Campbell Clark
Dr Archibald Campbell Clark FFPSG (1852–1901) was a nineteenth-century Scottish physician who made major advances in mental health care philosophies.
Life[edit]
He was born at Tarbert, Loch Fyne, the son of Donald Clark, a merchant, and his wife Margaret Campbell. His father died when he was young and they then moved to Lochgilphead. He was educated there at the Free Church School.[1] From around 1867 he assisted at the local asylum, where he learnt an empathy for the patients.
He worked for some years as a warehouseman in Glasgow then studied medicine at Edinburgh University graduating MB ChB in 1878 and gaining his doctorate (MD) in 1886.[2]
He was assistant medical officer at the Melrose Asylum in the Scottish Borders before joining the Edinburgh Asylum under Dr Thomas Clouston.[2]
Around 1890 he became Medical Superintendent of the Glasgow District Asylum at Bothwell. In 1895 he was appointed Chief Medical Superintendent of the newly completed asylum - Hartwood Hospital, serving Lanark. With over 2500 patients it was later the largest asylum in Europe.[3]
Controversially by today's standards (but acceptable at the time) he employed electroconvulsive therapy and was the first person in Scotland to perform a lobotomy in attempts to control behaviour. He was the first to advocate professional training of all staff, and had a strong reputation for improving the actual conditions of the inmates.[4]
He lectured at St Mungo's College in Glasgow and was president of the Caledonian Medical Society.[2]
He died of influenza on 28 November 1901 at his house in Hartwood Village near the hospital.[2] He was buried in the hospital cemetery in Hartwood.
Hartwood closed in 1995 following the rolling out of care in the community.
Recognition[edit]
He is remembered on the Pinel Memorial (1926) at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
Family[edit]
He was twice married and had two sons and one daughter.
Publications[edit]
- The Special Training of Asylum Attendants (1884)
- Essays on Hallucinations by Asylum attendants (1884)
- Handbook for Instruction of Asylum Attendants (1885)
- Experimental Dietetics in Lunacy Practice (1887)
- The Sexual and Reproductive Functions, Normal and Perverted, in Relation to Insanity (1888)
- Etiology, Pathology and Treatment of Puerperal Insanity (1888)
- The Future of Asylum Service (1894)
- A Clinical Manual of Mental Diseases (1897)
- The Therapeutic Value (on Mental Health) of Spleen Removal (1898)
- On Epileptic Speech (1899)
References[edit]
- ^ "(153) - Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 6, 1898 - Early Gaelic Book Collections - National Library of Scotland". digital.nls.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ a b c d Obituary, British Medical Journal, 14 December 1901
- ^ "Hartwood Hospital - An Abandoned Psychiatric Asylum". 14 November 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ "The correspondence of Archibald Campbell Clark: A 19th-century physician superintendent". ResearchGate. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
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