| Authorised form of name | Crichton-Browne; Sir; James (1840 - 1938); physician, psychiatrist, neurologist, and eugenicist |
| Other forms of name | James Crichton- |
| Other forms of surname | Browne |
| Dates | 1840 - 1938 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Date of birth | 29 November 1840 |
| Place of death | Crindau, Dumfries, Scotland |
| Date of death | 31/01/1938 |
| Occupation | physician, psychiatrist, neurologist, and eugenicist |
| Research field | Public health |
| Psychology |
| Neurology |
| Psychiatry |
| Activity | Education:
Crichton Institution; Dumfries Academy, Dumfries; Trinity College, Glenalmond; Edinburgh University; Paris. MD (1862, Edinburgh); LLD (St Andrew's); DSc (1909, Leeds)
Career:
Assistant medical officer in various asylums in English provinces (1863-5); superintendent at the new borough asylum in Newcastle upon Tyne (1865); medical director at the West Riding Lunatic Asylum at Wakefield, Yorkshire (1867-1875); Lord Chancellor's Visitor of Lunatics (1875-1922).
Honours:
Kt 1886
Memberships:
MRCSE (1861); FRSE; Eugenics Education Society (first President 1908); Royal Institution (VP and Treasurer); Edinburgh Phrenological Society. |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 07/06/1883 |
| Age at election | 43 |
| Proposer | Allen Thomson |
| Francis Galton |
| Henry Charlton Bastian |
| John Scott Burdon Sanderson |
| Lyon Playfair |
| John Russell Reynolds |
| Alexander Tweedie |
| Joseph Lister |
| George John Romanes |
| Edward Klein |
| Lionel Smith Beale |
| Thomas Lauder Brunton |
| Joseph Fayrer |
| St George Mivart |
| Thomas Spencer Cobbold |
| William Jenner |
| David Ferrier |
| John Hughlings Jackson |
| James Risdon Bennett |
| Charles Darwin |
| John Charles Bucknill |
| Relationships | Parents: William Alexander Francis Browne (1805–1885), Commissioner in Lunacy, Scotland, and Magdalene Howden Balfour, daughter of Dr Andrew Balfour of Edinburgh.
Spouse: 1) Emily, daughter of Dr Halliday (died 1903) (1865); 2 (1912) Audrey Emioy, daughter of General Sir E Bulwer.
Children: 1) son and a daughter |
| Published works | RCN 30481
RCN 30482
RCN 30483
RCN 30484
RCN 30485
RCN 30486 |
| General context | Remembered for the functional specialisation theory of the brain and cerebral asymmetry.
Studied the relationship of mental illness to brain injury.
Developed public health policies in relation to mental health.
Forceful advocate of eugenics.
Noted as one of the last people to wear Dundreary whiskers. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1936-1938 vol 2 pp 519-521, plate, by G M Holmes
References:
David Millett, 'Illustrating a Revolution: An Unrecognized Contribution to the "Golden Era" of Cerebral Localization' in NR 1998 vol 52 pp 283-305 |
| Royal Society code | NA7144 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| NLB/2/252 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir James Crichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 13 March 1888 |
| NLB/2/616 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir James Crichton-Browne, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 28 September 1888 |
| NLB/4/922 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Creighton [Crichton-Browne] | 29 November 1890 |
| NLB/11/665 | Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 5 September 1895 |
| NLB/16/513 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to J Crichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 23 April 1898 |
| NLB/13/551 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, Fellow of the Royal Society | 6 October 1892 |
| NLB/14/36 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Michael Foster, Secretary, Royal Society | 14 December 1896 |
| NLB/14/706 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir James Chrichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 30 April 1897 |
| NLB/15/490 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir James Crichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 13 October 1897 |
| NLB/15/459 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir James Crichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 7 October 1897 |
| NLB/15/497 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir James Chrichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 15 October 1897 |
| NLB/19/665 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir James Crichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 20 November 1899 |
| IM/000615 | Crichton Browne, Sir James | 1922 |
| NLB/19/62 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir James Crichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 9 June 1899 |
| NLB/18/779 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr E Klein, 19 Earl's Court Square, S.W. | 11 May 1899 |
| NLB/22/738 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir James Crichton Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 8 July 1901 |
| NLB/30/799 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir James Chrichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 25 May 1905 |
| NLB/37/283 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir James Crichton Browne FRS | 25 February 1908 |
| NLB/47/273 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir James Crichton Browne FRS | 8 January 1913 |
| NLB/47/316 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir James Crichton-Browne FRS | 14 January 1912 |
| MS/929/1/36 | Letter from James Crichton-Browne, FRS, Conservative Club, St. James's Street, to James Mackenzie Davidson | 9 May 1911 |
| RR/13/105 | Referee's report by James Crichton-Browne , on a paper 'Phenomena resulting from interruption of afferent and efferent tracts of the cerebellum' by J A Risien Russell | 3 October 1896 |
| NLB/55/529 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir James Crichton-Browne, FRS | 17 May 1918 |
| NLB/16/53 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor T Clifford Allbutt, Fellow of the Royal Society | 21 January 1898 |
| NLB/2/247 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor George Gabriel Stokes, President of the Royal Society | 10 March 1888 |
| NLB/5/107 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir James Crichton-Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society, 7, Cumberland Terrace, Regents Park, N.W. | 20 March 1891 |
| MC/23/64 | Letter from James Crichton Browne, Crindau, Dumfries, to [Robert] Harrison, [The Royal Society] | 13 March 1908 |
| EC/1883/03 | Crichton-Browne, Sir James: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| AP/73/8 | Paper, 'Preliminary communication on the nature of the contagium of Rinderpest' by Alexander Edington | 22 February 1897 |
| AP/73/8/1 | Manuscript, 'Preliminary communication on the nature of the contagium of Rinderpest' by Alexander Edington | 22 February 1897 |
| NLB/37/414 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir James Crichton Browne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 16 March 1908 |
| NLB/37/521 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor [William Carmichael] McIntosh, Fellow of the Royal Society | 2 April 1908 |
| MC/23 | Volume 23 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1908 |
| MC/28/29 | Letter from James Crichton Browne, Crindau, Dumfries, N.B, to the [Royal Society] | 23 December 1913 |