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Contents page THE LUNACY COMMISSION,
ITS ORIGIN, EMERGENCE AND CHARACTER
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The 1832 Madhouse Act and the Metropolitan Commission in Lunacy from 1832


Describes the London body for regulating private madhouses (licensed houses) under the 1832 Madhouses Act

3.5 THE 1832 MADHOUSE ACT
Private mutilations by Peers unintentionally place the Commission in the hands of a reforming Lord Chancellor
A routine bill in extraordinary times
Meticulous vandalism in private

3.6 THE COMMISSION'S COMPOSITION UNDER
THE 1832 MADHOUSE ACT

Lord Chancellor Brougham's reforms
A re-structured commission
1832 changes
1833 Changes

3.6.2 Barristers after 1832

3.9 Claims for commission's effectiveness
3.9.1 The commission's evaluation
3.9.2 Bethnal Green as evidence of the commission's effectiveness
3.9.3 London houses improving
3.9.4 Colonel Sykes outlines the commission's functions
3.9.5 Sykes and Ashley describe the county visitors

3.10 Reasons for effectiveness
3.10.2 Excess costs
3.10.3 Hampshire and the commission compared

3.11 Limitations of effectiveness
3.11.2 Sykes, Ashley and the London Statistical Society
3.11.3 An unnatural death rate
3.11.4 The Commission's evaluation reconsidered. Hoxton and Peckham.

3.12 Central records and national interests

3.13 Hereford Lunatic Asylum

3.14 The hole and corner Metropolitan Commission


3.5 THE 1832 MADHOUSE ACT

The chronological bibliography for 1832
gives the details of Parliamentary proceedings.
analysis of
legislation

A routine bill in extraordinary times

In February 1832 Gordon, assisted by Somerset, George Lamb and Spring Rice, brought in a new Madhouse Bill. Lamb, a brother of Melbourne the Home Secretary, was also his Under Secretary of State. Spring Rice was Joint Secretary to the Treasury and had been Under Secretary at the Home Office under Lansdowne in 1827. The Bill clearly had Government support.

The 1832 Bill was a revision of the 1828 Madhouses Act in the light of a few years experience. It consolidated the 1828 Act with the 1829 Amendment Act and made detailed alterations intended to tighten and make the provisions more effective, but no major or dramatic changes. The House of Lords was to alter this.

The Madhouses Bill was brought in whilst debates on the Parliamentary Reform Bill were so engrossing the House of Commons that Wynn suggested they should set one day a week aside for other measures.

What other bills did pass that session did so by the adoption of unusual procedures which allowed them to be dealt with without detracting from the main debate. Normally bills went through their committee stage before the "whole house". That is, in the main chamber with all MPs present who wished to be but with the Chairman of Committee in the Speaker's chair. Four days after its introduction and towards the end of a late night sitting, the Madhouse Bill was referred instead to a Select Committee of 24 MPs who were to meet in the Speaker's Chamber.

The members of this committee included the Solicitor General, the Under Secretary at the Home Office (Lamb) and two recent Under Secretaries (Rice and Dawson) and the Lord Chancellor's brother. With them were the six commissioners I have already already suggested (See 3.4.5) served on this committee because of their special knowledge of the legislation. Four of these commissioners and five other members (Rice, Dawson, Fazakerley, Ord and Protheroe) had been on the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Pauper Lunatics (See list).

In this committee of specialists I assume the parliamentary work was done. If there was any discussion in the House, Hansard did not record it.

Meticulous vandalism in private

The Bill appears to have reached the House of Lords in a form consistent with its original presentation. The Lords referred it to a "Private Committee" which any Lord could attend, but which was to meet outside the House, in a building called the Prince's Lodgings. (See Journal)

The quotation marks around Private Committee in the Journals suggested to me that this was not a recognized procedure, but how the committee was actually described. It was to be one whose proceedings could not be listened to by outsiders, and that, of course, included those who would most wish to: the Bill's House of Commons sponsors.

The main House of Lords amendment (Bill 648, 1832) was to systematically substitute Lord Chancellor for Home Secretary throughout. The reason can be inferred from the care with which they specified Lord Chancellor as "custodian of Chancery lunatics" (see definitions) and from the other amendments, which:

  • Required the appointment of two barristers to the Commission

  • Required an oath of secrecy from the Commissioners

  • Extended the period during which a private return need not be made fron three to twelve months

  • Abolished and destroyed the Register of Single Lunatics

The effect of these changes with respect to Single Lunatics can be seen in the comparison of the 1828 and 1832 Acts that I have made in 3S.5.

The Lords abolished the Private Register of single lunatics (ordering destruction of any existing Register) and allowed single lunatics to be confined for a year without notice.

The Chancery Lunatics, who were the custody of the Lord Chancellor, were invariably rich and Single Houses were expensive. The Lords' aim seems to have been to protect the rich and powerful from the operations of the Act. Their revisions were not aimed at the general improvement of the legislation, but a meticulous vandalism seeking to stop the general legislation imposing on the interests of their class.

In the middle of the Reform Bill crisis one has visions of the relatives of aristocratic lunatics scurrying into the Prince's Lodgings to protect for ever their family secrets. Did they, I wonder, wear their robes for the occasion, or did they slip in furtively, hoping not to be recognised?

Referring back in 1842 to previous attempts to legislate on single lunatics, Somerset spoke a little obliquely of the "feelings" of "relatives" presenting "a great difficulty". So great a difficulty in fact that he would not even attempt legislation on the "serious grievances" suffered by Single Lunatics. "What was the fact?" he asked: The very reason single lunatics were not sent to licensed houses was "because they would there be exposed to the constant visits of the commissioners and public authorities" (Hansard 17.3.1842 p. 802)

The Lords required of an oath of discretion and secrecy from commissioners and county visitors (1832 Madhouse Act s.5), limited the number of honorary commissioners, and required two barrister commissioners (1832 Madhouse Act section 3). (See 3.6 below).

In the light of the total package of Lords amendments, I suspect that the Lords thought commissioners dependent on the Lord Chancellor for an income would be more discrete than unpaid JPs and MPs and that qualified legal commissioners would ensure even greater discretion. They neglected, however, to provide salaries for the barristers and this had to be remedied by a special amendment Act in 1833.

On its return to the House of Commons some amendments were made to the House of Lords amendments which the House of Lords accepted, and as a consequence the Act preserved a limited role for the Home Secretary (*) alongside the Lord Chancellor, but its general features remained those of the Bill as it left the Lords.

(*) The Home Secretary, as well as the Lord Chancellor, could still order special visits (see law). The Home Secretary as well as the Lord Chancellor could see the Commission's copies of County Minutes. As the Home Office no longer received information directly about lunatics, it is possible that the Commission's interest in national records from 1836 was prompted by interest from the Home Office, as well as by Henry Sykes joining the Commission. The Commission could not release a criminal lunatic, but it could examine and make a report to the Home Secretary (see law). It was the Home Secretary (not the Lord Chancellor) who was to sanction enforcement by the London Clerk of those provisions for the notification of single lunatics that remained, and the Home Office that was to pay (see law).

3.6 THE COMMISSION'S COMPOSITION UNDER
THE 1832 MADHOUSE ACT

Lord Chancellor Brougham's reforms

The first appointments under the 1832 Act were made by Henry Brougham, Whig Lord Chancellor from November 1830 to December 1834. There is no reason to believe he had any sympathy with efforts to protect the rich from inspection. He was intent on reform of the English legal system, particularly the courts, and particularly Chancery.

Brougham's 1833 Chancery Lunatics Act reduced the expense of the legal proceedings to make someone a Chancery lunatic and introduced inspection of the conditions they were kept in, by two physicians from the Chancery Visitors. Though legally a distinct organisation, at least one of the first Chancery Visitors (Southey) was a Metropolitan Commissioner. By 1842, when Bright became the second Visitor, both Chancery Visitors were Metropolitan Commissioners. (See 5.4)

These reforms were compatible with the spirit of the 1832 amendments in one respect: the Chancery Visitors, like the Metropolitan Commissioners, were responsible to the Lord Chancellor. But rather than curbing the power of the state to pry into the affairs of the wealthy and powerful, they meant that Metropolitan Commissioners, as Chancery Visitors, visited those single lunatics who were also Chancery lunatics.

Subsequent ministers, such as Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst and Home Secretary Graham, saw the possibility of tidying up the whole situation by combining the Visitors and the Commissioners. But this was not to be, and an amendment to the 1845 Lunacy Act undid the integration that had been achieved informally, by preventing professional Lunacy Commissioners from having other paid employment.

A re-structured commission

Brougham's appointments in 1832 and 1833 made the greatest changes to the Commission between 1828 and 1842 (See Chart)

  • The 1831 Commission had 5 medical and 18 unpaid commissioners.
  • The 1833 Commission had 5 medical, 2 legal and 10 unpaid commissioners.

  • In 1831 the majority (12) of the unpaid commissioners were MPs.
  • In 1833 there was an equal balance of 5 MPs and 5 others (including 3 Middlesex JPs).

    In subsequent years, until 1842, the changes that were made, every year or two, were only of one or two commissioners at a time: and the balance of "types" established by 1833 was generally maintained.

    The medical commissioners, in 1832/1833, remained the same. Not so with the unpaid commissioners.

  • Until 1833 most unpaid commissioners were 1828 appointments,
  • after 1833 only Lord Ashley, Robert Gordon and Colonel Clitherow remained from the original commission.

    I have argued that Gordon was effectively Chair until 1834, a backbench Tory MP (Ashley) was needed to balance the Commission and Clitherow was the Chair of the Hanwell Asylum Committee. The list of unpaid Commissioners appointed in 1831 was more relevant to 1828. The commission needed re-structuring as much because of its nominal membership as the requirements of the 1832 Act.

  • A number of existing commissioners were old men when first appointed.

  • Most were MPs, and, since 1828, the government and the membership of the House of Commons had changed. (Dramatically - England had undergone a constitutional revolution!)

  • Commissioners had left offices they had held in 1828, and others had become Ministers.

  • Furthermore, the commission was no longer experimental. It was an established part of London's local government.

    Unintentionally, the appointment of barrister commissioners opened the possibility of establishing it on a more business like and professional basis - with unpaid members filling a different role to what they had before. The death of the first Treasurer-Clerk, was a further factor creating circumstances for the re-structuring of the Commission.

    Brougham was responsible for some of the changes in the structure of the commission - others we might more credibly ascribe to the commissioners.

  • The paid appointments seem to have been made by Brougham - even the post of Treasurer Clerk, which in 1828 Peel had left to the choice of the Commissioners.

  • Recommendations for new unpaid appointments, however, may have come from the Commission. This is strongly suggested by the number of new unpaid appointments between 1833 and 1840 who were close relatives of previous appointments. (See Baring, Somerset, Wynn, Clive, Grey, Abel Smith, Farquhar, Milnes Gaskell).

    1832 changes

    Brougham's influence, as distinct from the consequences of the House of Lord's vandalism of the 1832 Act, only became evident in 1833. The September 1832 changes were almost the minimum necessary to comply with the Act. This (3S.2.1 + 3S.2.2) required the 23 serving commissioners to be reduced to 20 or less, and the appointment of two barristers. Four of five physicians had to be appointed, so the reduction had to be of the unpaid commissioners.

  • The five serving physicians (Drs Turner, Bright, Hume, Southey and Seymour) were re-appointed.

  • The new legal commissioners were James Williams Mylne and Bryan Waller Procter.

  • No new unpaid commissioners were appointed, and only 12 of the existing 18 were re-appointed.

    The commission was thus reduced to 19 - only one less than the maximum.

    The six unpaid commissioners not re-appointed were Calthorpe, Dowedswell, Perceval, Somerset, Freemantle and Rose.

    Calthorpe, Dowedswell and Perceval had ceased being MPs.

    Somerset, Freemantle and Rose probably considered their task on the commission completed with the 1832 Madhouses Act. Somerset and Freemantle were two of the three Tory party organisers who had kept the commission going. (See Peel's commissioners). The third, Ross, ceased being a commissioner in 1833.

    G.H.Rose (aged 61) was one of the two older commissioners, with special knowledege of the legislation, whose role on the commission was probably closely related to the need to evaluate and revise the 1828 Act (See 3.4.5). The other, Wynn (aged 59), ceased being a commissioner in 1833.

    1833 Changes

    The affairs of the Commission in the winter of 1832/1833 were in a mess. Their Treasurer Clerk, who provided their offices, died and they appear to have been without a clerk or office from November 1832 to February 1833. (See move to John Street). The new clerk had to get the finances into order, including recovering licence fees from the previous clerk's estate (see clerk's finances). Accounts for two years were published in August 1833. Until August 1833 it was also unlawful to pay the new barrister commissioners appointed under the 1832 Madhouses Act. Robert Gordon may have been the chair at this time. In which case, his later record suggests that he would have helped with the practical affairs of the Commisssion. Lord Ashley had not yet undergone the religious renewal that preceded his earnest application to social responsibilities. Several of the unpaid commissioners listed, before the Commission was reappointed in September 1833, may have been Commissioners in name only.

    About February 1833, Brougham appointed Edward Du Bois as Treasurer-Clerk in place of Robert Browne (deceased). Dubois was the assistant judge at the Middlesex Court of Requests (County Court). For the next twelve years he combined these posts.

