Theodore Gray (psychiatrist)

Theodore Grant Gray CMG (31 January 1884 – 8 September 1964) was a New Zealand psychiatrist and mental health administrator.

Early life and education

Gray was born in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on 31 January 1884.[1] He attended the University of Aberdeen graduating with his medical degree in 1906.[1] His sister, Helen Gray, also trained in medicine and became a general practitioner in London.[2]

Career

Gray worked in general practice and at the Kingseat Asylum in Newmachar, later naming Kingseat Hospital in Auckland after the Scottish asylum.[1] He arrived in New Zealand in 1911 to work in the Mental Hospitals Department holding positions at Porirua Mental Hospital, Auckland Mental Hospital and Seacliff Asylum under Truby King.[1] During World War I, he served in France in the New Zealand Medical Corps of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.[1][3]

After the war, he became medical superintendent of the Nelson Mental Hospital from 1921 to 1925 when he became acting medical superintendent of the Auckland Mental Hospital.[1][4] In 1927 he was appointed to succeed Truby King as director general of the Mental Hospitals a position he held until 1947.[1][4] Gray undertook an overseas tour to nearly 100 institutions in 13 countries in 1927 to study the treatment and care of mentally ill patients.[1][5][6][7] In his opinion, there was no known cure for the mentally ill apart from "fresh air, sunshine, suitable diet, recreation, rest and sleep".[8][7] He adopted eugenicist views and wrote a report which recommended sterilisation, prevention of marriage, registration, screening and segregation of the mentally ill.[1][9][10] He favoured the villa system of design of mental hospitals even though that system was already in use in New Zealand from the early 20th century.[1][11] As such, he recommended the construction of small, detached blocks to accommodate patients.[7][12] During his tenure, conditions in mental hospitals deteriorated to the point where a review was carried out in 1946; as a result, Gray resigned and left his position in 1947.[1]

In the 1938 New Year Honours, Gray was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.[13] He served in a number of organisations. He was president of the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association in 1947 (the first salaried officer and first psychiatrist to hold the role), the Parole Board, Nurses and Midwives Registration Board and the Medical Council.[1][14][4]

Gray published his autobiography, The Very Error of the Moon, in 1959.[4][15]

Personal life

Gray married Catherine Amelia Sutherland in 1914, and they had three daughters and three sons.[1]

Gray died in Wellington on 8 September 1964.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Brunton, Warwick. "Theodore Grant Gray". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  2. ^ "Dr. Helen M. Gray, of Aberdeen, Scotland". Dominion. 7 July 1936. p. 7. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  3. ^ "Theodore Grant Gray". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e Wright St Clair, Rex (2013). Historia nunc vivat : medical practitioners in New Zealand, 1840 to 1930 (PDF). Christchurch: Cotter Medical History Trust. p. 163. ISBN 9780473240738.
  5. ^ "The Unfortunates". Waikato Times8. 25 February 1928. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  6. ^ "Untitled". Wairarapa Age. 3 March 1927. p. 5. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  7. ^ a b c "Mental patients". Auckland Star. 1 September 1927. p. 18. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  8. ^ "Notes of the day". Star (Christchurch). 3 September 1927. p. 4. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  9. ^ "Mental defectives". Dominion. 21 March 1934. p. 11. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  10. ^ "MENTAL DEFICIENCY AND ITS TREATMENT. REPORT ON VISITS OF INSPECTION TO VARIOUS INSTITUTIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN, AMERICA, AND THE CONTINENT, BY DR. THEO. G. GRAY, INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF MENTAL HOSPITALS IN THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND.—PART I.,". Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1927 Session I, H-07a. 1927 – via Papers Past.
  11. ^ "Mental Hospitals – 1910s to 1930s". Te Ara. Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  12. ^ "MENTAL HOSPITALS OF THE DOMINION (REPORT ON) FOR 1926". Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1927 Session I, H-07: 2–3. 1927 – via Papers Past.
  13. ^ "No. 34469". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1938. p. 5.
  14. ^ Wright St Clair, R.E. (1987). A history of the New Zealand Medical Association. Wellington: Butterworths. p. 170. ISBN 0409787795.
  15. ^ Gray, Theodore G. (1959). The Very Error of the Moon. Ilfracombe [England]: Stockwell. OCLC 14602962.

Further reading

  • Obituary. New Zealand Medical Journal 63, No 387 (Nov. 1964): 735-736
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Gray_(psychiatrist)