| Description Of Item | Oil on canvas, 121.9 x 106.7 cm
John Sibbald, a descendant of Sir Robert Sibbald, was born in Edinburgh and educated at Merchiston Castle School and Edinburgh University where he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1854. Following appointments in Perth Infirmary and Brompton Hospital, London, he returned to Edinburgh as assistant physician to Dr Skae in the Royal Asylum.
During vacations he travelled on the continent and was particularly impressed by Griesinger's 'Colony' system in Berlin. In 1862, he organised and opened the Argyll and Bute Asylum at Lochgilphead on his appointment as medical superintendent. In 1877 he was appointed Commissioner in Lunacy for Scotland, a post he held for 21 years. This influential position gave Sibbald the opportunity to change the prison-like asylums in Scotland to hospitals for diseases of the nervous system for which, during all his professional life, he was a pioneer. On his retiral in 1899 he was honoured by receiving a knighthood.
Artist: George Reid |