    A bill was introduced into Parliament that included provision for paying the two barrister commissioners. Although the surviving Accounts of the Commission do not allow us to tell when Mylne and Procter were first paid, the Act making it lawful became law on 28.8.1833.

    With professional legal commissioners, a large pool of unpaid commissioners was no longer needed to make visiting possible (3.6.2). Also, as the commission was no longer experimental, MPs on the Commission no longer had the significance they had when it was intended to legislate on the basis of the first few year's experience.

    Under these circumstances the number of unpaid commissioners, and the proportion of MPs, was reduced in the September 1833 appointments to even fewer than the Act allowed. At the same time, the first new unpaid appointments for three years were made. Five replaced seven, so the commission was further reduced to 17. In 1830 the ratio of unpaid to professional commissioners had been 19:5; it was now 10:7.

    The most notable differences from the 1828 Commission were the reduction of unpaid commissioners and even more marked reduction in the proportion of MPs. Eleven of the 13 commissioners removed in 1832 and 1833 were MPs, and only Inglis and Grey replaced them. On the other hand, the three retiring Middlesex JPs (Byng MP, Bouverie MP and Hampson) and the Rev. Campbell, were replaced by Acklom, Halswell and Clive.

    3.6.2 BARRISTERS AFTER 1832

    As we have no visiting records after 1831, we must infer from other data the extent to which legal visitors replaced unpaid commissioners under the 1832 Madhouses Act. We can do this with data on the commissioners fees and days visiting, produced in 1842 for the period 1836-1841 (See table of professional commissioners fees)

    Before 1832 at least one unpaid commissioner and two medical commissioners visited (3.4.2). If visits after the 1832 Act were made by a (paid) lawyer in the place of an unpaid commissioner we might infer that the annual legal fees would be roughly half the medical fees. In fact they were 40% in 1836/1837, rising to 50% in 1840/1841.

    My suspicion would be that, after 1832/1833, two medical and one legal commissioner would be the general rule for visiting, but that unpaid commissioners would provide an extra visitor for visits to pauper or problem houses. There was more than one unpaid commissioner on just under half the visits before 1832, and these visits were usually ones to pauper or problem houses. (3.4.2)

    The reason that legal fees were not 50% of medical fees before 1840/1841 probably relates to the provisions for Release Inquiry and the number of medical commissioners (5) in relation to the legal commissioners (2). Release inquiry visits required two doctors, or three doctors if no legal or unpaid commissioner went (3S.4.4 (2) QUORUM). Three visits had to be made and, until 1845, a meeting of the Board held to decide if the release should take place. (3S.4.4 (1)). The case of "R.P." in 1838 involved a three day board sitting for five hours a day with ten commissioners present (6BIOH4 3.10.1838) If five of these commissioners were doctors they would have cost £75 for the Board alone (compared to £30 for the lawyers) - in addition to the preceding medical examinations of him. The R.P. case was presumably responsible for the dramatic increase in medical fees in 1838/1839 (3.6.2TA). The way in which the fees for doctors rise and then fall at the period of the R.P. inquiry can be compared to the relatively steady rise in the fees paid to lawyers. My explanation of this would be that the lawyers were increasingly absorbed in the administration of the office.

    TA 3.6.2 Professional commissioners' fees and days worked 1836-1841
    Based on a return moved for by Granville Somerset. Printed 3.2.1842. (Accounts and Papers 1842. Vol 34, pages 3 following)
      1836/7 1837/8 1838/9 1839/40 1840/41
    MYLNE £246
    49 days
    £272
    49 days
    £304
    56 days
    £310
    54 days
    £333
    54 days
    PROCTER £241
    47 days
    £276
    49 days
    £305
    58 days
    £317
    54 days
    £316
    52 days
    BOTH
    LAWYERS
    £487
    96 days
    £548
    98 days
    £609
    114 days
    £627
    108 days
    £649
    106 days
    TURNER £254
    54 days
    £267
    53 days
    £391
    74 days
    £297
    55 days
    £302
    55 days
    BRIGHT £261
    47 days
    £279
    53 days
    £353
    65 days
    £302
    54 days
    £295
    54 days
    SOUTHEY £239
    48 days
    £271
    51 days
    £349
    67 days
    £299
    54 days
    £309 49 days
    HUME £251
    50 days
    £273
    53 days
    £339 62 days £323
    55 days
    £336
    59 days
    SEYMOUR £168
    37 days
    £106
    23 days
    £110
    24 days
       
    HEWETT    
    £73
    14 days
    £51
    10 days
    ALL
    DOCTORS
    £1,173
    236 days
    £1,196
    233 days
    £1,542
    292 days
    £1,294
    232 days
    £1,293
    227 days
    DOCTORS +
    LAWYERS
    £1,660
    332 days
    £1,744
    331 days
    £2,151
    406 days
    £1,921
    340 days
    £1,942
    333 days
    FEES: "Sums to each commissioner". Comparison with available Commission accounts shows that the figures given are for fees exclusive of expenses.

    DAYS: "The number of days each has been employed in the execution of their duties". The professional commissioners were paid £1 an hour. It is clear from the ratios of days to fees above that the "days" are not of equal hours. The figures are, presumably, the days in the year a commissioner was employed, irrespective of how many hours he worked.

    3.8 CONTROLLING LONDON'S MADHOUSES

    The commission's major function until 1842 was the control of London's madhouses. It licensed from 30 to 40 houses.

    In 1840, Commissioner Sykes told the Statistical Society of London:

    "Forty-two asylums have been under the supervision of the commission since its first establishment. Some slight changes have taken place, in the abandonment of two or three establishments, and the addition of others. The number in existence on the 30th of May 1839 was 34, the number of patients in which varied from 2 to above 300" Sykes 1840 p.147

    The numbers from year to year are shown in table one. Table two lists the houses and provides a history of each.

    A few (all pauper houses) were large asylums of over 100 lunatics. Except for the new Peckham House these were all in Bethnal Green and Hoxton in 1828. After about 1840 smaller houses did not take paupers. (See house xii on Sykes' list)

    The size of non-pauper houses ranged from Pembroke House, Hackney with 95 lunatics in 1844 to a number of houses with only two.

    The smallest houses were ordinary dwellings where two or three certified lunatics lived in the care of the householder.

    At Turnham Green Terrace, Turnham Green, for example, John and Mary Jackson took in James Poynder on 3.3.1818 and four years later found room for William Hill. The same two men were living with them and a man and woman servant in 1841, and "Jackson's Lunatic Asylum" continued until the late 1840s.

    At Winchmore Hill, Mrs Jane Hulmes took in two lady lunatics in 1816 and 1826, but one of the ladies, Mrs Hulse, died in 1831 so Jane Hulmes no longer needed a licence - so her house ceased being a statistic.

    It was variations like this in the smaller houses that accounted for much of the variation in the total number of houses shown in table one.

    If we discount houses with less than ten lunatics and count as one those where the same owner kept men and women in separate houses, the number of London houses in 1829 was around 24. Namely: Bethnal Green (usually counted as two houses), Hoxton House, Holly House (closed 1837), Peckham House, Pembroke House, Finch's Houses, Northumberland House, Whitmore House, Cowper House, Brooke House, Sutherland's Houses, Stillwell's Houses, Normand House, Western House, Clapham Retreat, Althorpe House, Ayres' and Oxley's, Mary Bradbury's, Gloucester House (closed by 1844), Plaistow (licence revoked 1829), Sleaford House (closed probably between 1839 and 1844), Surrey House (closed probably between 1839 and 1844), Hope House (closed by 1844)

    In the same category, six new ones opened.

    A number of the established houses also changed premises or underwent major structural alterations. (See table two)

    1815 comparison The twenty four houses listed in 1815 are given below, marked * , with houses from the above list that were not listed in 1815. Where a date of opening is known or suspected, it is shown. Where an 1815 house may be identified later, this is linked in blue.
    Thomas Warburton, *White Houses and *Bethnal House, Bethnal Green - *Banks Farrand, trustee for Sir Johnathan Miles at Hoxton - *George William Burrow, Hoxton - Peckham House (opened 1826?) - *George Rees MD, Hackney - *Jane Jones, King's Road, Chelsea - Northumberland House (opened 1822?) - *Thomas Warburton, Whitmore House, Hoxton - Cowper House (opened 1828?) - *Thomas Monro, MD, Brooke House, Clapton - *Jess Annandale, Lower Street, Islington - *John Adams, Wells Row, Islington (10 or less) - *Mary Bastable, Blacklands, Chelsea - Stilwell Houses - *Edward Talfourd, Walham Green - Western House - Clapham Retreat (opened 1823) - Althorpe House - *Peter Gilles Bland, Kensington Gore - *Samuel Fox, London Lane, Hackney - *William Bignall, Kingsland Road (10 or less) - Mary Bradbury's, *James Pell, Weston Place, Somers Town - *Stephen Casey, Plaistow, Essex (10 or less in 1815) - Sleaford House - Surrey House - Hope House - *William Moyses, Lower Road, Tooting - *Richard Holt, Lewisham, Kent (10 or less) - *William Langdon, Prospect Place, Paddington (10 or less) - *John Pile, Somers Place, New Road (10 or less) - *Elizabeth Radford, Little Chelsea (10 or less) - *Robert Salmon, Beaufort Row, Chelsea (10 or less) - *Elias Tardy, Four-tree Hill, Enfield


    3.8. Table 1 LONDON HOUSES AND PATIENTS 1774-1844: NUMBERS

    [I STILL HAVE INFORMATION ON SOURCES AND INTERPRETATION TO ENTER ON THIS TABLE]

    HOUSES LUNATICS
    Number of houses licensed -

    which is not always the same as the number of licences

    All the figures I have given for lunatics were said to be the numbers in the houses on a specific day. These may differ from figures given in other sources which may be the total number in the houses during a year, or the total number for which the houses were licensed.
    Total non-pauper pauper sources
    1774 16       Parry-Jones, W.L. 1972, table page 30, quoting RCP Commission Account and 1807 SCHC
             
    1807 17      
             
    1815 24      
    7.6.1815 List
    Between (about) 1813 and 1828 the Physician Commission issued three to six licences to each large pauper house. As a consequence, 24 houses had 34 licences in 1815. (24 houses includes the White House and Bethnal House as separate houses). This table uses the numbers for houses (not licences) throughout.
               
    1828 38 2,047 871 1,176 1829 Report
    patient numbers for 31.7.1828
    The 1829 Report says that the Commissioners had revoked one licence, and discontinued another, with approval of the Home Secretary. The licence revoked was in Plaistow, Essex. Its thirty three patients were all discharged in three days at the end of May, beginning of June, 1829. ( 1829/1830 Lists)
    1829   2,048 868 1,180 1829 Report
    patient numbers for 1.5.1829
    1830          
    1831          
    1832 37        
    1833          
    1834 38 1,435 802 633 Sykes 1840
    1834-1835: three small houses closed
    1835 35 1,465 836 629 Sykes 1840
    1835-1836 One house closed, two new opened
    1836 36 1,564 828 736 Sykes 1840
    1836-1837: Four houses closed
    1837 32 1,692 874 818 Sykes 1840
    1837-1838 Two new houses opened
    1838 34 1,656 819 837 Sykes 1840
    1839 36 1,758 902 856 Sykes 1840
    1840 38 1,713 878 835 Sykes 1840
    1841 33        
    1842          
    1843          
    1844 39 1,827 973 854 1844 Report


    3.8.TA2 LONDON HOUSES LISTED WITH HISTORY

    The number of lunatics is the number in 1844 unless otherwise stated

    Most information taken from Valerie Argent's (handwritten) record book, which she compiled from printed and manuscript records including the following lists:
    Richard Powell's 7.6.1815 List
    Metropolitan Commissioners' 1829/1830 Lists (HO 44/51)
    Metropolitan Commissioners' 21.3.1831 List
    Metropolitan Commissioners' 1.1.1844 Lists
    Lunacy Commissioners' 30.6.1846 List
    Lunacy Commissioners' 1.1.1859 List
    Lunacy Commissioners' 1.1.1874 List

    When the table says something like "Opened by 1815, closed by 1874" it can be inferred that the house is shown on the 1815 list, but not on the 1874 list.


    A. PAUPER HOUSES 1828 - 1858

    Warburton's Bethnal Green. (East London)
    The Bethnal Green Asylum, Bethnal House and many other names.
    Situated on Cambridge Heath Road (south side) near the junction of Bethnal Green Road and the present site of Bethnal Green Underground. An asylum from 1727 to 1920.
    The Elizabethan Bethnal House (Kirby Castle or the Blind Beggar's House) faced west onto the green at Bethnal Green. In 1727 it was leased to Matthew Wright and used as a private madhouse. In 1754 it belonged to Elianor Wright (his widow), then George Potter (1755-1780) and Christopher Potter (1772-1780). James Stratton may have run the madhouse business from before 1770.

