Weʼve raised £240 to fund a commemorative plaque for Dr James Braid, 'discoverer' of hypnosis, at his 1841 home/practice- 67 Piccadilly, Manchester
- Funded on Saturday, 24th June 2017
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Story
James Braid was born on 19th June 1795 at Ryelaw House in Portmoak, Fife, Scotland.
James studied medicine at Edinburgh University from 1812 to 1814 (marrying in 1813!), and qualifying in 1815.
In 1816, aged 21, he was appointed surgeon to Lord Hopetoun’s mines at Leadhills in Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1825, the Braid family moved to Dumfries, Scotland where James worked as a general practitioner and ophthalmologist in private practice alongside the infamous Dr William Maxwell who was a Jacobite and friend of Robert Burns.
In 1828 the Braids were on the move south again and James set up practice at 67 Piccadilly. Manchester.
On Saturday 13th November 1841, Dr James Braid paid half a crown to attend an event with Swiss magnetic demonstrator Charles Lafontaine at the Manchester Athenaeum. He stated “I attended fully inclined to join in with those who considered the whole to be a system of collusion or delusion or of excited imagination.”
Dr Braid was convinced that the effects he had witness could be reproduced without magnitism. His first recorded success was in his home (thought likely to be 67 Picadilly- where he appears in the 1841 census recorded in June). It was 22nd November 1841, when in the presence of witnesses he induced in Mr Walker the effects he had seen produced by Lafontaine with the important absence of any ‘magnetism’. He proceeded to successfully hypnotize his wife and then his man-servant.
On 27th November 1841, Dr James Braid gave his first public demonstration of how he could reproduce the effects of ‘magnetism’ using only eye fixation and without physical contact- a phenomenon that soon became known to the world as 'hypnosis'.
67 Piccadilly is therefore the perfect place for a commemorative plaque to Dr James Braid. With the European Society of Hypnosis Congress being held in Manchester in Aug 2017, it would also be the perfect timing and your help and contribution to achieve this would be gratefully received.
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Supporters
8
L Dunlop
Apr 9, 2017
Excellent idea, Mike. Good luck!
£10.00
Harry Brownrigg
Mar 14, 2017
Good luck with the fund raising Mike!
£20.00
Ron Bishop
Mar 8, 2017
Thank you for your thoughtfulness and remembrance
Jacky Owens
Mar 7, 2017
With pleasure Mike, hope you achieve your goal
Wendy Gonsalkorale
Mar 7, 2017
What a lovely idea. As a former practitioner of hypnosis in Manchester, I am pleased to give my modest contribution towards this wonderful project. Hope to see the plaque before long!
Anonymous
Mar 7, 2017
Tenner in the pot Mr Gow
£10.00
Michael Yapko
Mar 6, 2017
What a worthy goal, preserving some vital hypnosis history! Thanks for doing this.
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Mike Gow
Dr Mike Gow is a dentist and a past president of The British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis (Scotland). He recently researched and published (in the European Society of Hypnosis Newsletter) an article about the life and work of Dr James Braid.