It is getting closer
1) Cotton draw by J. Thurston 2) Gravestones of Ann, Nathaniel and Hannah Cotton 3) Blue Plaque, College St
Starting on 27th February at 7 pm at The Octagon, St Peter’s Church AL1 3HG,
Conservation 50 and St Peter’s Church are hosting a series of talks exploring evolutionary and cultural constructs of mental illness. There will be 6 talks altogether. There are no fees and attendees can just turn up on the night. The talks are aiming to raise funds to restore the Cottons’ gravestones as they need some restoration and the inscription has become illegible, so donations (c.£10 per talk) will be most welcome.
Nathaniel Cotton was an 18th-century poet and a doctor, who was a pioneer in the treatment of mental health, developing a form of clinical psychology at a time when many with mental illness were being locked up in appalling institutions like the notorious Bedlam, Bethlem Royal Hospital, in London. Nathaniel established a sympathetic asylum, ‘Collegium Insanorum’ (a College for the Insane) on the corner of what is now College Street (named after his institution) with Lower Dagnall Street where you can now find a blue plaque commemorating him on the site of his college. An intensely private person there is little surviving from his life but we know he was married twice, first to Anne Pembroke and then after her death to Hannah Everett. He died in St Albans on 2nd August 1788 and is buried in St Peter’s Churchyard.
The speakers are:
Tim Boatswain, Professor of Anthropology and History, Chair of Conservation 50
Dr Florian Alexander Ruths MD FRCPsych PgDipCBT,Consultant Psychiatrist: Cognitive Behaviour Therapies (CBT) Trainer, Supervisor and Practitioner accredited with the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP)
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