    Thomas Warburton bought the Bethnal Green business from Stratton's executers on 28.9.1800. Warburton was already the proprietor of Whitmore House, Hoxton, about a mile away. According to the accounts of how he acquired the Hoxton business, he lived there for some time. Elaine Murphy says that he [then] lived in Mare Street, Hackney [Probably at Exmouth Place from 1801, see below], and was a member of the Select Vestry and a Trustee of the Poor from 1812 to 1815. He was disqualified from serving as a Trustee in 1823 because his attendance was infrequent. He continued to serve on one of Hackney's almshouse charities, She says that Warburton Road and Warburton Flats are named after him (See 1950s map). In 1830, Exmouth Place seems to have been about the position of Warburton Road, and Exmouth Place is mentioned in Thomas Warburton's will (see margin below under Sarah Marsh). [I will call this "Thomas Warburton's Mare Street home"] From an 1847 map it can be seen to back on to Pembroke House British History Online: "A house which Thomas held from 1801 in Mare Street was to be demolished in 1847 and was commemorated in Warburton Road. (References: Morris, Hoxton Madhos; GLRO M79/KH/10, pp. 57-8 (plan); ibid. 12, pp. 50-3, 83, 86-7, 119-22; above, Mare Street and London Fields)

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    mad houses

    magistrate

    Manor Cottage

    Manor House

    Martha Mugnall's, Hanwell

    Mary Bradbury's

    Mary Douglas, Ealing

    Mary Flemming, Fulham

    Melina Place

    Moor Croft House

    Normand House

    Northumberland House, Stoke Newington

    Otto House

    Oxley's

    paupers

    pauper lunatics

    Peckham House

    Pembroke House

    Pembroke Square

    Plaistow, Essex

    Quarter Sessions

    Rebecca Law, Brompton

    Retreat, Chelsea

    Sidney House

    single lunatics

    Sleaford House

    Southall Park

    statistics.

    Stillwell's Houses

    Surrey House

    Sutherland's Houses

    Timeline 1832.

    Timeline 1845 Report.

    Turnham Green

    Warburton's, Bethnal Green

    Warwick House

    Western House

    Whitmore House

    William Moyes, Lower Tooting

    Wyke House

    workhouse asylums













    The survey of London madhouses in
this chapter
is based on the research of Valerie Argent
    The survey of London madhouses in this chapter is based on the research of Valerie Argent





    Who are the madhouse Warburtons?
    Thomas Warburton died 1836.
    daughter married John Dunston
    Henry Warburton MP (1784-1858) - relationship stated in Stenton, but I am not convinced. Elaine Murphy agrees that he was "nothing to do with our Warburtons". John had an older brother, (Rector of Sible Hedingham Essex, died 1838 in a Colchester pub) called Henry. [Email from Elaine Murphy 14.4.2003]
    John Warburton MD (1793-2.6.1845) son of Thomas. Proprietor Whitmore House in 1831 and 1844, White and Red House in 1844. Born Middlesex. Educated Caius College, Cambridge. MB 1815 [dissertation On Insanity. MD 1820. Elected a Fellow of the Medical and Chirurgical Society in 1817. [One of the trustees of the Medical and Chirurgical Society was John Abernethy, surgeon (1764-1831)]. FRCP 1821. In 1825 John Mitford says "Dr Warburton of Clifford Street [map], lately married to the daughter of Dr Abernethy, is now sole physician to Hoxton, with the assistance of Dunston, the Apothecary". 19.5.1829 Elected a visiting physician to St Luke's Address 1843: 23 Park-Crescent. Portland Place.
    Elaine Murphy says "John had two sons: Thomas, who died only two years after his father in 1847, first inherited the business, then he left the empire to brother John Abernethy Warburton." (email 14.4.2003)
    John Abernethy Warburton (1825-1850) son of John. Succeeded to the three houses in 1846. [No - see above]
    Thomas Frederick Warburton senior son of John Abernethy
    Thomas Frederick Warburton junior son of senior. An anonymous note in Tower Hamlets Local History Library says he was, himself, a lunatic, but this is believed to be a confusion with the Monros, where the last one was admitted to Brooke House as a patient. [Elaine Murphy and others]

    Two houses: White and Red (Bethnal) House.
    The White House (also called Wright's House and Talbot's House is the oldest.
    Bethnal House, the Red House (also called Rhodes House), is known to have been purpose built.
    1738: Alexander Cruden an inmate of Mathew Wright's madhouse at Bethnal Green.
    1814: Robert Seymour Conway encourages parishes to send pauper lunatics to.
    1815: White House: Two licences for more than ten patients to Thomas Warburton
         Bethnal House: Three licences for more than ten patients to Thomas Warburton
    1816 Matthew Talbot, Superintendent of the White House, accused
    John Wilson Rogers and his sister Mary Humieres of deliberately falsifying facts in allegations against the house before a Select Committee of the House of Commons.
    1827: Robert Seymour Conway criticises
    1827: Robert Gordon criticises
    Resident medical officer required by law
    1829/1830 Reports: Both houses licensed to Thomas Warburton.
    White House: superintendent Charles Beverley
    Patients from: Birdham, Sussex; Ninfield near Battle, Sussex; Woodford; Houndsditch; Dalston; Sunderland; Coventry; Ware; French Hospital, City Road; Shadwell; Great Cogeshall, Essex; Somersham; Kirby le Soken; St Clements, Cambridge; Blacklands [madhouse?]; Withyham; Camberwell; Redhill, Hertfordshire; Chichester; Epsom; Croydon; Bagshot; Richmond; Clapham; Ilford; Clerkenwell; Chelsea; ..... Essex. [Hard to tell which, if any, are paupers. The majority say nothing about who sent them. Most of the rest are signed by relatives or friends] Some sent by Greenwich Hospital.
    Visit [Tuesday] 22.7.1829: Report signed G.C.H. Somerset, Thomas Turner, H.H. Southey: Mr Mayre a clergyman of the Established Church of England reads divine service every Sunday to all patients capable of attending with decency. The etablishment is in good order but the premises are too confined to admit of so complete a separation of Sexes with regard to their seeing each other as is desirable. The iron cross bars to the windows ought to be removed as they might be the means of mischief.
    Visit [Monday] 26.10.1829: Report signed Charles Ross, J.R. Hume, H.H. Southey: The Commissioners are much gratified with the general condition and management of the house. Mr Warburton has devoted much pains to the improvement of this establishment and the result is highly admirable. The Cross bars have been removed. Religious service is performed every Sunday
    Visit [Saturday] 13.2.1830: Report signed R. Gordon, J.R. Hume, J. Bright, F. Baring: ...the Commissioners... have great pleasure in confirming their former favourable reports. Extensive alterations have been made which have contributed much to the comforts of the patients but two of the female crib rooms might be improved...
    Visit [Wednesday] 26.5.1830: Report signed G.H. Rose, F. Baring: J. Bright, H.H. Southey: ...the appearance of the patients gave a very favourable impression of the mode of treatment. Religious Service has been regularly performed and apparently with some tranquillising effect.
    Visit [Thursday] 29.7.1830: Report signed James Clitherow, J. Bright, J.R. Hume, ...we found everything in the establishment well conducted notwithstanding the excessive heat of the weather, the sleeping rooms were cool and well ventilated, we examined particularly into the case of Wm Burrows also of Jeremiah Smith...
    Visit [Saturday] 9.10.1830: Report signed Spencer Perceval , Thomas Turner, H.H. Southey: We found the house clean and in good order. Religious service is regularly performed every Sunday.
    Visit [Saturday] 19.2.1831: Report signed J. Byng, James Clitherow, Thomas Turner, E. J. Seymour: ...[At] religious service ... the patients conduct themselves in a quiet and orderly manner but it does not appear that they derive any benefit from it.
    Visit [Friday] 20.5.1831: Report signed G.F. Hampson, F.G. Calthorpe, H.H. Southey: J. Bright, Thomas Turner, J.R. Hume: There is nothing particular to observe respecting the present state of this House excepting that some of the Upper Rooms in which the dirty patients sleep are not entirely free from an offensive smell. We are informed that about sixty of the patients attend religious Service but that it is productive of no effect beyond that of keeping them tranquil while it lasts - We are sorry to hear that the friends of the patients have in many instances neglected to visit them and therefore desire that they may be reminded of their duties in that respect. Thomas Wilmer, John Cox, Edward Ford, John James Hebert [,?] William Rivers [,?] William Wix [,?] and Joseph Townsend were particularly examined according to the provisions of the Act of Parliament by three Medical Commissioners.
    1829/1830 Reports:
    Bethnal House: superintendent Mr Matthew Davis
    Patients from (brackets: that number or more): Lambeth (7); St Giles and St George (6); North Shorburg?, Essex (1); Augeiring? Sussex (1); St Ann, Westminster (4); Mile End Old Town (5); St Ann, Limehouse (3); St Mary's, Whitechapel (13); St John, Hampstead (3); Hackney (7); Brighton (4); Harefield, Hertfordshire (1); St Giles in the Fields (8); St Saviours, Southwark (8); St Paul, Shadwell (4); St George, Hanover Square (2); Chesham (1); Totteridge (1); Benfield, Berkshire (2); Sheelford (1); St Mary Magdalen, Surrey (2); St Georges, Middlesex (3); Twickenham (2); St Georges East (2); St Martin in the Fields (11); Banstead near Epsom (1); Whittlesea (1); St Mary, Bermondsy (6); St Botolph, Bishopsgate (4); Mile End (other parish) (1); Kensington (1); Horndon on the Hill, Essex (1); Tilehurst, Berkshire (1), St Pancras (1); Hillingdon (1); Wanstead (1); Dunston, Northampton (1); Streatham (1).
    Visit [Wednesday] 15.7.1829 Report signed Ashley, J.R. Hume: G.F. Hampson, H.H. Southey: The house is extremely clean and well ventilated. We were pleased to find that so many of the female patients were employing themselves. We should be glad if the same system would be extended to the other classes of patients. The commissioners remark the attention paid to their suggestions made during former visitations. The crib rooms especially have been greatly improved. Religious service is performed every Sunday to the sexes. The number attending have considerably decreased since it ceased to be a novelty to them. No effect beneficial or otherwise seems as yet to have been produced by it.
    Visit [Monday] 2.11.1829 Charles Ross, W. Ward, Thomas Turner, H.H. Southey: This house is particularly clean and airy and the new crib rooms are excellent. The commissioners are glad to find the number of keepers and nurses have been increased. Religious services performed on Sundays to the females and on Wednesdays to the males.
    Visit [Friday] 12.2.1830 Report signed G.C.H. Somerset, G.F. Hampson, Thomas Turner, H.H. Southey: We found the house generally in a perfectly cleanly state, with the exception of some of the beds which are appropriated to the care of the dirty male patients and they are extremely filthy. But few of the patients seem to be employed. Religious service is performed to about ninety of the patients without appearing to be productive of any effect.
    Visit [Thursday] 20.5.1830 Report signed Frederick G. Calthorpe, Thomas Turner, G.F. Hampson, J.R. Hume: The commissioners are extremely well satisfied with the cleanliness and ventilation of these premises. They are altogether in a very improved state. Several of the women seem to be advantageously employed... The commissioners have weighed the loaves and the portions of bread cut for the patients and examined the provisions generally, with which they are entirely satisfied.
    Visit [Wednesday] 14.7.1830 Report signed G.H. Rose, J. Byng, J.R. Hume: J. Bright: The commissioners have much pleasure in confirming the [previous] report respecting cleanliness...and the occupation of several of the women in useful work - The plan of the establishment and the conduct of it are very satisfactory. The religious service is performed according to the last report about 80 or 90 patients are fit to and do attend it. They are very quiet while it lasts and more so than at other times and behave very well during the service so that it appears for a time to have a calming effect, This in the Surgeon's Report [This may refer to the weekly record]. The provisions are very good. The commissioners went into a case of complaint by a patient (Martin Baker) against a keeper for striking, but the complaint was not made good by the evidence adduced.
    Visit [Friday] 10.12.1830 Report signed Frederick G. Calthorpe, E. J. Seymour, A.M. Campbell, H.H. Southey: This establishment is in good order and the commissioners had every reason to be satisfied with the cleanliness which prevails. Divine service is performed regularly twice a week but with no apparent effect
    Visit [Saturday] 19.2.1831 Report signed G.C.H. Somerset, J. Bright, George Shepherd J.R. Hume: Divine service is stated to be performed regularly twice a week to such of the patients as are capable of attending, but without advantage
    1831: Proprietor Thomas Warburton.
    White House superintendent Charles Beverley
    138 male and 161 female pauper patients (= 299)
    119 male and 91 female private patients (= 210)
    Bethnal House superintendent Mathew Davis
    156 male and 199 female pauper patients (= 355)
    34 male and 35 female private patients (= 69)
    1840: Identifiable as houses xxxii and xxxiii on Sykes' list: Red House for males, White House for females.
    1840/1841 Rapid change in London pauper houses
    During 1841/1842 (or before) 54 patients were removed from Bethnal Green to the new Surrey County Lunatic Asylum
    1843, 1844 Original (Elizabethan) White House demolished and replaced by a new building.
    1.1.1844 562 patients. 336 pauper and 226 private.   1844? 10.5% of patients epileptic
    Weekly charge for paupers (maintenance, medicine and clothing): 9/8d farthing
    Commended in 1844
    James Phillips, surgeon was the licensee of both the Red and the White House in 1844 and 1847. Thomas James Austin (resident medical officer from 1853) says that the research for his treatise on general paralysis (1859) was carried out under the guidance of James Phillips.
    1847: evidence of James Phillips FRCS published in the Further Report of the Lunacy Commission explained a "bedstead with webbing bottom" he had designed to prevent bedsores. Out of more than 600 patients in the house, many demented with general paralysis in all its stages, no one had a bedsore when the Commissioners visited. (Hunter and Macalpine 1963 p.1052)
    1.1.1849
    White House:
    226 female pauper and 123 female private patients (= 349)
    2 female found lunatic by inquisition and 2 criminal lunatics
    Red House:
    175 male pauper and 97 male private patients (= 372)
    8 male found lunatic by inquisition and 9 criminal lunatics
    1853 to 1857 Thomas James Austin (born about 1820, died 1897) resident medical officer, Bethnal Green Asylum, Bethnal Green
    [By 1859, only Bethnal House listed]. This may be because, since about 1848, the two parts of the asylum had been licensed together under the name The Bethnal Green Asylum
    1.1.1859 Bethnal House: Proprietor John Millar surgeon
    136 male and 178 female pauper patients (= 314)
    66 male and 74 female private patients (= 140)
    6 male and 11 female (= 17) found lunatic by inquisition.
    7 criminal lunatics
    1859 national comparisons
    1.1.1874: Bethnal House: Proprietor Dr John Millar
    66 male and 158 female pauper patients (= 224)
    68 male and 75 female private patients (= 143)
    16 patients found lunatic by inquisition.
    1881 Census: "Licensed House For Reception Of Insane. London, Middlesex" John Millar LRAP? and RNCS? Edinburgh, Medical Superintendent, aged 62, born Glasgow., his wife Eleanor N., aged 60, born Farnham, Essex, unmarried son, George T. B.A. Cambridge, a barrister, aged 25, born Stone, Buckingham and G.M. Macdonald, unmarried Medical Officer, aged 25, born Manchester, MNIS? England
    1885-1902 imbecile patients from Westminster
    1896 New male block built, consolidating the asylum to release grounds for the use of patients after the loss of parts of the Green. The new block became Bethnal Green Library in 1922.
    Prospectus about 1900:
    BETHNAL HOUSE
    Is a Licensed House for the care and treatment of persons suffering from mental disorder. The House is situated within two miles of the Mansion House, and is easily accessible by train, tram and omnibus. It has the advantage of being in the proximity of large open spaces, namely, Bethnal Green Gardens and the Museum Gardens, both maintained by the London County Council, and it is besides within five minutes's walk of the Victoria Park.

