A Case for the Ordinary - Asylum records in an English County
Dormant Last read · last published · next check
Read 2 days ago and current, but nothing has been published for 5 years.
With the release of the 1921 census, this year promises to be an interesting one for family historians and here at Staffordshire Record Office we have an exciting announcement of our own! After months of work by the staff and volunteers of our Wellcome funded Asylums Project team, on Monday 10 January our Asylums Index … Continue reading The Asylums Name Index goes live!
James Beveridge Spence spent most of his working life at the Burntwood Asylum where he became highly respected in the role of Medical Superintendent. He also played an important role in establishing national standards for the training of asylum nurses and attendants. Born in 1849, he was educated at The Queen’s University of Ireland, qualifying … Continue reading James Beveridge Spence (1849-1928)…
The cover of this rather tattered little notebook offers no clue as to its contents. Yet inside is a wealth of information regarding staff recruitment at the Burntwood Asylum. Almost 300 job advertisements, which were placed in local and national newspapers between 1892 and 1928, have been painstakingly cut out and glued in, with a … Continue reading Staff recruitment at the Burntwood Asylum
The events of the past eighteen months have, for many of us, highlighted the importance of access to outdoor space. In the depths of lockdown, a daily walk brought a little bit of respite from the isolation of being shut away and those of us who were fortunate to have a garden appreciated the quiet … Continue reading Gardening and outdoor activity
by Lucy Smith Thanks to the Victorian obsession with collecting data, we know that most of the people who were admitted to the Staffordshire Asylums during the nineteenth century had low levels of literacy. The table below, taken from the Annual Report of 1851, indicates that over half of patients were unable to read and … Continue reading Literacy in the asylum
by Lucy Smith Alcohol featured prominently in the nineteenth century asylums, mainly as a staple drink for both staff and patients but also as a form of medication. The Stafford Asylum had its own brewhouse and, according to the 1851 diet table, male patients would routinely be given a pint of beer with dinner and … Continue reading Alcohol
by Lucy Smith The food consumed by patients was recognised by medical superintendents as a key aspect of mental health care. In this post we look at the dietary provision in the Staffordshire Asylums during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Provisions Book for the 1820s gives an indication of the types of foods … Continue reading Diet
by Lucy Smith Many of the men and women who entered the Staffordshire Asylums were admitted for reasons related to religion. During the nineteenth century ‘religious excitement’ or ‘religious enthusiasm’, which would now be termed fanaticism, featured prominently in admission notes and was regarded by early practitioners as a cause of mental illness. Later, it … Continue reading Religion in the…
Religion played an important role in asylum care during the nineteenth century, being integral to systems of moral management which emphasized the need for patients to be treated humanely and provided with the means to regain their powers of self-control. Whilst for some patients delusions with religious associations were the most obvious symptom of their … Continue reading Religion in the Asylums
Jean-Martin Charcot became famous for his work in Paris, and the study of hysteria took up much of his time. The symptoms of hysterics who were sent to him at Salpetriere hospital were many and varied. They were usually physical, but sometimes included heightened emotions and moods, and Charcot tried to establish a systematic pattern.[i] … Continue reading Hysteria – Part Three
