of the physician. The evacuation by vomiting is infinitely preferable to any other, if repeated experience is to be depended on..." Monro quoted in One criticism of Bedlam at this time was that it allowed paying visitors to observe the lunatics, and despite the banning of this practice at St. Luke's, Monro didn't restrict it until 1770.

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Monro, John 1716 births 1791 deaths English psychiatrists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians