Portrait of Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke

DimensionsOverall: 27.9 x 34.3 cm

Credit LineGift of Lucy R. Little, London, Ontario, 1965

Object number1965.075.001

Label TextDr. Richard Maurice Bucke (1837-1902) was a 19th-century psychiatrist. He was the head of the provincial Asylum for the Insane located in London, Ontario. While in London, he was also one of the founders of the medical school at the University of Western Ontario. He was an early proponent of practices that are now known as occupational therapy and strived to improve the care and treatment of people with mental illnesses. However, he was also a believer in the Victorian-era theory that mental illness in women or 'hysteria' was caused by 'defective' reproductive organs. Despite criticism, he performed numerous surgical removals of these organs at the London Asylum until his death in 1902.

NamePhotograph