Harold Dearden (13 December 1882 – 6 July 1962) was a British psychiatrist and screenwriter.
Biography
Dearden was born in
Bolton,
Lancashire. He was educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and
London Hospital. He qualified as a physician in 1911.
[Anonymous. (1962). Harold Dearden, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. The BMJ 2 (5298): 197–198.]
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.[ "Dr. Harold Dearden - Psychiatrist at Camp 020". Giselle K. Jakobs, 2014.][Rupert Allason. (2009). The A to Z of British Intelligence. The Scarecrow Press. p. 139. ]
During World War II, Dearden worked as a psychiatrist and was principal interrogator at Camp 020.
He wrote the play Interference (with Roland Pertwee). He also wrote the Two White Arms which became a successful film.
He died at his home in Hay-on-Wye from cerebral thrombosis.
Spiritualism
Dearden was skeptical of claims of
Parapsychology 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
Hysteria behaviour and
.
[Anonymous. (1936). Notes on Books. The BMJ 1 (3938): 1303.]
In 1927, he wrote an article How Spiritualists are Deluded.[Dearden, Harold. (April 9, 1927). How Spiritualists are Deluded. The Graphic. pp. 50–51.] 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.[Harry Price. (1939). Fifty Years of Psychical Research: A Critical Survey. Longmans, Green and Co. p. 202]
Publications
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Insanity: Prevention or Cure? (1922)
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The Moral Imbecile (1922)
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The Technique of Living (1924)
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The Doctor Looks at Life (1924)
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The Science of Happiness (1925)
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Exercise and the Will: With a Chapter on Obesity (1927)
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How Spiritualists are Deluded (1927)
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Medicine and Duty: The First World War Diary of Dr Harold Dearden (1928, 2014)
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Two White Arms: A Comedy-Farce in Three Acts (1928)
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The Mind of the Murderer (1930)
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Such Women are Dangerous (1933)
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The Fire Raisers: The Story of Leopold Harris and His Gang (1934)
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A Confessor of Women (1934)
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Queer People (1935)
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Devilish But True: The Doctor Looks at Spiritualism (1936)
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The Wind of Circumstance (1938)
[ "The Wind of Circumstance". Kirkus Reviews.]
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Time and Chance (1940)
[ "Time and Chance". The Spectator.]
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Creation's Heir (1947)
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Some Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury and Others: Death Under the Microscope (1948)
External links
