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Doctor Foster ‘went’ to Gloucester: the origin and aims of The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Tom Foster
Tom Foster*
Affiliation:
Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital, Omagh BT79 0NS, Northern Ireland
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Abstract

In 1841 Dr Samuel Hitch organised a meeting at Gloucester Lunatic Asylum during which a decision was taken to establish the Association of Medical Officers of Asylums and Hospitals for the Insane with a view to “improvement in the management of such institutions and the treatment of the insane, and the acquirement of a more extensive and more correct knowledge of insanity”. From the six medical officers present at this historic meeting the membership of The Royal College of Psychiatrists has grown to more than 11,000, of whom over 1,500 practise overseas. Dr Mike Shooter (President) believes that the College's most important, and painful, transformation has been from a largely educational to a political organisation.

Type
Historical
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , December 2004 , pp. 134 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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