Isabella Frankau

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Dr Isabella McDougall Robertson (died May 1967), also known as Lady Frankau, was a British psychiatrist who specialised in alcohol and drug addiction.

A London-based "society doctor", [1] her readiness to prescribe controlled drugs is credited with single-handedly addicting many British people to heroin. [2] From evidence she gave to the Brain Committee, she said the total between 1958 and 1964 was just over 500. [3]

After the death of her first husband, Gordon Cunningham, she married the eminent surgeon Claude Frankau (1883–1967) in 1935. [4] [5] When her husband was knighted in the 1945 New Years Honours, [6] Isabella Frankau became known as "Lady Frankau" in accordance with accepted usage. [7]

As Dr Isabella Robertson, she was one of the first researchers at the Maudsley Hospital, initially working with Frederick Mott and Frederick Golla on the physical basis of psychoses. [8] [9] [10] [11] During the Second World War, she worked at Cambridge University's Psychological Laboratory on the use of dietary supplements to improve the physical performance of servicemen. [12] In the early 1950s she researched the use of subconvulsive electroshock therapy treatment for alcoholism. [13] [14]

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References

  1. ↑ Pop & Jazz: As though he had wings Independent
  2. ↑ Drugs policy: The 'British system' BBC News
  3. ↑ Heroin addiction care and control: the British System HB Speare 2002, page 148.
  4. ↑ Anonymous (1967-07-08). "Obituary Notices". British Medical Journal. 3 (5557): 116–117. doi:10.1136/bmj.3.5557.116. PMC   1842382 .
  5. ↑ "FRANKAU, Sir Claude (Howard Stanley)". Who Was Who. A & C Black. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  6. ↑ "Supplement, January 1, 1945". The London Gazette . No. 36866. December 29, 1944. p. 2.
  7. ↑ "Forms of Address – Wife of a Knight". Debrett's . Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  8. ↑ Frederick W. Mott and Isabella McDougall Robertson (July 1923). "Histological Examination of the Pituitary Gland in 110 Asylum and Hospital Cases". BJPsych. 69 (286).
  9. ↑ Edward Mapother (1926-11-13). "British Medical Association Proceedings of Sections at the Annual Meeting, Nottingham, 1926". British Medical Journal. 2 (3436): 872–885. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.3436.872. PMC   2523649 .
  10. ↑ Michael Shepherd (1993). "Interview with Sir Aubrey Lewis" (PDF). Psychiatric Bulletin. 17 (12): 743. doi: 10.1192/pb.17.12.738 . In the transcription Sir Aubrey apparently refers to "the future Lady Frankau" as "Camilla Robertson" rather than "Isabella"
  11. ↑ Edgar Jones and Shahina Rahman (July 2009). "The Maudsley Hospital and the Rockefeller Foundation: The Impact of Philanthropy on Research and Training". J Hist Med Allied Sci. 64 (3): 273–299. doi:10.1093/jhmas/jrn065. PMC   2723762 . PMID   18996947.
  12. ↑ I. M. Frankau (November 13, 1943). "Acceleration of Muscular Effort by Nicotinamide". British Medical Journal. 2 (4323): 601–603. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.4323.601. PMC   2285375 . PMID   20785121.
  13. ↑ E. Lincoln Williams (December 1954). "The Management of the Chronic Alcoholic". Postgrad Med J. 30 (350): 626–30. doi:10.1136/pgmj.30.350.626. PMC   2501319 . PMID   13215184.
  14. ↑ "Medical News". British Medical Journal. 1 (4854): 165–166. January 16, 1954. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4854.165. PMC   2084421 .
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