    Terms from 25s to £3.3s per week
    According to the nature of the case and he accommodation wished for.
    Private Rooms and Special Attendants are provided if required.
    Voluntary Boarders received.

    For further particulars apply to: The Medical Superintendent, Bethnal House, Cambridge Road, London, NE. National Telephone: East No. 3306.


    1901 Census Bethnal Green: John Will (42) born Cullen, Scotland. Medical Officer. Surgeon. Henry Will (32) born Scotland. Medical Practitioner. Clara Will (28) born Cullen. Ella Will (40). Edward Will (25) Stay Driver. Elizabeth Will (25) and small children.
    1920 Dr Kennedy Will, the last director of the asylum, moved his patients to Salisbury.
    See Robinson and Chesshyre's history


    Hoxton Street (below) used to be called "Hoxton Old Town".
    Click here for maps showing Hoxton House, Holly House and Baumes House

    Walking up the present Hoxton Street from south to north one passes Munday Street (on the west), which leads to Hoxton Square, where James Parkinson lived. On the east, Follingham Court, brown brick flats built be the London County Council, is the five storey, redbrick 34 Hoxton Street, whose full address is Hoxton House, 34 Hoxton Street London N1 6LR. This is the surviving part of the old madhouse, not demolished when London County Council built Hoxton House School in 1911.

    "Most of the rest of the asylum, including the seventeenth century house in use as an asylum by 1695, was demolished to build the neighbouring school." (Martin Taylor, a Hackney archivist)

    The school buildings are now part of Hackney Community College, walled off behind a long cream brick wall that runs to Falkirk Street. Looking above the wall, one can see a grey and red brick school with the words "Hoxton House School, 1911" on the side.

    Morris, A.D. 1958 quoting John Hollingshead (no date):

    "Miles' madhouse in Hoxton Old Town...was a large brick house, on the right coming from the City, in a line with Curtain Road. It has extensive grounds at the back, reaching I should think to the backs of the houses in Kingsland Road, these grounds being the exercise grounds of the patients, apparently gentle and middle class people."

    Hoxton House, Hoxton Street, Hoxton (East London)

    A Jonathan Miles established a coffee house in Exchange Alley about 1680, which the London Stock Exchange developed from.

    Hoxton House became an asylum in 1695 continued into 20th century. It was demolished in 1911.

    A "seventeenth century house in use as an asylum by 1695" - See 1828 notice - "founded in 1695 with Chatham Chest funds to treat naval and government cases" (Jones and Greenberg 5.2006. - See Wikipedia article on Chatham Chest)

    Referred to by Coleridge in 1803 as the Hoxton madhouse. It included (at different times) a gentleman's residence where the owner lived, apparently separate from the asylum, and asylum departments for private (fee-paying) men and women, for male and female pauper lunatics (especially from the City of London), and for "maniacs" from the navy. It was the naval lunatic asylum until 1818. It also received criminal lunatics.

    1702 Commissioners for the Care of Sick and Wounded Seamen and of Prisoners of War, more commonly called the "Sick and Hurt Board", established. It continued until 1806. At first the navy hired places rather than running its own hospitals. The contractor provided everything "beds, staff and medicines" for a fixed price. A movement to establish the navy's own hospitals developed by the 1740s. Crimmin, P.K. 12.1999

    The Miles family bought the business in 1715 [ Elaine Murphy]

    1727 Wright's madhouse opened in Bethnal Green
    A Jonathan Miles of New Windsor, Berkshire, died in 1740. (Will proved 17.10.1740). Bronwyn Miles is reading this to see if any relationship can be shown.
    1750s Baumes House became a madhouse
    mid 1750s Mrs Gold's daughter released by a magistrate.

    Admiralty records (ADM 102/415) in the Public Record Office at Kew include a Hospital Muster Book "Hoxton House (Lunatics)" with covering dates 1755 to 1800. This is followed by ADM 102/416 "Hoxton House (Lunatics)" with covering dates 1801 to 1807 - ADM 102/417 with covering dates 1807 to 1809 - ADM 102/418 with covering dates 1809 to 1812 - ADM 102/419 with covering dates 1813 to 1814 - ADM 102/420 with covering dates 1815 to 1818
    1756: Jonathan Miles the elder (died 1772) expanded the business by buying two large houses in Hoxton Street. [ Elaine Murphy]

    "in 1756 James Smith went mad and was put into Jonathan Miles' madhouse at Hoxton, Mdx." - 1768 John Smith (his father) executed a bond with Jonathan Miles for £400 which he could not pay - "so the late creditor intended to sue for his money" - 4.2.1774: a writ de lunatico inquirendo for which John Stanton of Coventry was appointed James Smith's committee. The case went on to 1809, when Rev James Halifax, "John Smith's heir presumptive at law" was attempting to sell mortgaged property to avoid it being seized by other creditors and so that he could "support the Smiths from the proceeds" (Coventry Archives PA 184/5/7 and PA/101/9/16)
    About 1770 Birth in Hoxton House of Jonathan Miles (the younger) who became Sir Jonathan Miles in 1807 He inherited the Hoxton House business when he was three years old and personally kept the house from about the age of twenty. He died in 1821.
    20.1.1771 A Jonathan Miles married Rose Burke at Saint Leonards, Shoreditch. However, the children traced were born in West London and do not include a Jonathan or a Louisa.

    Much of the following information about the Miles family was provided by Bronwyn Miles, a descendent. It correlates with information provided by Gillian Ford and other sources cited.

    1772: Jonathan Miles the younger inherited the business from his father. [ Elaine Murphy]. Owned by him until the 1820s. It continued to carry his name after his death in 1821.
    5.1.1773 PROB 11/984 Will of Jonathan Miles, Gentleman of Saint Leonard Shoreditch, Middlesex
    Will states that his son Jonathan (son of Margaret Preston) is about the age of three years. It speaks of a trust for Jonathan, the son, held and looked after by two named trustees until the son is 21. Had the son died before than, the trust would have gone to Jonathan the elder's daughter, Augusta Miles, and his sister, Susannah Simpson and her three daughters. Bronwyn Miles comments "He must have had lots of money as he gives amounts in the thousands of pounds to quite a few different people."
    Between 1785 and 1788, William and Amelia Wastell christened three sons at Saint Leonards, Shoreditch. On 18.12.1785: William born 25.11.1785. This William Wastell died, aged 18 months, at White Lion Street. On 18.3.1787, Thomas born 18.2.1787. On 24.8.1788, another William, born 25.7.1788. This second William may be the William Wastell who married Louisa Miles in 1815 and ran Hoxton House. This marriage to place in St Pancras, where we know William Wastell lived about 1822. William and Louisa named their first child Louisa Amelia. - External link to text by Gillian Ford, questioning this ancestry, partly on the basis of the move from silk weaving to madhouse keeping. However, Gillian now points to the bankruptcy of James Webber and William Wastell, Whyte Lyon-Street, Norton Falgate, in 1780.
    8.8.1786 Jonathan Miles married Betty Harrison (died 1836?) at Braithwell, Yorkshire, England. One record says "Husband Age at Marriage: 16 - Wife Age at Marriage: 15". Which corresponds to Jonathan born about 1770. Another record says this Jonathan born 1770 "Of Braithwell". Note the correspondence of the children's names - Margaret (his mother), Betty (his wife), Jonathan. Margaret Miles was born 26.4.1787 and christened on 19.5.1787 at Saint Leonards, Shoreditch. Betty Miles was born 18.12.1790 and christened on 15.1.1791 at Saint Leonards, Shoreditch. Thomas Miles was born 24.2.1792 and christened on 20.3.1792 at Saint Leonards, Shoreditch. Jonathan Miles was born 6.3.1796 and christened 31.3.1796 at Allhallows London Wall. He died in 1866. Louisa Miles was born about 1797. She married William Wastell. in 1815, but died 28.10.1819. Bronwyn Miles identifies two (younger?) sons, whose dates of birth she does not know: William and Charles William. 1815.
    16.3.1789 Notices in The Times of the sale of complete stock in trade of Messrs Wastell and Son, Silk Manufacturers of Spitalfields, Bankrupts. Gillian Ford believes probably John and John Wastell who may have been the grandfather and uncle of William Wastell of Hoxton House.
    24.8.1789 Birth of James Birch Sharpe, who became medical visitor to Hoxton House in 1810. His parents were William and Rececca Sharpe and he was christened at Saint Leonards, Shoreditch, on 20.9.1789.
    1790 In 1815 Sir Jonathan Miles said he had personally kept the house for twenty five years. He would have been 21 about 1791

    Dr Harness 6.6.1815 p.219 was asked "The seamen were confined in Miles's house, from the year 1791?". He replied "Long before that"
    "The Navy began contracting with Messrs Miles and Kaye for the confinement of lunatics in 1791, or possibly even earlier, conveying 10-20 new patients a year up to 1814. Most came from the naval hospital at Haslar or direct from the hospital ship Batavia. (Elaine Murphy)
    Took naval lunatics (officers and men) from 1792 until 1818. The naval lunatics were maintained at public expense, their keep being an annual feature of the naval estimates voted by Parliament (Hansard 16.7.1844).
    The mistaken dating of naval lunatics at Hoxton House from 1791 appears to be as a consequence of the following table in the 1815 Report. The table is Appendix No 2, p.375 in Sharpe's edition. It is dated "Transport Office" 3.6.1815 and signed by Rupert George, J. Bowen and John Harness.
    An Account of the Number of Patients remaining at Hoxton House, on the 31st December in every Year since 1791.
    YEAR OFFICERS SEAMEN TOTAL
    1792 2 16 18
    1793 4 15 19
    1794 3 20 23
    1795 1 33 34
    1796 1 29 30
    1797 1 47 48
    1798 3 77 80
    1799 2 64 66
    1800 6 79 85
    1801 5 79 84
    1802 3 59 62
    1803 5 61 66
    1804 7 69 76
    1805 10 70 80
    1806 8 77 85
    1807 9 93 102
    1808 15 87 102
    1809 17 95 112
    1810 12 106 118
    1811 13 115 128
    1812 13 131 144
    1813 16 124 140
    1814 17 133 150
    1792 Holly House opened
    4.12.1793 Trial at the Old Bailey of Edmund Carvill, baker to Jonathan Miles, for stealing pewter plate. Evidence against from Jonathan Miles; his butcher, William Amos; Eleanor Burriston, his servant for many years.
    1795/1796 Charles Lamb a patient - See 1818
    5.10.1798 Dr R. Blair's "Visitation to the house of Messrs Miles and Kaye at Hoxton" - "for the reception of Lunatics"... "examined the provisions, accommodation, and general state of the patients; the bread, beef, cheese and beer, were all remarkably good, and the patients whom I examined, among whom were four of the men who lately made their escape, declared that they had them in plenty. The accommodations were also very clean and well aired, and they had sufficient airing ground for walking in the open air; in which last respect theses accommodations have greatly the advantage of Bethlem Hospital.
    The principal defect in institutions of this kind arises from the convalescent patients not being separated from those in a deranged state. If such separation could be made, and the convalescents were to have the opportunity of inspecting the regulations of the house, and particularly that which requires a continuance of their confinement for some time after an apparent return of reason, in order to guard against the consequences of relapses; and if in this state they were also allowed to lay their complaints freely before the Board (which at present is not suffered in any case) I do not see in what further respect the situation of persons in their unfortunate circumstances could be materially improved" (Presented by Dr Harness 6.6.1815 p.214
    click for numbers Click for numbers
    From 1800 to 1806 Dr John Harness (like other Commissioners of the "Sick and Hurt Board" - Drs Johnson, Blane and Blair, p.219) "occasionally" visited the "naval maniacs" at Hoxton House. John Harness said he visited, but "less frequently" from 1806 to 1815. (Evidence 6.6.1815 p.215)
    About 1802 On the death of Doctor Johnson, Dr John Harness became chairman of the "Sick and Hurt Board". Regular visitation of the "naval maniacs" at Hoxton House now fell to Dr John Weir, another Commissioner of the Sick and Hurt Board. He continued visiting as Inspector of Naval Hospitals from 1806. (Evidence 2.5.1815 and 6.6.1815, p.217)
    1803
    Mary Lamb a patient
    1803 "about 200 parish patients, some criminal lunatics and 66 naval patients (5 officers and 61 seamen)" (Elaine Murphy source for paupers not clear)

