Harold Dearden (13 December 1882 – 6 July 1962) was a British psychiatrist and screenwriter.
Harold Dearden | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 13 December 1882 |
| Died | 6 July 1962 (aged 79) |
| Occupation(s) | Psychiatrist, screenwriter |
Biography
editDearden was born in Bolton, Lancashire. He was educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and London Hospital. He qualified as a physician in 1911.[1]
During World War I, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was a medical officer for the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards. In 1916, he became honorary Captain. At the Battle of the Somme he was wounded, suffering from a lost eye and shell shock. He was later invalided out of the war.[1][2][3]
During World War II, Dearden worked as a psychiatrist and was principal interrogator at Camp 020.[3]
He wrote the play Interference (with Roland Pertwee). He also wrote the Two White Arms which became a successful film.[1] In 1943, he married Ann Verity Gibson Watt, and they had four children.[2]
He died at his home in Hay-on-Wye from cerebral thrombosis.[1]
Spiritualism
editDearden was skeptical of claims of psychical phenomena and spiritualism. In his book Devilish But True: The Doctor Looks at Spiritualism (1936), he compared cases of witchcraft to spiritualist mediums. He noted the similarity of hysterical behaviour and hallucinations.[4]
In 1927, he wrote an article How Spiritualists are Deluded.[5] Dearden attended séances and was a judge for a group formed by the Sunday Chronicle to investigate the materialization medium Harold Evans. During a séance Evans was exposed as a fraud. He was caught masquerading as a spirit, in a white nightshirt.[6]
Publications
edit- Insanity: Prevention or Cure? (1922)
- The Moral Imbecile (1922)
- The Technique of Living (1924)
- The Doctor Looks at Life (1924)
- The Science of Happiness (1925)
- Exercise and the Will: With a Chapter on Obesity (1927)
- How Spiritualists are Deluded (1927)
- Medicine and Duty: The First World War Diary of Dr Harold Dearden (1928, 2014)
- Two White Arms: A Comedy-Farce in Three Acts (1928)
- The Mind of the Murderer (1930)
- Such Women are Dangerous (1933)
- The Fire Raisers: The Story of Leopold Harris and His Gang (1934)
- A Confessor of Women (1934)
- Queer People (1935)
- Devilish But True: The Doctor Looks at Spiritualism (1936)
- The Wind of Circumstance (1938)[7]
- Time and Chance (1940)[8]
- Creation's Heir (1947)
- Some Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury and Others: Death Under the Microscope (1948)
References
edit- ^ a b c d Anonymous. (1962). Harold Dearden, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. The British Medical Journal 2 (5298): 197–198.
- ^ a b "Dr. Harold Dearden - Psychiatrist at Camp 020". Giselle K. Jakobs, 2014.
- ^ a b West, Nigel. (2009). The A to Z of British Intelligence. The Scarecrow Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-8108-6865-6
- ^ Anonymous. (1936). Notes on Books. The British Medical Journal 1 (3938): 1303.
- ^ Dearden, Harold. (April 9, 1927). How Spiritualists are Deluded. The Graphic. pp. 50–51.
- ^ Price, Harry. (1939). Fifty Years of Psychical Research: A Critical Survey. Longmans, Green and Co. p. 202
- ^ "The Wind of Circumstance". Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ "Time and Chance". The Spectator.