Clarence Hincks, while director of the Canadian Mental Health Association, announced on CBC cross-Canada radio that he was manic depressive. In mid-twentieth century Canada, the mentally ill were still seen as creatures to be hidden away. It took real courage for Hincks to proclaim his illness. But he did so for humanitarian purposes.

Clare, as he was generally known, was born in the town of St. Marys, Ontario. The son of a clergyman, he studied at the University of Toronto, graduating in medicine in 1908. He left his first practice in Campbellford, Ontario, after refusing to carry out an abortion of convenience for a prominent citizen.

As a young practitioner in Toronto, Hincks became involved with examining schoolchildren, particularly those who were having trouble keeping up in the school system. It was in Toronto’s school system that his life’s calling began. Many of the children he was called upon to see were classified, in the unfortunate jargon of the day, “feeble-minded.” Others were labelled “idiots.” In general, they were thought of as unteachable and the question often was whether they should be isolated in one of the establishments devoted exclusively to such persons. But there were still other children who had no discernable reason for having the troubles they exhibited in school.

Hincks was convinced that there was no reason to be pessimistic about many of these children. He identified their unrecognised condition with his own life experiences. Although he had had a healthy, vigorous childhood and youth, when still a university student Clare had his first episode of mental illness. At the time, he had lost all interest in his surroundings and his studies. Many long days he had lain abed, convinced that nothing would ever interest him again. He was wrong, of course, and it was the recovery that so impressed him. He knew from personal experience that mental illness was not necessarily permanent. This first insight led to his lifetime involvement with the mentally ill. His dramatic revelation on CBC radio in 1962 describing his reoccurring illness was intentional: he wished to destroy the fear felt by much of the public about mental illness.

In August 1913, Hincks attended a medical meeting in Buffalo, New York. He paid his expenses by writing an account of the meetings for the Toronto Daily Star. At Buffalo he first learned about the Stanford-Binet tests that measure intelligence quotient, or one’s IQ. But perhaps the most significant discovery was a publication by the American, Clifford Beers, called A Mind That Found Itself. Beers had been institutionalized in the eastern United States because of a severe depressive illness that sounded much like Hincks’ own problem. Beers had recovered after a two-year illness and had written his book during convalescence. It, and its author, played a major role in establishing the mental hygiene movement in North America. It was from the nascent American organization that Hincks took inspiration to establish something similar in Canada.

The initial organization in Canada, the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene (CNCMH), owed much to Clare Hincks, to Dr. Colin Russell of Montreal, and to Dr. C.K. Clarke in Toronto as well as to the generosity of wealthy Canadians, in particular Lady Eaton. Hincks not only demonstrated superb organizational skills but proved over and over again that he was one of Canada’s adroit fundraisers.

Clare devoted his considerable energy to pushing for the establishment of the CNCMH pat-terned on Beers’ young group in the USA. From the initial formative meeting in February 1918 to its incorporation by federal charter on April 26, 1918, Hincks travelled the cities of Ontario and Quebec, seeking both professional and fiscal cooperation. It is a great tribute to so many individuals that the organization became a functioning entity so quickly.

The work of the CNCMH was much advanced by provincial surveys made early in the Committee’s existence. For example, in 1918 Hincks and C.K. Clarke were invited to Manitoba to survey the mental institutions of that province, their first major activity after incorporation. At the outset they wisely established a policy of reporting directly to the government and thereby avoided the confrontational stance of later organizations that chose to release findings to the press first.

What Clare found during the three-week survey in Manitoba was sensational. The various institutions and/or hospitals were seriously overcrowded. Patients who should, ideally, have been separated were lumped together. Some should not have been patients at all. Moreover, some of the custodial care was appalling as exemplified by the naked woman who had been locked in a dark closet without furniture for two years.

The government of Manitoba reacted positively to the confidential report tendered by the CNCMH. So did other governments over the years. Surveys were made in other provinces. Governments became more and more comfortable in their dealings with the medical staff of the CNCMH.

As efforts increasingly focused on direct contact with the Canadian public, the Committee, in 1950, changed its name to the Canadian Mental Health Association. Made Medical Director of the CNCMH in 1924, Hincks continued in this office with the CMHA until his retirement in 1952. By then, at least partly because of the accomplishments of this organization, public perception of mental illness had changed significantly. Many other countries had studied and copied the approach of the CMHA. Institutions had become more humane, and patients often did better while confined in them. As a result of the work of the CMHA, today mental illness is much better understood.

Hincks was not a traditional medical researcher. His contributions to medical literature were few and basic. But his influence, support, and assistance helped to create and push forward a multitude of necessary projects. Clarence Hincks was greatly responsible for changing the bogeyman attitude to mental illness that had prevailed for thousands of years. This was his greatest achievement.

Charles Roland