    In January? 1806 the Sick and Hurt Board was abolished and then its functions taken over by the Transport Board until 1817 (Crimmin, P.K. 12.1999). - John Harness said he was appointed to the Transport Board in January 1806 (p.219) - Dr John Weir appointed as the first Inspector of Naval Hospitals. (6.6.1815 p.214) click for numbers Click for numbers - Dr Weir in 1815 (p.210) described how naval maniacs were conveyed "from naval hospitals, marine infirmaries, and prison hospitals, in different parts of the kingdom, in a stage-coach or covered cart, attended by a proper person as a guard, to the Transport Office, when they are immediately put into a hackney-coach and sent to Hoxton, and after this removed backwards and forwards to Bethlem and the Batavia Hospital Ship at Woolwich" - "Every person sent from the Transport Office to Miles's" was examined by John Haslam, at the Transport Office, for which he received a fee (p.130)
    1806 Jonathan Miles Sheriff of London
    1806 Jonathan Miles stood for the safe (rotten borough) Whig seat of Tregony in Cornwall. He was defeated and, despite corruption against him, failed to unseat the elected candidate on appeal.
    1807 Mary Lamb a patient
    1807 Jonathan Miles knighted
    "In the year 1808 the" [Naval] "patients were very badly clothed, and went about the yard stark naked, with only a bit of a blanket on them. I could not get Dr Weir to interfere, and I reported it to the visitors of the College of Physicians, and a letter was written to the Transport Board, and since that time they have been properly clothed, on my representation" (Evidence of Jonathan Miles 8.6.1815
    1.3.1810 James Birch Sharpe, born 1789, (of 3 Myrtle Street, Hoxton at this time?) appointed visiting medical attendant. He was paid about £150 a year (see evidence Miles 8.6.1815) for attending the bodily (not the mental health of patients. Miles 8.6.1815).

    Most of the following family and financial information was sent to me by Gillian Ford. The sources include a case in Chancery in 1843/1844 (Wastell v. Leslie and Carter v. Leslie to determine whether debts were chargeable on the corpus or the income.
    "Sir Jonathan Miles being entitled, partly by fee simple and partly for term of year, to a lunatic asylum at Hoxton, executed certain deeds in 1809 and 1812 respectively, where by the asylum became vested in trustees, in trust to liquidate certain debts out of the profits of the asylum, and to pay to Sir J. Miles an annual sum of £700, during the continuance of the trusts with power for him to dispose of the sum by will, in case of his death before the trusts were performed"
    1812? Separation made between the Government and the Pauper Patients on the desire of Dr Weir. See evidence Miles 8.6.1815
    "Towards the end of" 1812, Doctor John Harness and "Commissioner Boyle, and Doctor Weir" "made an enquiry into the general management of the Naval Maniacs at Hoxton, by the direction of the Board of Admiralty".
    13.11.1812 Critical Report of the Inspector of Naval Hospitals (Dr Weir). This suggested the creation of a naval lunatic asylum at Haslar - A suggestion that Dr Weir continued to push with Dr Harkness. Dr Harkness, however, thought improvements should be made at Hoxton House. Dr Weir (at some time) sent a copy of his report directly to the Admiralty. It was published in 1814 (Evidence 4.5.1815) and 6.6.1815))
    1.5.1813 Letter from the Transport Board to the Admiralty recommending improvements at Hoxton House. It recommended an increased allowance dependant on the improvements. Amongst the suggestions was the appointment of a medical man "accustomed to the diseases and habits of seamen" to attend them. (p.220)
    12.12.1813 Marriage of
    James Birch Sharpe and Ann Ellis at Saint Matthew, Bethnal Green.
    About January 1814 A new airing and ventilation system established. See evidence Miles 8.6.1815. About the same time, provision made throughout the asylum for the separation of violent and the quiet patients. See evidence Miles 8.6.1815
    25.7.1814 House of Commons ordered papers on naval lunatics to be printed.
    James Birch Sharpe said that he had seen Jonathan Miles "very busily employed about the house" from the "latter end" of 1814... "but not before". This may be the source for the statement by some authors that prior to publication of naval lunatics papers Jonathan Miles had not visited the asylum for about four years (the length of time James Birch Sharpe had been employed), whereas afterward he visited frequently.
    27.10.1814 150 navy patients (17 officers, 133 seamen), 89 private patients, 245 pauper patients, plus a few naval and military pensioners from Greenwich and Chelsea, and some French prisoners of war. Total nearly 500. (Elaine Murphy evidence Richard Powell SCHC 25.3.1816, 75)
    December 1814 or earlier: Jonathan Miles increased James Birch Sharpe's responsibilities to include a concern for the cleanliness, order and management of the patients, as well as their bodily medical condition. See evidence of Sharpe.
    1815 Jonathan Miles Master of the Painter-Stainers Company. He donated a portrait of himself to the company, which hangs in the Livery Hall. It was originally full length but was "chopped down" in the 1960s (!!). His father had donated a silver punch bowl, inscribed with his name. (Elaine Murphy)
    1815: Six licences for more than ten patients to Banks Farrand, Trustee for Sir Jonathan Miles at Hoxton. This is probably Banks Farrand (1760-1842) (see external link), a Quaker goldsmith, with premises at 48 Cheapside until he retired in 1831. He was founder of the Stoke Newington Quaker Meeting (Information from Christopher Farrand) - If you know anything about him, please let us know.
    At this time, Elaine Murphy refers to "head-keepers John and Elizabeth Watts". John Watts was the superintendent and one of the two "managers" of the asylum. The other manager was "Mr Griffiths". One "side" of the asylum was the responsibility of Mr Griffiths.
    January/February 1815: Dr James Veitch (born about 1770, died 1856), a "staff surgeon in the navy" and a member of the Royal College of Physicians, began visiting about once a week. (see below). Weblink about his marriage - See Mary Veitch 1837
    28.4.1815 Select Committee on Madhouses moved for - See extracts.
    Tuesday 2.5.1815 Dr John Weir examined Thursday 4.5.1815 Dr John Weir examined again Friday 5.5.1815 Dr James Veitch examined: "I am a graduate of Edinburgh and a Staff Surgeon in the Navy" "How often have you been in the habit of visiting Messrs Miles House at Hoxton? - Between three and four months; generally once a week, with two exceptions I believe" (p.190)
    Monday 8.5.1815 Martha Wall and Margaret Slater, parish searchers, examined regarding deaths (p.192).
    Friday 12.5.1815 Dr John Weir examined again
    Saturday 13.5.1815 Dr James Veitch examined
    Thursday 18.5.1815 Dr John Weir examined again. Since he last examination (above), he had visited Hoxton House "accompanied as usual by Dr Veitch, when, to my great surprise, I was informed by Sir Jonathan Miles, that the Doctor, though a Navy Surgeon, could not be allowed to visit the patients any longer with me. I should here remark, that Dr Veitch has never interfered directly or indirectly, with the management of the patients, or anything belonging to the establishment" (pp 198-199)
    Tuesday 30.5.1815 James Birch Sharpe examined. "You are a Member of the College of Surgeons, residing at Hoxton?" - "Yes". "Do you practice as Surgeon and Apothecary?" - "I do". How long have you attended the house of Sir Jonathan Miles at Hoxton?" - "Five years, up to the first of last March." "In what capacity?" - "As Surgeon and Apothecary; generally as Surgeon". "What is your age?" - "I am twenty-six" (p.205)
    Wednesday 31.5.1815 One of Dr John Weir's visits to Hoxton House
    Tuesday 6.6.1815 Dr John Weir examined again.
    Doctor John Harness, a Commissioner of the Transport Board since
    1806 and, from 1800 to 1806 a Commissioner for Sick and Wounded Seamen, examined. See 1791 - 1798
    Thursday 8.6.1815 Sir Jonathan Miles examined by the committee at his own request: "Where do your reside?" "At Hoxton House" - "How long have you kept the house?" "Myself and family above a hundred years; myself personally twenty-five years; I was born in the house and have been there ever since" "Have you been personally engaged in the management of the house for twenty-five years? - Yes, I have; I have two managers under me; I have not been always on the spot, but mostly. Have you any partner? - None. (p.226). At this time there were 484 patients in the house, 148 of whom were "Government Patients", of whom 13O were "seamen and marines", and 18 "officers". (See evidence)
    24.6.1815 William Wastell, (possibly born 1788 - died 1836), married Louisa Miles, daughter of Sir Jonathan, at Old Church, Saint Pancras. They had a three daughters: Louisa Amelia - Ellen Miles - and Harriet Anne. Louisa (the mother) died, not long after Harriet's birth, on 28.10.1819
    11.7.1815 Report of the 1815 Select Committee to be printed
    James Sharpe re-published an edited version of the Report
    1816 Select Committee on Madhouses Three reports.
    13.9.1816 Louisa Amelia Wastell, born , christened at Old Church, Saint Pancras on 12.12.1816, who married a John Carter (See above and below). She died 1866
    1817 Ellen Miles Wastell, born. She died 1884
    1817 Transport Board abolished and its duties divided between the Navy and Victualling Boards. See Haslar
    18.5.1818 Two boys (one Thomas Matthews) looked through the front parlour window of Hoxton House, from the garden. One put his hand through the open window a felt about on a sideboard. James Mayo and Eliza Brown, servants of Sir Jonathan Miles, saw them and Mayo ran after them and caught Thomas Matthews. He found nothing on him. Elizabeth Hewlett, housekeeper to Sir Jonathan, found a spoon (value 3 shillings) and a salt-cellar (value 3 shillings) were missing from the sideboard. Sir Jonathan prosecuted, but the Old Bailey
    jury returned a verdict of not guilty on 17.6.1818
    1818 The Royal Naval Asylum at Haslar opened. Naval officers were moved there from Hoxton House. I am not clear if the Navy ceased using the house completely. There are no Hospital Muster Books for Hoxton House after this date.
    30.7.1818 Pembroke House officially opened for East India Company Lunatics. When Charles Lamb was confined at Hoxton in 1795/1796, he was an employee of the East India Company. It is possible that this was another contract Hoxton House lost in 1818.
    Harriet Anne Wastell, born about 1818, married June 1840 to Richard Herbert Lewis Bird at St George, Hanover Square. In 1851 Harriet Ann Bird was living with her sister Louise Amelia Carter and her husband at Park Lodge, Lambeth.
    1819 Sir Jonathan Miles became the tenant of Castlebar House, otherwise known as Castlebar Park, a three storeyed mansion at Castlebar Hill in Ealing. The owners of the estate, William Bateman (died about 1797) and his children William (died 1820) and Mary Bateman (died 1833) were "all three of them lunatics". The house was "difficult to let by 1818". (History Online)
    28.10.1819 Death in Burton Crescent of Louisa, "wife of William Wastell, esq. and youngest daughter of Sir J. Miles ", in her twenty second year. (The Gentleman's Magazine)
    Insurance documents suggest that James Birch Sharpe was engaged in property development in the Hoxton Street area - In 1823 he insured property "in the fields at Hoxton unfinished". From 1821 to 1823 his address is (5) Myrtle Street. 5 Myrtle Street was insured to Louis Labusire, dyer, and James Birch Sharpe in 1825. In 1824, James Birch Sharpe was of "Frogmore House Herts", but also of 21 Turners Square, Hoxton and addresses in Upper John Street, Hoxton. [Images of Frogmore House, Watford, Hertfordshire : 1 - 2]. In 1825 he was of 21 Turner Square Hoxton

