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William Rees-Thomas

British psychiatrist (1887-1978)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ8017442
Source-derived summary

William Rees-Thomas CB FRCP FRSM (15 June 1887 – 13 April 1978) was a Welsh psychiatrist. He was Medical Senior Commissioner for the Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency.

Born in Senny, Breconshire, he was educated at County School, Brecon and Cardiff University. He became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1913 and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1933.

He was awarded the Alfred Sheen Prize, 1906; Alfred Hughes Memorial Medal, 1907; Llewelyn Prize, 1909; Murchison Scholar (RCP), 1912; Gaskell Prize and gold medal.

During the First World War he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps

He was appointed to the Board of Control in 1931, replacing Arthur Rotherham as Medical Senior Commissioner

He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1950

He married Muriel Hodgson Jones in 1917; they had a son Frederick Douglas Rees-Thomas (1920–1995), and daughter Aelwyn Minette (1922–2012). He was widowed in 1934. In 1948 he remarried Ruth Darwin, a colleague of his on the Board of Control, daughter of Sir Horace and Lady Ida Darwin they had no children, and she died in 1972. He died in Surrey in 1978.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “William Rees-Thomas” as british psychiatrist (1887-1978). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Rees-Thomas and British.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1887, 1978, 1913, 1933—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1887-06-15. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with William, Rees-Thomas and British providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “William Rees-Thomas”, the useful work is to connect “british psychiatrist (1887-1978)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8017442. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1887, 1978, 1913 and 1933.

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This entry incorporates text from William Rees-Thomas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.