For the past 100 years the Tavistock and Portman has been working to serve its community
The Tavistock and Portman changes lives. For 100 years, we have proudly been at the forefront of exploring mental health and wellbeing. Over the last hundred years, the work of the clinic has continually evolved to reflect new learning and develop new methods.
Key tenets that have guided us throughout are a developmental approach, thinking contextually, and reflective practice. The Tavistock and Portman has and continues to make a substantial contribution to therapeutic practice, social work, the justice system, education and organisational consultancy.
100 years on from when we saw our first patient, our centenary is a chance to celebrate our influence and consider what our contribution might be across the next hundred years.
Find out more about the key figures who have shaped the Tavistock and Portman, see a timelines of our history and make sure to sign up to our Centenary Festival talks and events.
“For decades, the Tavistock’s work has helped shape how we see ourselves, as persons and as a society. Much thinking that has entered the mainstream emerged from its challenging, interdisciplinary research and practice”
– Hilary Mantel
The founding of the Tavistock Clinic
The Tavistock Clinic, or Tavi as it is more colloquially known, was founded on 27 September in 1920 by Hugh Crichton-Miller. In the beginning it was the home of a small band of seven doctors. In addition to Hugh Crichton-Miller, the Honorary Director, there was: Dr JA Hadfield, Dr Mary..Read More
The Tavistock Clinic sees its first patient
The Tavistock Clinic saw its first patient, a child, on 27 September in 1920. The first patient was seen by Dr Hamilton Pearson on 27 September 1920 and this is where we take the date of our founding from. The second patient was an adult and was seen by Mary..Read More
Grace Pailthorpe starts her research into criminology
In 1922, Grace Pailthorpe began her study of women offenders in Birmingham Prison under Britain’s first criminologist, Dr M. Hamblin-Smith. This work was later extended to Holloway Prison in London and other institutions.
The mid-20s
During the 1920s the Tavistock Clinic grew. Speech Therapy and Social Work were added to the services provided by the Clinic and towards the end of the decade a hostel was opened for patients from outside London. Education and training at the Clinic grew at a considerable rate. In the..Read More
Not enough space
By the end of the 1920s the building on Tavistock Square was no longer big enough. JR Rees, who had been deputy director since 1926, established an extension fund, called the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology, to raise money for new premises and on 9 August 1929 it was formally..Read More
The founding of the ASTC
On 22nd July 1931 Grace Pailthorpe formed the Association for the Scientific Treatment of Criminals (ASTC), which subsequently became the Institute for the Scientific Treatment of Delinquency (ISTD). Along with Grace Pailthorpe the other founders of the ASTC were: Dr M. Hamblin-Smith, Dr David Eder, Dr Edward Glover, Dr James..Read More
The Tavistock Clinic moves to Torrington Place and Malet Place
In November 1932 the Tavistock Clinic moved into a new building on the corner of Torrington Place and Malet Place. It was positioned alongside the University of London and renamed the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology. The building had previously been the stables for a Tottenham Court Road department store,..Read More
The ASTD becomes the ISTD
In a meeting at Dr Jensen’s flat at 56 Grosvenor St, London on 29 November 1932 Dr Jennings White proposed that the name of the organisation be changed from the Association for the Scientific Treatment of Criminals (ASTC) to the Institute for the Scientific Treatment of Delinquency (ISTD), which went..Read More
The founding of the Portman
The Portman Clinic was founded by Edward Glover in 1933 as the ‘Psychopathic Clinic’, with a consulting room n the West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases at 73 Welbeck Street. On 18 September they saw their first patient: ‘a woman, 47 years of age, noted as having a violent temper,..Read More
The Tavistock goes to war
On 1 September 1939 Hitler’s tanks rolled into Poland and World War 2 began. JR Rees was appointed as consultant psychiatrist to the Army at Home, responsible for the mental health of approximately three million people. Many key figures from the Tavistock Clinic joined him in the army, becoming what..Read More
The Tavistock Clinic on the home front
As with many organisations, the war years were a test of survival for the Tavistock Clinic. The story for those who did not join up was very different to those who did. The Tavistock Clinic was evacuated to the Westfield Women’s College in Hampstead on 3 September 1939 and during..Read More
The Tavistock Clinic in the Blitz
In 1940 the Germans began an intense bombing campaign against industrial targets in Britain. On 7 September they changed their strategy and the Blitz came to London. The Tavi’s move to Hampstead justified itself as 51 Tavistock Square was reduced to pavement level. Then in the spring of 1941 the..Read More
The Portman is bombed during the Blitz
On 19 September 1940, The Portman Clinic destroyed and Portman Street closed after being bombed during the Blitz.
Operation Phoenix
After the war a new Interim Medical Committee was elected by the whole of the staff with Wilfred Bion as Chair to take the Tavistock Clinic forward. Under Bion’s leadership ‘Operation Phoenix’ was put into action. Radical democratic processes were instituted in the way that the Clinic was run that..Read More
The Tavistock Centre at 120 Belsize Lane opens
In 1965 the foundation stone of the new building at Belsize Lane was laid by JR Rees and on 4 May 1967 it was opened by Princess Marina. The Tavistock Clinic (including the new Adolescent Department, which merged with the Young People’s Consultation Centre in Hampstead), the TIHR (which included..Read More
“When I nod my head, you hit it”: Leading and following even when it hurts
Introduction This presentation and discussion will explore leading and following in music settings with the Principal Percussionist of the ENO orchestra. What can we learn about organisational life from the work and craft of the orchestral musician, and the complex management of authority over the instrument, over others, and in […]
Attachment and the Tavistock: A Story
By Dr Myooran Canagaratnam ‘When people start writing they think they’ve got to write something definitive . . . I think that is fatal. The mood to write in is ‘This is quite an interesting story I’ve got to tell. I hope someone will be interested. Anyway it’s the best […]
A short history of group relations at the Tavistock
by William Halton Based on a talk given at a Trust scientific meeting: ‘Group Relations at the Tavistock: Where from and where to?’ on 11 May 2020. Group Relations owes its origin to Kurt Lewin, a gestalt psychologist from Germany who emigrated to the United States in 1933. Lewin formulated […]
Michael Balint: A Tavistock Centenary Talk
by Dr Andrew Elder, 25 September 2020 Michael Balint was a dominant figure in that particularly productive era of the Tavistock’s history just after the Second World War. He was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Budapest, the son of a GP. After qualifying in medicine in 1918, he […]
From doing as you are told to finding your own voice
How our concept of discipline changed 1920-2020 By Sebastian Kraemer A hundred years ago – whether bringing up children or training soldiers – discipline simply meant doing what you were told, with the possibility of punishment if you did not. I tell a story about a few of the Tavistock […]
Women Pioneers at the Tavistock and Portman
(or ‘What I meant to say at: The 100 years of the Tavistock and Portman: open day for staff, students, alumni, and friends’) Author: Glenn GosslingBased on the presentation on 27 September 2020 Introduction Over the last year or so I have been researching the histories of the Tavistock and […]
“Nobody thought they were doing anything wrong”
At the end of September we launched ‘100 years of the Tavistock and Portman’ with award-winning poet, playwright and broadcaster Lemn Sissay. Sheena Webb Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Service Manager and Joint Clinical Lead for our Pan-London Family Drug and Alcohol Court Team reflects on the talk and its implications […]
The Tavistock and Portman Centenary: Reflections on the Role of Medical Consultants
By Dinesh Sinha, Andrew Williams, Myooran Canagaratnam, Elizabeth VanHorn The Trust centenary has come at a point in our national life, when the crisis of the pandemic has exposed challenges to the foundations of social cohesion and delivery of healthcare. This is a situation remarkably similar to the period following […]
From then to now
By Irene Henderson, Race Diversity Champion at the Tavistock and Portman. Join us in celebrating the centenary of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust. Originally the Tavistock opened its doors on the 27th September 1920, the Portman Clinic opened its doors on 18th September 1933 and both organisations became […]
Marking our centenary
Looking back, looking forward
By Paul Jenkins, Chief Executive of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust The 27th September marks the 100th anniversary of when the first patient, a child, was seen at the Tavistock Clinic. While inevitably more muted, due to Covid 19, than originally planned, it remains a good time to […]