Edna Butfield

Edna Butfield MBE FRCSLT
Occupation	Speech Therapist
Academic work
Sub-discipline	Aphasia Dysphasia
Institutions	RCSLT University College London

Edna Butfield MBE FRCSLT was a British speech and language therapist and the Principal of West End Hospital Speech Therapy Training School, London (latterly part of University College London). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) in 1950 and awarded the annual Honours of the RCSLT in 1982. In 1969, she was made a MBE in the 1969 New Year Honours list.

Life

Butfield conducted an “historically important” study of the effectiveness of aphasia treatment, published in 1946. The study, conducted with Oliver Zangwill in Edinburgh, assessed 70 cases of aphasia, and attempted to distinguish between treatment effects and spontaneous recovery. It has been described by Howard and Hatfield as “the first published attempt to evaluate the efficacy of therapy properly, and to assess also the significance of specific factors, such as the form of aphasia and its aetiology’. ^{[1] [2]}

According to Andrew Burchell, Butfield was a key figure in the development of the College of Speech Therapists (CST, later the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists). Butfield had led County Armagh to do the first full school population survey of speech disorders in Ireland. The survey was conducted in 1949–50, and compared to a similar survey in East Ham in London in 1946–47. The final report found double the number of speech defects in Irish children, which Butfield attributed to children living in “remote areas where vocabulary is extremely limited, and the speech pattern of the family primitive”. ^[3]

In the 1970s, Butfield introduced philanthropist Sir Sigmund Sternberg to the work of the Royal College of Speech Therapists, after which he was an active supporter of the college. ^[4]

Recognition

Butfield was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in 1950 and awarded the annual Honours of the RCSLT in 1982. ^[5] In 1969, she was made a MBE in the 1969 New Year Honours list. ^[6]

Publications

• E. BUTFIELD; O. L. ZANGWILL (1 April 1946). "Re-education in aphasia; a review of 70 cases" (PDF). Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry . 9 (2): 75–79. doi:10.1136/JNNP.9.2.75. ISSN   0022-3050. PMC   497087 . PMID   20274398. Wikidata   Q37146770.
• Butfield, E., 1958. "Rehabilitation of the dysphasic patient". Speech Pathology and Therapy, 1, 9–17
• Butfield, E. 1960. "Acquired receptive dysphasia". Speech Pathology and Therapy, 3, 8–12.

• Butfield E (1 October 1966). "Treatment of acquired speech and language disorders associated with hemiplegia". Physiotherapy. 52 (10): 350–353. ISSN   0031-9406. PMID   6009468. Wikidata   Q72179565.

• BUTFIELD E (1 August 1962). "'Stroke' and speech recovery". Nursing Times . 58: 1012–1014. ISSN   0954-7762. PMID   13875177. Wikidata   Q79360586.

• E. Butfield (1 February 1972). "Speech Therapy for Hemiplegics". The BMJ . 1 (5799): 569–569. ISSN   0959-8138. PMC   1787429 . Wikidata   Q93651567.

References

1. "The father of British neuropsychology | BPS". BPS. Archived from the original on 2024-12-03. Retrieved 2025-04-03.
2. Tesak, Juergen; Code, Chris (2008). Milestones In the History Of Aphasia: Theories and Protagonists. Psychology Press & Routledge.
3. Burchell, Andrew (2024-09-01). "The Art of Speech: Elocution, Speech Training, Speech Therapy, and the Performative Limits of Class in Mid-twentieth-century Britain". Modern British History. 35 (3): 354–374. doi:10.1093/tcbh/hwae043. ISSN   2976-7016. PMC   11375901 .
4. "Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists: The Bulletin" (PDF). The Bulletin. 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
5. "RCSLT Honours Roll Call". Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. Archived from the original on 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2018-10-20.
6. "Supplement to the London Gazette, 1st January 1969". The Gazette: Official Public Record. 1969-01-01.