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I am pleased to acknowledge my appreciation of John Bowlby, his work and the man. I am indebted to Pearl King for some of the history.
John Bowlby became a member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society in November 1939, with Paula Heimann and Ronald Fairbairn. Already his interests were focussing: he wrote about the role of environmental factors in the development of neuroses and children's psychological difficulties. He had studied medicine at Cambridge University and worked at University College Hospital before becoming a psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital. He then worked in the Child Guidance Training Centre, then known as the London Child Guidance Clinic, from 1937 to 1940.
During the 1939-1945 war John Bowlby was on the War Office Selection Board. Alongside this he was Secretary of the Medical Committee of the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, with Adrian Stephens as Chairman. They produced important documents: a Training Scheme in relation to the Diploma in Psychological Medicine course, to take place at the Institute of psycho-Analysis; a Memorandum on the Teaching of Psychiatry; and a Memorandum on the Effects of a National Health Service on the Future of Psycho-Analysis.
After the war, following the ‘Controversial Discussions' (theoretical discussions between the Kleinian and Anna Freudian groups), the Institute's Training Committee was reorganised and John Bowlby became Secretary. There were objections to his holding that position since Bowlby was not a Training Analyst; but his talents as a good organiser carried him forward. He was involved in the careful negotiations that took place to instigate new training arrangements that acknowledged differences between the theoretical groups but that enabled the Society to stay together rather than split into smaller fragments. He produced the first training prospectus and generally improved the structure, organisation and professionalism of the training.
John Bowlby continued to be active in the British Psycho-Analy