Isabella Frankau Explained
Dr Isabella McDougall Robertson (died May 1967), also known as Lady Frankau, was a British psychiatrist who specialised in alcohol and drug addiction and became known for prescribing controlled drugs. After the death of her first husband, Gordon Cunningham, she married the eminent surgeon Claude Frankau (1883–1967) in 1935.[1] [2] When her husband was knighted in the 1945 New Years Honours,[3] Isabella Frankau became known as "Lady Frankau" in accordance with accepted usage.[4]
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.[5] [6] [7] [8] 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.[9] In the early 1950s she researched the use of subconvulsive electroshock therapy treatment for alcoholism.[10] [11]
A London-based "society doctor",[12] she became widely known in the 1960s as a prescriber of heroin.[13] [14] [15] Her readiness to prescribe controlled drugs is credited with single-handedly addicting many British people.[16] From evidence she gave to the Brain Committee, she said the total between 1958 and 1964 was just over 500.[17] After Frankau's death in 1967, John Petro largely took over her practice as a prescriber to heroin addicts; he was struck off in 1968.[13] [14] [15]
External links
Notes and References
- Anonymous . Obituary Notices . British Medical Journal . 3 . 5557. 116–117 . 1967-07-08 . 1842382 . 10.1136/bmj.3.5557.116.
- Web site: A & C Black . Who Was Who . FRANKAU, Sir Claude (Howard Stanley) . 2010-08-22 .
- News: December 29, 1944 . Supplement, January 1, 1945 . . 36866 . 2 .
- Web site: Forms of Address – Wife of a Knight . . 23 August 2010.
- BJPsych . 69 . 286 . July 1923 . Histological Examination of the Pituitary Gland in 110 Asylum and Hospital Cases . Frederick W. Mott and Isabella McDougall Robertson .
- Edward Mapother . British Medical Association Proceedings of Sections at the Annual Meeting, Nottingham, 1926 . British Medical Journal . 2 . 3436 . 872–885 . 1926-11-13 . 2523649 . 10.1136/bmj.2.3436.872.
- Michael Shepherd . Interview with Sir Aubrey Lewis . 743 . 1993 . Psychiatric Bulletin . 17 . 12 . 10.1192/pb.17.12.738. Michael Shepherd (psychiatrist) . free . In the transcription Sir Aubrey apparently refers to "the future Lady Frankau" as "Camilla Robertson" rather than "Isabella"
- The Maudsley Hospital and the Rockefeller Foundation: The Impact of Philanthropy on Research and Training . J Hist Med Allied Sci . July 2009 . Edgar Jones and Shahina Rahman . 273–299 . 64 . 3 . 10.1093/jhmas/jrn065 . 2723762 . 18996947.
- I. M. Frankau . Acceleration of Muscular Effort by Nicotinamide . November 13, 1943 . 601–603 . British Medical Journal . 2 . 4323 . 20785121 . 2285375 . 10.1136/bmj.2.4323.601.
- Postgrad Med J . December 1954 . E. Lincoln Williams . 30 . 10.1136/pgmj.30.350.626 . 13215184 . 2501319 . 350 . 626–30.
- British Medical Journal . Medical News . 1 . 4854 . 165–166 . January 16, 1954 . 2084421 . 10.1136/bmj.1.4854.165.
- https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/pop--jazz-as-though-he-had-wings-1094917.html Pop & Jazz: As though he had wings
- News: Alan Travis . A lost war . review of H.B. Spear, Heroin Addiction Care and Control . 11 September 2002 .
- Web site: J.S. Rafaeli . When Boots Prescribed Heroin, the UK Did Drug Policy Right . Vice . 4 October 2018 .
- Alex Nicola Mold . Dynamic Dualities: The 'British System' of Heroin Addiction Treatment, 1965–1987 . University of Birmingham . PhD, Modern History . 153–54 .
- Web site: Mark Easton . Drugs policy: The 'British system'. BBC News . 18 August 2010 . Mark Easton's UK blog.
- Book: Heroin Addiction Care and Control: The British System . H.B. Speare . Marston . 2002 . 148.