    January 1821 Will of
    Sir Jonathan Miles. His "son in law" William Wastell was to be the "sole manager and conductor" of the asylum and to receive a salary from the trustees, to whom he paid over the profits. William Wastell was also to "have sole possession of the real and personal estate belonging to the said concern". In addition he was to receive an annuity of £150 a year. An "Amelia Smith" was to receive an annuity of £500 a year and Sir Jonathan's son, Jonathan Miles, was to receive £50 a year. After William Wastell's death, annuities were to be paid to Sir Jonathan's granddaughters, Louisa Amelia, Ellen Miles and Harriet Anne "Sir Jonathan Miles died in July 1821. His personal estate was not sufficient for the payment of his debts, exclusive of the debts remaining due under the trust deeds, and the trustees raised £4,000 by mortgage, and applied it in payment of part of the debts." In St Mary's Church, Ealing, there is a monument to Sir Jonathan Miles (died 1821) by Charles Regnart (History Online)
    Will of Sir Jonathan Miles of Ealing, Middlesex 3.8.1821 PROB 11/1647
    8.5.1822 William Wastell Esquire, widower of St Pancras Parish, remarried to Agatha Whalley (born 1797, died 24.9.1886), spinster of St Clements Danes parish, at St Clements Danes, Westminster. The witnesses were W. Barnard - Maria Midendom? - Maria Louisa Whalley (the bride's sister) - and Agatha Barclay Barclay. They had nine children 1) William Henry, born 16.3.1823 - 2) Agatha, born 26.8.1824 - 3) Julia, born 17.5.1826 - 4) Augustus, born 4.8.1827 - 5) Octavius, born 16.7.1829 - 6) Ada Matilda, born 6.1.1831 - 7) Samuel Decimus, born 21.5.1833 - 8) Charles Alfred, born 14.6.1834 - 9) Rosa Mary Anne, born 19.11.1835. They were all christened at Old Church, St Pancras. Their parents' address was Burton Crescent, which is now part of Cartwright Gardens, St Pancras.
    From 1824 to 1836 the asylum made a profit of £50.000 - averaging at £4,000 a year. [Just over 20 years profits would have paid the complete costs of a state of the art county asylum such as Surrey]
    Easter 1824 Archives of Essex Quarter Sessions contain "proprietor's letter to Essex magistrates re vacant places for pauper lunatics of 9s. per week bill head at Sir J. Miles' Asylum, Hoxton House, near Shoreditch Church" (Q/SBb 475/88);
    In 1827 referred to as "the late Sir Jonathan Miles's private madhouse, Hoxton"
    29.1.1827 Letter from Mr Wastell, proprietor of Hoxton House, private madhouse, inviting the (Middlesex) Justices to visit his establishment and to publish their findings to allay reports in the press of lack of care given to lunatics - London Metropolitan Archives ref. MJ/SP/1827/LC/02/29-30
    1828: Resident medical officer required by law
    British Imperial Calendar 1828, vol. 22 p.376 "Benevolent Institutions":

    Sir J. Miles' Asylum
    Hoxton House, near Shoreditch Church

    "Established in the year 1695, for the reception, care and cure of persons belonging to the civil, military, and naval departments of government, and for private persons of all classes who may be afflicted with mental derangement.

    Proprietor Wm Wastel, Superintendent John Watts
    Surgeon C.C. Collyer
    Matrons: Elizabeth Watts and Elizabeth Hewlett.


    1829/1830 Reports. Visit 31.7.1829: Report signed Ashley, James Clitherow, H.H. Southey, J.R. Hume: "The establishment appears to be conducted with the same care and attention towards the comfort of the unfortunate inmates as the nature of so large a number will admit of. The rooms are clean and airy, the classification of the different patients is well attended to. The patients are generally healthy, there being very few cases in the infirmary although the number this day was 430.
    The Commissioners noticed a male patient in one of the yards who had a stick in his hand with a large nail stuck through one end of it which might be the cause of some accident. It appeared the patients was a carpenter by trade and that he had amused himself in the room where some repairs were going on. The Commissioners notice this, more as a caution to the keepers in general who with so large a number of patients cannot be too watchful in the most trifling cases to prevent any accident. Upon the whole, the Commissioners have every reason to express themselves satisfied with the arrangements and management of the establishment. Divine service is performed once a week to all such patients as are likely to receive benefit from religion, and particularly on Sundays, but to different portions of the patients on different days. The suggestion of not allowing only two male patients to sleep in the same room has been attended to."
    25.3.1830:
    Ladyday accounts for St Sepulchure, Holborn
    Visit 2.6.1830 Report signed Frederick G. Calthorpe, F. Baring, Thomas Turner, J.R. Hume: "...the Commissioners are glad to find that the alterations now going on will enable Mr Wastell to remove the noisy patients from the immediate neighbourhood of the Female Infirmaries where they now are. The Commissioners are of the opinion that one day in the week for friends visiting the patients is not sufficient..
    Visit 13.7.1830 Report signed G.H. Rose, J.R. Hume, J. Bright: "We have found the House well and cleanly and in all respects in excellent order. Divine service is performed, as we are informed by the surgeon, to the different patients in rotation so that all hear it once a week. The friends of the patients have access to them now on the six days of the week exclusive of the Sundays and on Sundays if they come from the" [sic] "and if there is any particular urgency".
    Visit 8.4.1831 Report signed Frederick G. Calthorpe, G.F. Hampson, H.H. Southey, Edward J. Seymour: "Those parts of the establishment which are appropriated to the pauper patients appear to be as clean and well ventilated as possible. The Commissioners, however, feel bound to express their very strong disapprobation of the state in which they have found that portion of the buildings called the Cottage, under the care of Mrs Hewlett. When they visited these rooms at nearly two o'clock in the day they found them extremely close and offensive and the cribs used there by females of a superior class then remained in the same wet and filthy condition in which they had been left when the patients rose in the morning..."
    1830: see map
    Will of William Miles, Gentleman of Shoreditch, Middlesex 16.11.1831 PROB 11/1792
    4.2.1833 Certificate from the proprietor of Hoxton House lunatic asylum saying that William [II] died from a fit of apoplexy on 31.1.1833 - Coventry Archives reference PA/101/7/17
    Burial-certificates for William [II] Bunney of (Wastell's) Hoxton House Lunatic Asylum, interred on 4.2.1833. - Coventry Archives reference PA/101/7/19-20
    1836 Death of Dame Betty Miles "widow" at Frogmore Park in Surrey. (Will of Dame Betty Miles, Widow - 28.11.1834 - PROB 11/183
    "Jonathan Miles and his wife Anne Bassnett lived at Frogmore House (Yaxley) and I am a decendant of these Miles who eventually found their way to Dunedin New Zealand". (Bronwyn Miles) - (map)

    Summer 1836 William Wastell died. He would have been forty years old. Although his address (below) is given as Burton Crescent (St Pancras), he is said to have died "at the asylum". His will was proved 27.8.1836. It was signed 5.6.1836:

    "This is the last will and testament of Mr William Wastell of Burton Crescent in the County of Middlesex, Esquire. I appoint my dear wife and my friend John Coverdale of Grays Inn, Gentleman, guardians of all my children during their respective minorities and executors of this my will. I give to each of my three eldest daughters a mourning ring to be worn in remembrance of me and my reason for not leaving them more is that they are amply provided for by the will of their grandfather. Having [now] devoted all my time and energies to the success and increase of the establishment at Hoxton to which on my decease they will succeed, I earnestly beg of them to do all in their power to make some arrangement by which their brothers and sisters and my dear wife may be benefited and that whatever allowance may be obtained during their respective minorities may as far as possible be applied for the general benefit, feeling as I do that the permanent welfare and the best interests of my said daughters themselves will be most effectively promoted by keeping the affections and interests of the whole family united. I trust this will never be lost sight of by any part of my family and I give and bequeath all my property whatsoever to my said dear wife for her own and absolute use and benefit, and I expressly revoke all former testamentary papers made by me and declare this writing alone to contain the whole of my will."

    14.9.1837 Louisa Amelia Wastell married John Carter at Old Church, St Pancras (LDS). Or Gentleman's Magazine Marriages October 1837: At St. Pancras new church, John Carter, esq. to Amelia Louisa Wastell, grand-daughter and coheiress of the late Sir Jonathan Miles. John Carter, born 1804 (died 1878), was the son of William Carter. He was a City Alderman, a Chronometer Manufacturer, living at Mornington Place, near Hamstead Road, Regents Park. In 1841 and 1851 they lived at Park Road Lambeth. They were involved in legal action respecting Hoxton House in 1843 and John Carter's continued involvement became an issue in 1859/1860)


    Application to the Court of Arches by Mary Veitch, seeking separation from her husband, James Veitch on the grounds of cruelty. Amongst other acts, James had threatened to confine her in a madhouse.

    1840: Identifiable as house xxxv on Sykes' list:
    1840/1841 Rapid change in London pauper houses
    1841 Census Sir Jonathan Miles Licensed Madhouse in Hoxton Town, Parish of Shoreditch. Henry Lee, age 30, resident Surgeon (not born in Middlesex) Elizabeth Hewlett, aged 50, Matron (born in Middlesex) Clara Ayres, aged 25, Housemaid (not born in Middlesex)...
    During 1841/1842 (or before) 51 patients were removed from Hoxton House to the new Surrey County Lunatic Asylum
    1843/1844 Wastell v. Leslie and Carter v. Leslie
    1.1.1844 396 patients. 315 pauper and 81 private.  
    1844? 11% of patients epileptic
    Weekly charge for paupers (maintenance, medicine and clothing): 9/-
    Severely censured in 1844 Report
    Proprietor: Henry Boyle Lee (surgeon)
    See The Commission's evaluation reconsidered. Hoxton and Peckham.
    Will of Charles William Miles of Saint Leonards Shoreditch , Middlesex 4.11.1844
    1847 James B Bryan of Hoxton House, Hoxton Town, Middx, doctor of medicine, mentioned respecting a mortgage in Berkshire archives (D/EX 614/7)
    1.1.1849: 113 private patients (39 male and 74 female); 318 pauper patients (122 male and 196 female). Total: 431
    15.5.1849 Night visit by the Lunacy Commission
    1851 Census: One of the patients is Sykes Hinson, a tailor, who was born 9.9.1810 in St. Giles Parish, Cambridge, son of John (1781-1851) and Catherine Game (1779-1846) Hinson, both from Cambridgeshire. His sister (born 1812) was Elizabeth Hinson Read. The family possess an oil painting of her and her husband that was based, probably long after their death, on a photograph. Any further information about the family or how Sykes Hinson became a patient would be appreciated.
    A George Godsmark (born 1816) died 6.3.1857 at Hoxton House Asylum, Shoreditch, Middlesex
    17.11.1856 Letter in City of London Archives from "Pearson to the Commissioners in Lunacy re the resettlement of 3 lunatics at Messrs Warburton's House in Bethnal Green to Hoxton House where the majority of the city's lunatics reside".
    Nick Hervey (1987) says that in July 1858 Dr Bryan (see below) and Mr Ellis (manager) resigned as as a result of the takeover of Dr J Bryan's mortgage by a group of businessmen. In November 1860 the Lunacy Commission discovered that the men with a controlling interest were the Lord Mayor, Alderman John Carter; Russell Gurney, the Recorder of the City; and two others [John Carter was Lord Mayor from November 1859 to November 1860. He was a clockmaker and Master of the Company of Clockmakers in 1856, 1859 and 1864 - (See list)]
    1859 Report: (p.110) Licence transferred to Mr John Woods, surgeon and Dr F.B. Dixon, in place of Dr E.L. Bryan, who was appointed Superintendent of Cambridgeshire County Asylum.
    1859 national comparisons
    1866 Death of Louisa A Carter, aged 49, registered, Hackney, in the July-September quarter.
    1.3.1876: Alfred Woodhurst, a bonnet maker from Bethnal Green, was admitted as a patient, before being moved to Hanwell on 26.6.1877
    1878 Death of John Carter
    1881 Census Hoxton House Asylum, Hoxton Street, London: Medical Superintendent: John Crewonine (aged 37, married) The names of patients are given in full, not just initials.
    Crewonine is clearly a transcription error as no one else ever seems to have had that name. Could it have been John H. Woods? (See 1859 and 1892)
    1881 Census Agatha Wastell living, at Cookham in Berkshire, with her daughter, Julia (born about 1835)
    14.4.1885 "The equity of redemption of one third share of The Hoxton House Lunatic Asylum". Hackney Archives. File - Sale Particulars - reference M3566 - See description of asylum
    24.9.1886 Death of Agatha Wastell, aged 88, registered at Cookham in Berkshire.
    1885-1902 imbecile patients from Westminster
    4.8.1888 Oswald Puckeridge (1838-1900), an apothecary, was released from Hoxton House Lunatic Asylum. This was just before the "Jack the Ripper" murders started. He was a police suspect, for a while. The police mistakenly believed him to be a surgeon.
    March 1892 J.H. Woods, superintendent, registered a patient's death. (information from Priscilla Taylor)
    Listed in 1901 census: Hoxton House (Lunatic Asylum)
    "Hoxton House, or Miles's continued to function into the twentieth century". (Coombs, T. 1975 p.45).
    Elaine Murphy says that Hoxton House closed in 1902. [See above]
    1911 Demolition of the main buildings of Hoxton House
    Archives At London Metropolitan Archives, pauper admissions to this (and other asylums) can be found in Middlesex Sessions records and the archives of the Boards of Guardians and parish records of St Sepulchre. (Email from Bridget Howlett, Senior Archivist). Does anyone know if any records from Hoxton House itself have survived (and where)?

