Richard Vereker

Richard Vereker was born in 1920, the son of a prosperous farmer with lands on the banks of the River Suir in South Kilkenny. As a boy he loved his home, Moonveen, and reading. He was educated as a boarder at St Kieran’s College in Kilkenny where he distinguished himself academically.

Dick, as he was known to all, studied medicine at University College Dublin. He qualified MB BCh (Hons) in 1944 and became a house officer at his teaching hospital, the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Dublin.

His interest in psychiatry started early in his career, and he went to Manchester in 1945 as a medical officer at Crumpsall and then Prestwich Mental Hospitals. He gained a Diploma in Psychological Medicine (Dublin) in 1946. Dick volunteered for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the same year, where he was a specialist in psychiatry and neurology for 2 years, attaining the rank of squadron leader. He was stationed at Ely and Wilmslow, and vividly remembered flying over Germany in the bombardier’s position of a Lancaster bomber, a flight he undertook to better understand the experiences of the airmen under his care.

After the RAF, Dick continued to study psychiatry. He was awarded the MD (Dublin) in 1950 by examination in psychiatry and general medicine and was elected MRCPsych in 1971.

He undertook original research and read papers to the Royal Medico-Psychological Association. He published a paper ‘The psychiatric aspects of temporal arteritis’, describing the first case in the world literature to come under psychiatric care, in the Journal of Mental Science; this was then selected for publication in the American Year Book of Neurology and Psychiatry in 1952. He pursued his interest in antipsychotic medication and published a paper ‘Fatal case of agranulocytosis due to chlorpromazine’ in the British Medical Journal in 1958. He also undertook research into prognostic factors in depression, the use of an anticonvulsant in epilepsy and the relationship of casualties and sedatives.

Dick took up his first consultant post in 1954 as Deputy Medical Superintendent at St Edward’s Hospital in Cheddleton, Staffordshire. His considerable knowledge of new psychiatric approaches, particularly psychopharmacology, helped to modernise out-of-date practices.

In 1960 Dick went as Clinical Director to Westborough State Psychiatric Hospital in Massachusetts where he headed the National Institute of Mental Health-funded Antidepressant Drug Research Project. Always interested in personality disorders, he was intrigued to see a patient known as the ‘ measuring man’ who went on to become the infamous ‘Boston Strangler’.

Dick was appointed Medical Superintendent of St George’s Hospital in Stafford in 1962 on returning to England. St George’s had approximately 1200 psychiatric beds for south Staffordshire in the early 1960s, with many long-stay and older adult patients. There were profound changes over the next 20 years with a reduction of beds to about 800. He worked with tireless commitment overseeing the gradual reduction of the long-stay population with considerable concern for the welfare and loss of sanctuary of some of the most vulnerable members of society. There was a managerial reorganisation in 1971. Dick continued as a consultant at St George’s with in-patient beds at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, until his retirement in 1980.

Dick always considered himself foremost a clinician. He was a compassionate doctor with astute clinical judgement, and was known to have a marked ability to get straight to the centre of a problem. He took a special interest in depressive disorders and was very skilled in their management with antidepressants.

Dick was a private man, modest, tolerant and generous, and was happiest when reading about Irish and British history. He took pleasure in investigating the history of the Vereker family. He did research on John Prendergast Vereker Field Marshal Viscount Gort VC, corresponding with politicians and military figures, including General Eisenhower. When J. R. Colville’s biography of Gort Man of Valour was published in 1972, Dick’s contribution was especially acknowledged.

He had a long and happy marriage to his beautiful wife Judy, whom he had known since childhood. In 1989 they moved to Killiney, South County Dublin, where they enjoyed a splendid view over the sea. He loved the countryside and planted many trees in his homes in England, Killiney and Moonveen. He endured his final illness with characteristic courage and dignity and died peacefully at home on 27 April 2004. He leaves a sad and loving family, his wife Judy, two daughters and five grandchildren.