Grierson House and Crichton Church

Dumfries and Galloway

The Crichton Church, Saturday 10am - 12 noon
An opportunity to view the interior of Crichton Church, with Crichton Trust staff on hand to answer your questions.

The Board Room, Grierson House, Saturday 2 pm - 3.30 pm
Presentation ‘The Crichton and War’ by Dr Valentina Bold, The Crichton Trust’s Heritage Officer, with a guided tour of Grierson House with Jennifer Challinor, The Crichton Trust’s Head of Research and Development, and refreshments.

Dr Bold will discuss the military connections of the Crichton Royal Institution (CRI) in the 19th and 20th centuries. The experiences of patients and staff will be considered, from those of serving soldiers and veterans, to that of founder Dr James Crichton and his brother in law, Colonel William Grierson, the ‘Battle Sketches’ of patient David Cathcart and the presence of the War Department at Hannahfield house in the late 19th century. The pioneering work of Dr Flora Murray, founder of Endell Street Military Hospital, will feature, along with the rehabilitation of First World War veterans. During the Second World War, sanctuary was offered to Jewish doctors by Dr Wilhelm Mayer-Gross, and Physician Superintendent Dr P.K. McCowan served as a  Lieutenant Colonel, as part of the CRI became a military hospital. The Crichton’s support to Korean War veterans will also be profiled, through lived experience.

The exchanges the event will consider are both physical and mental. They link to trade exchanges connected to wartime (Dr Crichton, for instance) and also staff connections (the sanctuary offered to Jewish mental health professionals prior to the Second World War). As an asylum, the Crichton Royal offered routes, too, to recovery. This is local heritage connected to national and international issues. 

David Cathcart, ‘The Battle of Horndean’. 
Credit: David Cathcart - The Grand Defeat of Marshal Soult. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.  Image is owned by Dumfries and Galloway Health Board and the original records are held by Dumfries and Galloway Heritage Service.

James George McLellan Arnott, ‘Dr James Crichton’.
Credit: NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Dr Flora Murray
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
 

Facilities

• Disabled Access
• Disabled WC
• WC
• Refreshments
• Parking
• Hearing Loop