    Holly House, Hoxton Street, Hoxton (East London)
    Opened 1792, closed 1837.
    Owned by Burrow family. Proprietor-superintendent Burrow.
    Medical attendant James Parkinson (1755-1824), surgeon to the Parish of St.Leonard, Shoreditch.
    1815: Three licences for more than ten patients to George William Burrow
    5.2.1816 Harriet, wife of George, gave birth to a girl christened Harriet Norwood Burrow at St Leonard's, Shoreditch on 4.4.1816.
    1828:
    Resident medical officer required by law in houses with over 100 patients
    1830: see map
    116 lunatics, 84 paupers in 1831:
    1840: Identifiable as house ii on Sykes' list (closed year ending 31.5.1837)
    1841 Harriet Norwood Burrow was the proprietor of Grove House, Newington Green. Her younger sister, Fanny Jane Burrow, was housekeeper and a teenage boy, Henry Charles Burrow, lived with them.

    Grove House, Bow (East London) Grove Hall, Fairfield Road, Bow
    Opened (date not known) as what
    Elaine Murphy calls a pauper farm.
    Sophia Poulain, born 8.6.1788, was christened at Saint Leonards, Shoreditch on 16.7.1788. Her parents were Daniel and Elisabeth Poulain]
    Edward Byas born in Middlesex about 1800
    Sophia Poulain and Edward Byas had a pauper farm in Bear Lane, Christchurch, Surrey. Edward Byas had formerly lived in Shoreditch High Street. Byas "already had an interest in the pauper farm at Grove Hall where he was working with Dr Archibald Barclay, the leaseholder..." (Elaine Murphy)
    1836: George Byas took over the lease from Dr Archibald Barclay
    About 1838: birth of Edward Hezley Byas in Bow, Middlesex
    1841 Census: Grove Hall Establishment. Proprietor, Edward Byas (aged about 40) married to Mary Ann Byas aged about 20. Children: Edward Hezley Byas aged 4, Mary A Byas aged 3, Ann [Hezley?] Byas aged 1 and half, William [Hezley?] Byas aged 2 months. Sophia Poulain aged about 50 Matron. William and Hariet Shute, Visitors aged about 30. William Wright? Groom aged about 55 (no other staff). Plus 116 others (43 male, 73 female) of whom 73 are shown as "boarders (pensioners)" and 43 as paupers.
    Elaine Murphy quotes figures of "5-6s" a week in the 1840s that I would take as relating to the low supervision suggested above.
    1841 George Byas and Sophia Poulain (Matron) split the business 50:50 as "partners in the art and trade of farming parish poor"
    "By 1842 Whitechapel Union was using Byas routinely for the care of idiots in preference to the workhouse. John Liddle, the parish medical visitor, reported that 'the house is not clean or orderly'" Elaine Murphy
    8.2.1842 to 8.3.1842: Correspondence between the Home Secretary, Granville Somerset and Ashley about a (possibly?) illegal madhouse kept by Edward Byas at Old Ford, Bow. Graham was considering whether to appoint Dr Hume to investigate. (Hervey, N.B. 1987)
    Opened as a licensed house in 1844
    [Since 1828, licensed houses with over 100 patients had required a resident medical officer]
    1845 Elaine Murphy: Grove Hall, Hoxton House and Peckham all charging 11/- a week. I believe Grove Hall became a contract house under the 1845 County Asylums Act: providing a temporary asylum for Essex patients - But I have mislaid the reference.
    1846 Edward Byas, of Grove Hall, reported, by a rival proprietor, to own an illegal house at Westcombe Park, Blackheath. (Hervey, N.B. 1987)
    13.5.1846 The Medical Superintendent "Palmer" reported James Davies and Samuel Garrett ("male superintendents" - keepers?) to the Lunacy Commission after the death of William Rank, a pauper lunatic. Davies and Garret were found guilty of manslaughter on 13.5.1846 Elaine Murphy
    30.6.1846 Grove Hall Bow licensed to Edward Byas had 250 patients on last visit.
    30.6.1847 308 patients on last visit.
    1848 Cholera
    1849 Mr Byas reported that Peckham had undercut his 12/- by charging 11/- with the result that one union had moved seventeen patients south of the river. (Hervey, N.B. 1987)
    1.1.1849:
    248 female and 143 male pauper patients (= 391)
    4 female and 5 male private patients (= 9)
    Total patients: 400
    1 male found lunatic by inquisition
    5.2.1851 Lunacy Commission' letter to London pauper houses (also Bethnal Green, Hoxton House, Peckham and Camberwell) that their number of pauper patients would be reduced. Grove Hall adapted by increasing its quota of private patients. (Hervey, N.B. 1987)
    Elaine Murphy found an advertisement for Grove Hall pasted in front of the 1851 minutes book of St Mary Islington Trustees of the Poor. It provides "board and lodgings for persons of both sexes possessing small annuities, pensions.." No mention is made of lunacy or mental frailty of any kind. [I do not understand how non-lunatics could have been admitted legally to a licensed house. Perhaps only part of Grove Hall was licensed?] She also quotes a scale of charges for 1851 that seems to relate to non-lunatics: first-class 12s, second class 9s, third class 6/-. All included washing, but the 6/- shared a bed. All provided their own towels, knife, fork and spoon.

    In 1851 Alonzo H. Stocker became a Licentiate of the London Society of Apothecaries after studying at London Hospital, where he won prizes. As a result, he was able to become the medical superintendent at Grove Hall Asylum, Bow in 1852 (1911 notice. Source below says 1854). He became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (England) and MD St Andrew's, Scotland, in 1855. [At this time, students could receive a Doctorate of Medicine from St Andrews via correspondence]. In 1860 he became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
    1853 Essex County Asylum, Warley opened and the Essex patients moved there.
    1854 Elaine Murphy: Dr Alonzo H. Stocker became the registered Medical Superintendent
    1854 69 soldiers and five women moved to Grove Hall from the Military Lunatic Asylum at Yarmouth
    352 lunatics, 168 paupers in 1858.
    February 1858: Inquisition on Robert Wright of Old Ford Asylum, Middlesex. A summons to enquire whether Robert Henry Wright (confined in Grove House, Bow) is a lunatic. Hearing to be held at the King's Arms in Bow High Street, was recently sold. (Durtnalls Manuscripts)
    1859 List: Licensed to Edward Byas [Bias]
    ?? female and ?? male pauper patients (= 173)
    55 female and 131 male private patients (= 186)
    Total patients: 359
    4 male and 1 female found lunatic by inquisition = 5
    3 criminal lunatics
    1859 national comparisons
    About 1860 Birth of Alice Cook, who became a step-daughter of Edward Hezley Byas [Marriage of Edward to Marian Cooke of Lancashire sometime before 1867]
    Grove Hall (Lunatic Asylum), Bow, Poplar (1861)
    About 1867 Birth, in Hampstead, of Edith Marian Byas, eldest natural daughter of Edward Hezley Byas
    1867 Comments: To some extent Grove Hall differs from other Metropolitan Houses receiving paupers, in consequence of the reception therein, under an agreement with the Secretary for War, of insane soldiers for whom no provision has yet been made by the Government. These men occupy accommodation which would be otherwise devoted to male pauper patients, who during the past year have rarely been more than 10 in number, whilst the average number of soldiers resident has been 216. Re Staff :- For 257 male patients there are 15 day attendants and 1 night attendant, having no other duty. Five of the attendants are married men whose wives live with them in the Asylum, and pass their whole time in the male wards, where they render the most valuable assistance, especially to the feeble, the paralytic, and the aged. In the female division for 131 patients there are 12 ordinary day nurses. Here there is also a night watch, and 5 laundry maids who have charge of the women working in that department. Proper attention is given to the recreation and amusement of the patients. There are periodical dances and other entertainments in the wards; and during the summer, parties of patients, numbering from 60 to 70 are taken for pic-nics to Epping Forest. About 20 of the private patients, also, went last year to a house taken for them at Southend.
    Soldiers: See Netley
    1870: E. H. Byas (surgeon) & Dr. Stocker
    July 1872: W J Mickle, M.D. MRCS.E., appointed Medical Superintendent of the Grove Hall Asylum at Bow. [It is about this time that Dr Stocker became medical superintendent of Peckham House]
    1.1.1874: Licensed to E.H. Byas [Bias] and Dr W.J. Mickle. 416 private patients and 8 pauper (all male)
    In the 1881 census (below), most, but not all, of the patients are soldiers. The Lucy family website calls it Grove Hall Lunatic Asylum for Soldiers. The attendant "J.E. Spillett", aged 23, born Chartham, Kent, is John Edward Spillett, also known as "Ted". James Wild writes "I was surprised to see my ancestor here as I believed he spent most of his life in Kent. However there is a family story that he worked with horses in the army and met General Gordon of Khartoum [external link] (which may be true as he became a blacksmith). Is it possible that ex-soldier/patients could have eventually been deemed sane and worked at the asylum? I imagine many of the soldiers would have had post-traumatic stress disorder or shell-shock" -   Do you know anything about John Edward Spillett or the issues raised?
    1881 Census: "Grove Hall Lunatic Asylum" Fairfield Rd. Medical Superintendent: William Julius Mickles, unmarried, aged 36, born Canada, physician. Assistant Medical Officer: John Henry Baker, unmarried, aged 29, born Hockley, Essex. Surgeon. Matron: Mary A. Walters, aged 51, born Clerkenwell, widow.
    1881 Census: Edward Hezley Byas, proprietor of a lunatic asylum, living with his family and servants in Belsize Park. An Elizabeth Byas, aged 74, born Clapton, widow living on dividends in Kent (niece Marian Byas, 28, born Upper Clapton)
    8.2.1883 Death of Donald McPhail (born about 1841 in Invernessshire) in "Grove Hall Lunatic Asylum". Donald was severely wounded in the Battle of Kandahar (external link) on 1.9.1880 whilst serving with the 92nd Foot Regiment. He is shown as being at Grove Hall in the 1881 census. If anyone has more information (such as how he came to be in Grove Hall), we would like to hear. [Information from Sue Ramsden]
    1885-1902 imbecile patients from Westminster
    1885 James Shaw of Haydock Lodge Assistant Medical Officer
    1901 census: Grove Hall Lunatic Asylum, Fairfield Road, Parish of St Mary Stratford Bow, Poplar Borough, South ward. Bow and Bromley constituency. Edward Byas aged 64 born Bon (Bow?) living St Pancras "Surgeon Magistrate Director Of Public Companies"

    "... of the country houses that had formerly been common along the lower reaches of the Lea only Grove Hall remained, put to the use frequently found for a Queen Anne mansion in an unsavoury situation, viz. a lunatic asylum. This fine house was destroyed in the eighteen-nineties and its grounds became the narrow strip of public garden known as Grove Hall Park." Millicent Rose in The East End of London (Cresset Press 1951), quoted in a newsgroup.

    Elaine Murphy: Grove Hall closed in late 1905 and the remaining 67 military patients were moved to Bethnal Green Asylum. Edward H. Byas is listed as an attending (visiting?) physician at the time of closure. "Grove Hall Park" is now at the junction of Fairfield Road and Bow Road.

    In September 1873 the parish of Camberwell had 264 [pauper] linatics and imbeciles in asylums, and 113 of these were at Caterham Asylum.

    The parish contained two private asylums: Peckham House and Camberwell House (Blanch, W.H. 1875, p.173)

    Southwark Local Studies Library

    Peckham House, [112] High Street, Peckham (South London) [see map]
    An 18th century mansion (built about 1785) taken over as a lunatic asylum in 1826. Closed in 1950s. Until 1826, the "fine old mansion", with its "surrounding acres" was lived in by the "wealthy family of Spitta". They lived in the "noble building" "in great style, giving fetes, or what would now be called garden parties, to their neighbours, and dispensing charity with no niggardly hand amongst the poor of the locality". (Blanch, W.H. 1875, p.348) "The building and several acres of grounds were quite magnificent. In house, there was a Grinling Gibbons fireplace/mantel piece". (Jill Stocker) [Grinling Gibbons (1648-1720), Woodcarver and sculptor]
    Enterprise established by Charles Mott. It was probably a mansion and outhouses asylum with the outhouses converted for paupers.
    11.6.1826 Peter Armstrong married Charlotte Major at Spitalfields Christ Church, Stepney, London
    11.2.1827 Henry Armstrong christened at Saint Giles, Camberwell. Father: Peter Armstrong. Mother: Charlotte. Henry became a doctor and took over Peckham House from his father about
    1859
    1827? Middlesex lunatics in:- Messrs Parsons's Peckham Retreat, Surrey - ref. MJ/SP/1827/LC/20/28 Metropolitan Archives
    1828: Resident medical officer required by law in houses with over 100 patients
    1829/1830 joint proprietors were Charles Mott, George John Taylor and Peter Armstrong
    30.3.1830 Alonzo Henry Stocker born, Stoke Damerel, Devon. Parents Thomas Stocker and Susanna Doidge Crawsman Willies. Coming to London, where he studied to become an apothecary, he became Medical Superintendent of Grove Hall in either 1852 or 1854. By 1870 he was sharing the licence with the owner, E.H. Byas. He took over Peckham House in 1872. In 1874 Peckham House was jointly licensed to Dr Stocker and E.H. Byas. He and his family are shown resident in Peckham House in 1881. In 1877, Alonzo Stocker acquired Northumberland House. He died in Bognor Regis in 1910.
    1831: 250 patients. 201 pauper and 49 private.
    1833: David Uwins, physician to the Royal Free Hospital and to Peckham House wrote
    "to say that restraint and 'in terrorem' measures are not frequently called for ... by madhouse inmates, were to prove ourselves either absolutely ignorant of the nature of mental abberation, or wilfully obstinate in our attachment to Utopian schemes" (Uwins, D. 1833 p.148 quoted Parry-Jones, W.L. 1972

    Streatham: miscellaneous documents relative to the Guardians of the Poor, including letters on patients at Peckham Lunatic Asylum, 1836-1837, one by William Gardner, surgeon P/S2/61/13 (Lambeth Archives)
    1840: Identifiable as house xviii on Sykes' list
    1840/1841 Rapid change in London pauper houses
    1841 Census: Peter Armstrong, Superintendent, age 54 - Charlotte Armstrong, Matron, age 52.

