Marjorie Flowers Brierley (24 March 1893 - 21 April 1984) was a pioneer of psychoanalysis in Britain, and helped chair the Controversial discussions of 1942 which shaped the subsequent history of the British Psychoanalytical Society.[1]
Marjorie Flowers Ellis was born in London Borough of Lewisham.[2] She completed a 1st class honours degree in psychology at the University College London in 1921, and went on to obtain medical qualifications in 1928.[3] She married William Broadhurst Brierley in 1922.
Brierley began her affiliation with the British Psychoanalytical Society in 1927. She went through a double training analysis of four years from 1927 onwards.[4] She became a Full Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society in 1930 and a Training and Supervising Analyst in 1933. She retired from practice in 1944.
Significant among the eleven papers Brierley published between 1932 and 1947,[5] were her contributions on female gender and early development, and on the nature of the affect.[6] Her proposal of a "temporary armistice" in the heated debates of the wartime Society was significant in paving the way for their ultimate resolution.[7]