Richard Poole (physician)

Richard Poole (1783–1871) was a Scottish physician, psychiatrist, and phrenologist.

Poole was born in Edinburgh, though from an English background. He graduated M.D. at the University of St Andrews in 1805. He was editor of the New Edinburgh Review, and published articles promoting phrenology in the early 1820s; it existed 1821 to 1823. Poole was also first editor of the Phrenological Journal. Poole joined the editorial staff of the Encyclopædia Edinensis under James Millar.

From 1820 Poole campaigned for a new infirmary in Edinburgh. In 1825 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In the late 1830s he was a pioneer advocate of mental health reform, and in 1838 he became superintendent of the Montrose Asylum, succeeding W. A. F. Browne. He remained at Montrose until 1845. He then kept a private asylum at Middlefield, Aberdeenshire.

Poole died at Coupar Angus.

He is credited with dramas, including "Willie Armstrong" performed in Edinburgh in 1829.

Poole also wrote for the Edinburgh Encyclopædia and Encyclopædia Britannica. A list of publications appeared in Scottish Notes and Queries.

An epitaph gives Jane Caird as Poole's wife; it also records his dates as 1781 to 1870. Their children included Samuel Wordsworth Poole, a physician and episcopal clergyman.

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