Dr James Douglas Templeton

in this section: An appreciation by John Evans and Robin Hall

'An appreciation by John Evans'

Jim Templeton who was born on 24th November 1926 died on 31st August 2005.

He was one of a number of young Scots who travelled to London in the 1950’s to train to become a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Born in Glasgow, a school time friend in Glasgow of Ronald Laing and long term colleague they influenced each other over the years. Both came to London to train as analysts. While Ronnie worked in the Tavistock Clinic and wrote his world famous ‘The Divided Self’, Jim’s focus was on becoming a practitioner translating theory into practice. He went to work in the Cassel Hospital starting as JHMO in 1959 and ending up as Deputy Medical Director before returning to Glasgow in 1973.

At the age of 18 years Jim had became a commissioned officer in the Indian Army and served in the tribal area between Pakistan and Afghanistan as the Army exerted some control over warring tribes. Amongst other duties he defused explosive devices..

On leaving the Army he graduated in Medicine in 1954 and worked in Glasgow as a junior Psychiatrist before moving to London. He began his training to become an analyst in 1958. Analysed by Pearl King and being supervised by Paula Heiman he became a Full Member in 1970.

Jim would have remained in the Cassel but for the sudden death of Lola, his wife, leaving their two daughters Fiona and Melanie motherless. He responded to the inevitable pressures on a single parent family by enlisting family support and returning to work in Glasgow. Initially he worked as an adolescent psychiatrist and then became the first Consultant Psychotherapist in the NHS in the Glasgow region in 1974. He said that initially he was unwelcome by senior staff but welcomed by trainees -a not uncommon response as establishments sometimes take as criticism the development of new specialities.

Scotland, was fortunate that Jock Sutherland, on retiring as head of the Tavistock Clinic, came back to live in Edinburgh. He created the Scottish Institute of Human Relations in Edinburgh in 1972. Then with a small group of other Psychoanalysts including Willie McIntyre who had recently retired from the Maudsley he started a three year training course in Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy. It lead to a number eventually becoming members of the British Psychoanalytic Society

Jim, with others, became a tutor and training analyst establishing a training which has lead to medicals and non medicals eventually qualifying as psychoanalysts. Jim was to be the driving force in the West of Scotland but he also travelled regularly to Edinburgh, a fifty mile journey, for its night time meetings, committees and seminars -as well as actively maintaining links with the British Psychoanalytic Society He would be a major force in the growth of psychotherapy services in the West of Scotland.

Developments in psychotherapy services are inevitably multifaceted, whether it be Psychoanalysis, Groups therapy, Family therapy, Cognitive therapy, etc. as it crosses professional boundaries. Jim was active in a number of areas.

He became a major contributor to the Psychotherapy Section of the College of Psychiatrists and to its six monthly Residential Conferences ending up as its chairman.

Of even more importance he was a member and eventually became chairman of the College of :Psychiatrists’ Joint board of Higher Psychiatric Training for Psychotherapy which oversees the standard of training provided for future Consultant Psychotherapists throughout the NHS in the UK. Every speciality in the NHS is competing for more resources Psychotherapy needs its fighters as much as any speciality . Jim was a doughty boxer when younger and as a negotiator for psychotherapy resources in middle age he was likewise.

On occasions the SIHR also benefited from his ability to use his army experience of defusing potential explosive devices before lasting damage was done.

As a man Jim was a serious, committed, hard working colleague. He was a people oriented man, and apart from working in the Southern General Hospital of Glasgow seeing patients and training staff, it resulted in him working in a number of institutions such as schools for the delinquent and the deprived. He was consultant to a number of organisations.

He did attempt to establish a psychoanalytic training centre in Scotland which did not involve students travelling to London but this proved to be unacceptable.

So much for his professional life in Scotland After many years of widowhood he was fortunate to meet Moira. It lead to a contented semi-retirement beginning in 1989. It included accompanying her to her work in Japan and his being invited to give seminars on Psychoanalysis to Japanese psychiatrists.

Diagnosed with inoperable cancer, over a year ago, his dying aged 78 years proved to be a peaceful end to a busy life. His conclusion was that he had had a fortunate life.

