P000993 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human Gavan McCarthy; Annette Alafaci updated 2025-07-16 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000993b.htm person Alexander Frederick Matthias AACR2 20 January 1869 10 October 1955 Place of Birth Table Cape, Tasmania, Australia Place of Death London, England Educator Therapist Frederick Alexander, initially trained as an actor, developed the 'Alexander Technique' in the early 1900s to solve the vocal problems that continually hindered his stage career. This Alexander technique is now used by many people around the world to rid their bodies of tension and stress. Alexander never obtained any formal medical or scientific training.

With a strong love of the theatre and Shakespeare, Frederick Matthias Alexander left his Tasmanian mining job to take up acting lessons in Melbourne. It was here he learnt the importance of controlled breathing, proper posture and voice projection. Alexander spent a few years in New Zealand in the early 1890s improving his skills and further developing his belief that correct posture was the key to maintaining top physical, emotional and spiritual health. He returned to Melbourne in 1894 to teach stage skills as well as his posture theories and moved to Sydney in 1899. As his beliefs were gaining support in Australia, Alexander moved to London (1904) to reach a wider audience. In 1910 he produced his first major publication "Man's Supreme inheritance" which outlined what is now known as the Alexander technique. Alexander's reputation grew and soon he had many pupils, often famous ones including Aldous Huxley and George Bernard Shaw, in Europe and in the United States of America. When World War II broke out Frederick Alexander moved his school to Massachusetts and continued to teach and write books on the subject even as its popularity began to diminish slightly. Alexander's achievements were praised by the 1973 Nobel Prize (Physiology/Medicine) winner, Professor Tinbergen as "one of the true epics of medical research and practice".

c. 1885 c. 1885 Career position - Clerk, Mount Bischoff mine, Waratah, Tasmania c. 1890 c. 1890 Career position - Brother Albert Redden began assisting in the technique c. 1890 c. 1890 Education - Moved to Melbourne to study acting c. 1892 c. 1892 Life event - Moved to New Zealand and mainly stayed in Auckland 1894 1894 Life event - Returned to Melbourne to teach stage skills and breathing and voice techniques 1899 1904 Career position - Worked in Sydney c. 1904 c. 1904 Life event - Moved to London to continue his teaching and research into techniques to correct breathing and posture for maintaining health 1910 1910 Publication - Book: Man's Supreme Inheritance which introduced what is now called the 'Alexander Technique', published in London 1914 Career position - Began teaching the 'Alexander Technique' in the USA 1920 1920 Life event - Married Edith Mary Parsons Young

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 Alexander, F Matthias (1869-1955)

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 'Alexander, Frederick Matthias', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Alexander, Frederick Matthias Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book Section: Frederick Matthias Alexander, 1869-1955 Williamson, Malcolm Frederick Matthias Alexander, 1869-1955 Oxford Oxford University Press 2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Book Section: Alexander, Frederick Matthias (1869-1955), founder of the Alexander technique Roe, Michael Alexander, Frederick Matthias (1869-1955), founder of the Alexander technique Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1979 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 7: 1891 - 1939 A-Ch Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle 32-33 Resource Section: Alexander the Great Warkentin, Juliet Alexander the Great 1999 The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique Frederick Matthias Alexander - Records Tufts University, USA (Archives for Special Collections Frederick Matthias Alexander - Records 1906 - 1989 Correspondence 1906-75 (File 1); F.P. Jones experimental research data and material 1955-80 (File 2); Grant proposals 1954-70 (File 3); Papers on the Alexander Technique 1937-82 (Files 3 and 4); Papers pertaining to the Alexander Technique 1946-?? (Files 4 and 5); Graduate theses and dissertations 1954-89 (18 volumes); Films and videos c1950s-1986 (7 sets) [Hundreds of items, in the F.M. Alexander, F.P. Jones Archival Collection]. Film, Photographs, Video