Carman - Carothers was happily settled at Kisii where he hoped to remain until he went on leave and he was by no means pleased when he was posted to Mathari. However, although he did not know it then Carothers had found his real metier for he had a flair for psychiatry and became very good at it. Later he obtained a Diploma in Psychological Medicine and was eventually gazetted one of the Colony's Specialists. After his retirement in 1950, Carothers was appointed to St. James's Hospital, Portsmouth and in 1953 he wrote a WHO monograph entitled 'The African Mind in Health and Disease', while in 1954 at the request of the Kenya Government he compiled a White Paper on the psychology of Mau Mau which makes fascinating reading.

Gazette - 10/9/1929 - Arrived on 1st Appointment - Medical Officer - Dr J.C.D. Carothers

MO Kenya (1929-38); Specialist Psychiatrist Kenya (1938-50); Psychiatric Specialist, St James’ Hospital, Portsmouth (1951-59); Consultant Specialist, St James’ Hospital, Portsmouth (1959-c. 1965) 

Obituary in Pyychiatric Bulletin 1990, 14, 439 He came to England at the age of 4. He was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School, and qualified MB, BS, at St Thomas' Hospital in 1926 where he held house posts. After a period in general practice, he was appointed in 1929 Medical Officer to the East African Medical Service and, in all, spent nine years in Kenya, before returning to England to study psy chiatry. He obtained the DPM in 1946,after a period of training at the Maudsley. Dr Carothers returned to Africa to take up an appointment as Medical Officer in charge of the Mathari Mental Hospital, Nairobi. In this post he obtained quite unique experi ence of psychiatric problems in various racial com munities. It was during the 12 years that he spent there that he became the Psychiatric Specialist to the East African Medical Service. In addition he assisted the East African Command with a vast number of psychiatric problems that arose within the Armed Services during World War II. For most of this period he was also in medical charge of HM Prison, Nairobi. In 1951 Dr Carothers left Africa and returned to the United Kingdom, where he began work at St James' Hospital, Portsmouth. It was during these next few years that Dr Carothers started to crystallise his thoughts on the contrasting cultures in which he had worked. At the request of the World Health Organization, he published a monograph entitled The African Mind in Health and Disease, with a second paper, The Psychology of Mau-Mau, appearing as a Government White Paper in 1955. He had, in fact, been invited to visit Kenya Colony in 1954 by the Kenyan Government, and in the following year was similarly requested to visit Nigeria so that he could report on the state of the psychiatric services there.