Freud's Free Clinics

1923–1932: THE MOST GRATIFYING YEARS
24 The London Clinic for
Psychoanalysis on Gloucester Place
(Photo by Claudine Rausch)
36 Gloucester Place in the center of the city, London West 1 (figure 24). Other
patients were delayed, however, until the following fall. At first the analysts occupied
only a portion of the Gloucester Place townhouse and sublet the upper
two floors. Building construction frustrated their attempts to develop a daily
clinical schedule, and finally they admitted that necessary renovations would
postpone their prospects for a fully functioning clinic until September. In spite
of that Jones grew increasingly eager as opening day approached and dashed
off note after note, barely containing his excitement in anticipation of Tuesday,
September 24. Over their twenty years of fellowship Freud, who claimed
to detest ceremonies, had come to realize how much Jones loved them and
greeted his triumph with impeccable courtesy. “Although absent from the
opening of the Clinic tomorrow, I am all with you and feel the importance of
the day,” Freud wrote to his friend. 4 The British society then formally delegated
responsibility for the clinic to a board of managers. Ernest Jones greeted
well-wishers as director of both the clinic and the Institute, while Edward
Glover assumed the position of assistant director, and Drs. Douglas Bryan, Estelle
Cole, David Eder, William Inman, John Rickman, Robert M. Rigall, and
William Stoddart made up the remaining staff. Sylvia Payne and Marjorie
Brierley, the only two women on the senior staff, interrupted their professional
work to assume “domestic” responsibilities and oversee the care of the
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