Thomas Octavius Prichard (1808–1847) was an English

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

, one of the earliest advocates of " moral management", the humane treatment of the mentally ill. Having served as superintendent for two years at Glasgow Royal Lunatic Asylum, Prichard was appointed founding superintendent of the Northamptonshire County General Lunatic Asylum in 1838. Funded by public subscription, it was intended for "private and pauper lunatics". He built the number of patients up from 70 to 260 by 1844, claiming never to have to put patients under physical restraint. He saw non-restraint as part of "a system of kind and preventative treatment, in which all excitement is as much as possible avoided, and no care omitted": it is not clear whether he was influenced by the earlier work of

Robert Gardiner Hill Robert Gardiner Hill MD (26 February 1811 – 30 May 1878) was a British surgeon specialising in the treatment of lunatic, lunacy. He is normally credited with being the first superintendent of a small Insane asylum, asylum (approximately 100 p ...

. When the poet

John Clare John Clare (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864) was an English poet. The son of a farm labourer, he became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and his sorrows at its disruption. His work underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20t ...

entered the asylum in 1841, Prichard encouraged him to continue his writing. Prichard resigned from the Northampton asylum in 1845 following allegations of professional misconduct. He opened a private asylum at Abington Manor near

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

. Prichard died in 1847. The asylum was taken over by his cousin, Thomas Prichard (d.1878) who also married his widow (d.1852). She had been matron of the Northampton asylum and had five children from her first marriage.

Notes

References

* Camilla Haw, Graeme Yorston, "Thomas Prichard and the non-restraint movement at the Northampton Asylum", ''The Psychiatrist'' (2004) 28: 140-142. * Richard Alfred Hunter, Ida Macalpine, ''Three hundred years of psychiatry, 1535-1860: a history presented in selected English texts'', Oxford University Press, 1963 {{DEFAULTSORT:Prichard, Thomas Octavius 1808 births 1847 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors English psychiatrists