Francis Willis (physician)
Francis Willis | |
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George III | |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Psychiatry |
Francis Willis (17 August 1718 – 5 December 1807) was a
Early career
Willis was the third son of the Rev. John Willis of Lincoln. He claimed to be a descendant of the Willis family of Fenny Compton, Warwickshire, a kinsman of the George Wyllys who became Governor of Connecticut, New England, and the Willis baronets of Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire.
After an undergraduate career at
Willis the physician
Although Willis was ordained in accordance with his father's wishes, his chief interest was in medicine and he received the degrees of Bachelor and
As the unprepared traveller approached the town, he was astonished to find almost all the surrounding ploughmen, gardeners, threshers, thatchers and other labourers attired in black coats, white waistcoats, black silk breaches and stockings, and the head of each "bewigged, well powdered, neat and arranged.
These were the doctor's patients with dress, neatness of person, and exercise being a principle feature of his admirable treatment system where health and cheerfulness conjoined to aid recovery of every person attached to that most valuable asylum.
Family
Dr Willis married Mary Curtois and their children included Rear Admiral Richard Willis.
Treating the King
Willis's treatment of the King at The White House, Kew, included many of the standard methods of the period, including coercion, restraint in a strait jacket and blistering of the skin, but there was also more kindness and consideration for the patient than was then the norm.
When on 26 February 1789 Willis's bulletin described the "entire cessation of his Majesty's illness" he became a British celebrity and was soon recognised through five portraits by
Twelve years later in 1801 King George suffered a relapse and his symptoms returned. On the second occasion he was treated by two of Francis's sons, also physicians, John Willis and his younger brother, Robert Darling Willis. The King had a final relapse in 1810 that proved incurable and he lapsed into an illness and madness that lasted until his death in 1820.
Treating Queen Maria I of Portugal
Willis' fame would lead him to help Queen Maria I of Portugal in 1792 who suffered from episodes of madness. His role was advisory and did not see success as in the case of King George III. His recommendations included psychotherapy and proper nutrition as opposed to medication.[2] The job earned him a total of £16,000.[13]
Legacy
The original Greatford Hall sanatorium closed in 1838 and was mostly destroyed by fire in 1930, but was mostly rebuilt and is now a private residence.
There is a monument to Dr Willis in the form of a Joseph Nollekens bust, in the transept of his local Church of Thomas Becket in Greatford. The commemorative inscription reads:
Sacred to the memory of
The Revd. Francis Willis MD
Who died on 5 December 1807
In the 90th year of his age
He was the third son of the Revd. John Willis of Lincoln
A descendant of an ancient family of the same name
That resided formerly at Fenny Compton in Warwickshire
He studied at Oxford; was Fellow and sometime Vice-Principal of Brazen Nose College: Where in
obedience to his father, he entered into holy orders. But pursuing the bent of his natural taste and
inclination he took the degree of Doctor of Physic in the same University and continued the practice
of the profession to the last hour of his life.
By his first wife Mary, the youngest daughter of the Revd. John Curtois of Branston in this County,
he had five sons who survived him. By his second wife he had no issue.
Initiated early into habits of observation and research, he attained the highest eminence in his
profession and was happily the chief agent in removing the malady which affected his present majesty
in the year 1789. On that occasion he displayed an energy and acuteness of mind which excited the
admiration and procured for him the esteem of the Nation. The kindness and benevolence of his
disposition were testified by the tears and lamentations which followed him to the grave.
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust's inpatient low secure unit is the Francis Willis Unit. It 'provides assessment and treatment for males aged 18 to 65 years with a primary diagnosis of mental illness who may exhibit challenging or high risk behaviours... We aim to promote recovery and rehabilitation, enable the reduction of risks posed and ultimately enable the individual to leave the secure environment for one less restrictive.'
References in literature
Willis's reputation was revived by
References
- required.)
- ^ a b Peters, Timothy & Willis, Clive. (2013). ''Maria I of Portugal: Another royal psychiatric patient of Francis Willis''. The British journal of psychiatry: the journal of mental science. 203. 167. 10.1192/bjp.bp.112.123950.
- Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ Kemp, Betty (1967). Sir Francis Dashwood: An Eighteenth Century Independent. Macmillan. pp. 123–125.
- ISBN 978-1-108-03791-4.
- ^ Willis, Francis (19 July 1755). "The Case of a Shepherd near Lincoln". The London Gazette (9495): 2.
- ^ Willis, Francis (24 April 1760). "An account of an extraordinary Case of a Lady who Swallowed Euphorbium". Philosophical Transactions. 51: 662–669.
- ^ "Death of Francis Willis, Esq., M.D." Stamford Mercury. 5 August 1859. p. 4.
- ^ Reynolds, Frederick (1826). The Life and Times of Frederick Reynolds. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: Cary and Lea. p. 87.
- PMID 21902081.
- ^ Stanhope, Philip Henry (1867). Life of the Right Honourable William Pitt. Vol. 2. London: John Murray. p. 7.
- ^ The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics and Literature for the Year 1789. London: J. Dodsley. 1792. p. 225.
- ^ "Rev Dr Francis Willis". www.chradams.co.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2021.