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“Not Worth Powder and Shot”

A Reappraisal of Montagu Lomax's Contribution to Mental Health Reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

T.-W. Harding
T.-W. Harding*
Affiliation:
Institut de Médecine Légale, 1211 Geneve 4, Switzerland
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Abstract

Dr Montagu Lomax worked as an assistant medical officer at Prestwich Asylum for two years from 1917. His book, The Experiences of an Asylum Doctor, was published in 1921. He was condemned by the psychiatric establishment for his description of inhuman, custodial, and antitherapeutic conditions. Access to previously confidential official papers, to the archives of Prestwich Hospital, and to Professor George Robertson's correspondence has permitted a reconstruction of the Lomax affair. Lomax was a dedicated and sincere clinician. Senior Ministry of Health officials regarded Lomax's book as “temperate”, “well founded”, and an opportunity to secure public support for long needed legal and administrative reforms. Through his book, Lomax made a lasting contribution to the cause of mental health reform.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 156 , Issue 2 , February 1990 , pp. 180 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990

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