Richard Poole (1781–1870) was a Scottish physician,[1] psychiatrist, and phrenologist.[2]
Life
Poole was born in Edinburgh, on 27 November 1781, from an English background.[3] His father Matthew Poole (or Pool) owned a coffee house and hotel at 1 Princes Street and lived above.[4]
In the late 1830s he was a pioneer advocate of mental health reform,[14] and in 1838 he became superintendent of the Montrose Asylum, succeeding W. A. F. Browne. He remained at Montrose until 1845. He then kept a private asylum at Middlefield, Aberdeenshire.[3]
Poole died in Coupar Angus on 18 February 1870 aged 88 at the house of his daughter, Mrs Kirkwood.[3] He is buried with his wife in the churchyard of St. Machar's Cathedral in Aberdeen.
Works
An Essay on Education (1825).[15] In this work, from the Encyclopædia Edinensis, Poole acknowledges help in early life from Archibald Alison. He advocated education in cases of mental retardation.[16]
A Letter to Andrew Duncan, Senior, M.D. ... Regarding the Establishment of a New Infirmary (1825).[17] Pamphlet addressed to Andrew Duncan, the elder on the infirmary question; Duncan replied to the agitation for a new infirmary in a letter to William Fettes.[18]
Report on Examination of Medical Practitioners (1833)
Memoranda regarding the Royal Lunatic Asylum, Infirmary, and Dispensary, of Montrose (1841)[19]
He is credited with dramas, including "Willie Armstrong" performed in Edinburgh in 1829.[20][21]
An epitaph gives Jane Caird as Poole's wife; it also records his dates as 1781 to 1870.[23] Their children included Samuel Wordsworth Poole, a physician and episcopal clergyman.[24]