'An appreciation by Robin Hall'

Dr James Douglas Templeton
Psychoanalyst and Consultant Psychotherapist.
Pioneer in Psychoanalysis in the west of Scotland
1926 – 2005

Jim led a remarkable and varied life. He was born in Bridgeton, in the east end of Glasgow, and attended John Street School. His father, who was decorated and promoted in the field at the Battle of the Somme in World War One, ran a dairy business in Bridgeton.

During his secondary school years, Jim’s parents transferred him to Hutchesons’ Grammar School in the south side of Glasgow. The transition all but took his breath away, but he blossomed there.

Around the same time, concerned about Jim’s fiery temper, his father enrolled him in the Dalmarnock Road Boxing Club, and there Jim was to acquire skills which stood him in good stead in later life – not least when fighting for additional psychotherapy resources for the west of Scotland.

At the age of eighteen, Jim became the youngest commissioned officer in the Indian Army and was in charge of an entire company of the 14th Punjam Regiment based at Ferozapore.

On discharge at the end of World War Two, Jim returned to Glasgow to commence his medical studies. These were interrupted by an episode of TB which necessitated eight months in bed at home. On completing his finals he took up the post of house physician in Christchurch in the south of England, but soon realised that his TB was again active. He resigned and was admitted to what is now Ayrshire Central Hospital where he was to spend the next year.

After his discharge Jim spend several happy months in Spain – a country he was in love with for the rest of his life. When his Scottish Protestant work ethic caught up with him, he returned to Scotland and took up a post in the Neurological Unit of Killearn Hospital alongside his old school friend, R D Laing, author of ‘The Divided Self’. From there he went to the Professorial Unit at the Southern General Hospital before going to London for his psychoanalytic training.

Jim worked at the Cassel Hospital, Richmond, and climbed quickly through he ranks until he became Deputy Medical Director and Consultant in Family Psychiatry. During that time, he worked with the redoubtable Tom Main, who is quoted as saying he was sure that Jim would ‘always let love triumph over hate, constructiveness over destructiveness’.

Jim married Lola Arwas in 1959 and they had two children, Fiona and Melanie. Lola’s tragic early death left him a single parent and, after some soul-searching, Jim decided to take his daughters to Largs where his mother and sister would create a family life for them. Soon after, tired of the weekend drive from London to Largs, Jim decided to return to Scotland himself. While he had enjoyed considerable status in both the psychiatric and psychoanalytic worlds in London, Jim at first felt isolated as the only psychoanalyst in the west of Scotland and, later, the first consultant psychotherapist in Scotland. The political battles were long and hard, but Jim enjoyed politics and he worked hard to establish psychotherapy in Scotland. He soon joined forces with Jock Sutherland who, recently retired as Head of the Tavistock Clinic in London, was setting up the Scottish Institute of Human Relations in Edinburgh. He became a training analyst and was a regular contributor to the Institute’s three-year training course for psychoanalytic psychotherapists in Scotland, travelling regularly to Edinburgh for night time committee meetings and seminars. At the same time, he maintained close links with the British Psychoanalytic Society.

Jim became a fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and was for many years Chairman of the Joint Committee for Higher Psychiatric Training for Psychotherapy, which oversees the standard of training provided for future consultant psychiatrists through the NHS in the UK.

In 1983 Jim met Moira Gralton, a psychologist and psychotherapist. This special relationship led eventually to a contented retirement, which began in 1989 with Jim accompanying Moira as she took up a university post in Japan. Fascinated by the culture, Jim was delighted by the opportunity to provide further training and supervision for Japanese psychiatrists. In 1991 Jim and Moira married in Largs and returned to Japan for a further two years. During this time they travelled widely in the Pacific region, a particular pleasure being their visits to Jim’s daughter in New Zealand.

On their return from Japan, Jim and Moira enjoyed winters in Spain and summers in Largs. Throughout his life, Largs was a real haven for Jim. An enthusiastic cook and gracious host, he loved to entertain. Another great source of pleasure for much of his life was the boat he shared with two friends. Trips to Cumbrae and Bute with these friends, all their children, and his faithful Labradore provided much-needed relaxation and freedom away from the world of work.

After a diagnosis of terminal cancer in August 2004, Jim talked easily about his approaching death and this made it comfortable for family and friends to respond. He was not afraid of death, considering his life to be finite and happy to believe so. I am reminded of the words: ‘I warmed both hands at the fire of life. It sinks and I am ready to depart’.

This was Jim.