    During 1841/1842 172 patients were removed from Peckham House to the new Surrey County Lunatic Asylum
    1.1.1844: Licensed to Peter Armstrong
    251 patients. 203 pauper and 48 private.
    Weekly charge for paupers (maintenance, medicine and clothing): 10/-


    31.5.1846 Walter Edgar Blatch born to Sophia Blatch (previously Bird) at 23 Hertford Street. His father was James William Blatch, a printer. William may have had what we now call profound learning disability. In the 1851 Census, he is shown, aged 5, living at home with his parents at 26 Croydon Street, St Marylebone. At some time he appears to have been taken into St Marylebone Workhouse and, from there, to Peckham. He was murdered there in 1858
    19.10.1848 first case cholera in London's private asylums was at Peckham House. Subsequent cases at Camberwell House, Grove Hall, London House and Althorpe House. (Lunacy Commission 1850)
    1851 Report p.371: Case of Moses James Barnes, pauper lunatic killed by Samuel Hill, attendant, at Peckham House, December 1850 - 12 months for manslaughter after inquest and prosecution by the Lunacy Commissioners.
    about 1850 Mary Ann Passmore (born about 1832) came from Helston Cornwall, to be a lady's maid to the family who owned Peckham House in South East London. James Russell (born about 1835), from Nettlebed, was coachman there. Mary Ann and James married. One of their daughters, Lydia Hannah Russell (born about 1873), married Charles Fyson
    1852 Licence from the Commissioners in Lunacy to Mr Peter Armstrong to operate Peckham House (Old Papers)
    Seventy three chancery lunacy inquisitions: first April 1854, last May 1900
    1858: 366 patients. 317 pauper and 49 private.
    19.6.1858: Newspaper report Murder at Peckham Lunatic Asylum based on coroner's hearing. The victim,
    Walter Edgar Blatch was twelve years old, "a patient and very helpless". He had been sent by St Marylebone and the whereabouts of his parents was not known. [But the family had not forgotten - see 1882] Another patient, Robert Powell, was fond of him and used to undress him for bed at night. Robert was seen leaving when Walter was found with a fractured skull from which he later died. A patient named Foskett was said to have seen Powell inflict the injury. Powell was sent from the coroner's court to Newgate Prison. At his trial (7.7.1858), Robert was found of unsound mind and incompetent to plead and detained. (Information from History Online sent by Rosalyn. Does anyone know more about Walter Edgar Blatch or Robert Powell?)
    Major witness (above) "Mr Samuel Morris" was "assistant surgeon at Mr Armstrongs's Lunatic Asylum".
    1859 Licensed to Dr Armstrong and S. Morris, surgeon.
    367 lunatics, 317 paupers (129 male, 188 female), 50 private (16 male, 34 female)
    1859 Report: (p.110) Licence transferred to Mr Samuel Morris, Surgeon, co-licensee with Dr Henry Armstrong in place of Mr Peter Armstrong, his father
    1859 national comparisons
    About 1861 Maria G. Armstrong born to Eliza and Henry Armstrong at Peckham
    13.1.1867 Dr Armstrong Daughter Born, Peckham House, Peckham London [This would be Lilian A. Armstrong]
    1867 Comments: "The entries respecting Peckham House, as to which we had occasion to report very unfavourably last year, have latterly been somewhat more satisfactory, and the general condition of the establishment has on the whole been improved."
    1870: Peckham House, Dr Armstrong
    February 1872: Dr Stocker succeeded Dr Armstrong. Dr Stocker was assisted by Mr Brown (medical superintendent) and Dr Barringer (medical officer). [ Blanch annotations: say that Peckham House was purchased in 1872 from Dr Armstrong by Dr Stocker]
    23.5.1873 "Commissioners in Lunacy Removal Order for 21 Patients (listed) from Peckham House, Peckham to Three Counties Hospital" Fairfield Hospital Archive. Paupers Maintenance. LF 26/9
    4.11.1873 Fires at Peckham Lunatic Asylum (entry in History Online)
    1875: "with the exception of the principal building, the asylum has been constructed since
    1826". Following a fire in the house itself, Dr Stoker had made substantial alterations to that. Dr Stocker's additions included "the neat an substantial building adjoining the entrance gates, now used as a lodge". The asylum's patients were "drawn from all classes of society - from the pauper inmate to the titled dame". "Service is held every Sunday afternoon, the chaplain being the Rev. J. H. Hazel MA of St Andrew's, Peckham. Dr Stocker has recently purchased a large mansion and estate at Bognor, which he intends using as a sea-side convalescent branch". (Blanch, W.H. 1875, pp 348-350)
    Bognor Craigweil House and Lodge in Aldwick, West Sussex. Craigweil House was used from the 1870s to 1910 as the convalescent home for both Peckham House and Northumberland House patients. Dr Stocker and his family lived at Craigweil Lodge. Alonzo Henry Stocker died at Bognor in 1910. (External link to Bognor history)
    1.1.1874: Licensed to E.H. Byas [Bias] and Dr A.H. Stoker [If this is correct, it means E.H. Byas owned Peckam Asylum in South London and Grove Hall in East London.]
    352 lunatics, 180 paupers (66 male, 114 female), 173 private (48 male, 125 female)
    In 1877, Alonzo Stocker acquired Northumberland House. About 1877 Alonzo Harold Stocker born to Ada Mary Stocker (aged about 34) and Alonzo Henry Stocker (aged about 47)
    1881 Census "Peckham House Lunatic Asylum" Peckham, Camberwell, Surrey. Physician: Alonzo Henry Stocker, married, aged 51, born Stoke Damerel, Devon. His wife, Ada Mary (Goodman?) born London about 1843. Son Alonzo Harold Stocker, aged 4; daughters: Lilian Ada (3) and Ethel Caroline (1). Unmarried sister-in-law: Caroline Sarah Goodman, born about 1846 in London, living of income from dividend. Also the family of James (Coachman Domestic) and Mary Ann Russell living at 34 St Georges Street, Camberwell
    1881 Census Henry Armstrong living with his wife, unmarried daughters and servants in Berkshire.
    1882 Arthur Blatch, brother of Walter Edgar who died in 1858, named his new born son Walter Edgar.
    1885-1902 imbecile patients from Westminster
    24.3.1891 Court Case: James Cutbush. Clerk
    22.3.1901 Death of Henry Herne Mew
    1901 Census Alonzo Stocker , physician surgeon, aged 70, living in London. No other Alonzo Stocker.

    April 1903: Comedian Dan Leo (1860-1904) made a recording of his "A Visit to the Races Monologue", including the lines "A what is a man? Wherefore does he why? Whence did he whence? Whither is he withering?". Less than three months later he was admitted to Peckham House. (Hoxton Project Catalogue)
    Before 1904: The Fyson family of "Fysons Fammous Flour" lived in Southampton Street (now Way) across the road from Peckham House. One day, Constance Lydia (born 2.10.1898), the young daughter of Charles Arthur Fyson was taken to a charity bazaar at Dr Stoker's Lunatic Asylum. As the daughter of a prominent local employer, she was introduced to Dan Leno, music hall comedian, who was a patient. She sat on his knee. [Information from her daughter, Rosemary Hook]
    Dan Leno from bookmark owned by Janet
Haines
    Dan Leno from a bookmark owned by Janet Haines
    external link about Dan Leno

    24.4.1910 Alonzo Henry Stocker died Aldwick, Bognor Regis, Sussex. His son, Alonzo Harold Stocker, sold Craigweil House. Craigweil Lodge was kept as a family (not patients) seaside home. A convalescent home in Kent was established in 1927
    18.7.1911 Rupert Harold Stocker born at Sevington Manor, Alresford. As a young man, he was in the British Army, serving in Hong Kong and Singapore. He came back in 1938
    9.9.1912 Hannah Chaplin became a private patient. Moved from Cane Hill by her sons. Charlie and Sydney. In May 1915, "the proprietors of the asylum applied for her to be placed on the parish because Charlie and his brother Sydney had defaulted in paying the fees of 30 shillings per week". [Derek Kinrade in The Peckham Society (archive with letter)]
    1913 pictures of Northumberland House, Green Lanes and Peckham House, Peckham - private Homes for "patients suffering from nervous and mental diseases", included in the second edition of Lunacy practice: a practical guide for the certification and detention of persons of unsound mind by William H. Gattie [See below] (Wellcome Catalogue)
    1914: Dr.F.R. King apointed Medical Superintendent. W.H. Gattie was Secretary; Dr. A. H. Stocker's will established a family partnership as owner; Dr. King was given power of attorney in 1917 and "managed the Bank Account"; and Mr Gattie was Legal and Financial Advisor. Regular visits by the Stockers were made although no family members lived at Peckham House (until 1939). (Chronology)
    May 1917 A coroner's record in National Archive suggests Peckham House still open
    1919 Post Office Directory: Peckham House Private Asylum for the Insane: Alonzo Harold Stoker and Hubert Goodman Stoker, resident licensees; Frank Raymond King; MRCS, LRCP, medical superintendent; William H. Gattie, barrister, secretary. 112 Peckham Road, SE15 [Between Lyndhurst Road and Paradise Place]- Telephone 576 New Cross
    8.10.1924 meeting of the South-Eastern Division of the Medico- Psychological Association, at Peckham House, heard a paper from Frederick Dillon on The methods of psychotherapy (Wellcome Catalogue)
    1927 Kearnsey Court bought, either by the Stocker partnership or Alzono Harold Stocker to be used as a Convalescent Home for both Peckham House and Northumberland House patients. Maps show Kearnsey Court, Kearnsey Abbey and Kearnsey Manor cloes to one another. The map reference for Kearsney Court is 628400,143800 (multimap). Nearby is what is now now Kearsney Manor Nursing Home (see the history ) and Kearsney Abbey, which was also nursing home at one time.
    It was a family expectation that
    manage Peckham House and, when he left the army in 1938, he assisted mainly with Peckham House, but also assisting his Uncles Edgar and Hubert Stocker one of whom managed/ran Northumberland House. (Jill Stocker)
    11.1.1939 Rupert Stocker married Eleanor Joyce Heywood in Walberton, Sussex. They moved into Peckham House. In June 1939 Mr Gattie died. In July 1939, Dr King left. He may subsequently have developed a new hospital at Newlands (in Kent?) in partnership with Miss Lowe, the former matron of Kearsney Court. During World War 2, Joyce (Heywood) Stocker stayed and managed Peckham House. "A few patients remained there for the duration and there are great stories of various escapes during the war, incendiary bombs on the roof and such. With such a large property it is a miracle there was so little damage." The Medical Superintendents after Dr King appear to be: Dr Kennedy (left during the blitz); Dr and Mrs Williams, Dr Barford and Dr Phillip J. Frossard. There is a letter from a Dr James Flind who appears to have been associated, but not necessarily as Medical Superintendent.
    14.10.1940 A meeting of the Board of Control may have received a chronology of events written by Rupert Stocker.
    1945: From her second floor bed-room window, a small child living in Lyndhurst Way, Peckham
    (map) could see across the street into grounds behind a long stone wall. Janet's mother told her it was Peckham asylum and that her aunt was a patient there.
    13.2.1946 Mary Rowana Jill Stocker born at Peckham House. Her family refer to the house as "PH". Jill, who now lives in Canada, has supplied me with information.
    Nick Hervey (1987) says Peckham House closed in 1951 due to "particularly heavy death duties". The last owner(?) being Dr Rupert Stocker, the grandson of the Stocker who bought the asylum in 1872
    12.3.1951 Renewed Licence for Peckham House issued to Alan Francis Grimbly. Likely the last licence. (Old Papers)
    "Our family lived at PH until 1952". The National Health Act gave the impression that private health care was being eliminated and this and large death duties on Alonzo Harold Stocker and his wife, "forced" Rupert Stocker to sell Peckham House to the council - Who demolished it and built a school. Rupert and his family emigrated to Canada.

    Archives Parry-Jones, W.L. 1972 says Corporation of London Records Office, Guildhall, contained records of Peckham House. The City of London Record Office and Metropolitan Archives say they have not got them. There are some Poor Law registers of patients from a union: See Westminster. Rupert Stoker has a file labelled "Old Papers, Peckham House" - but no patient records. Rupert Stocker explains that this is because the medical superintendents kept the patients files. Does anyone know if any other records have been preserved?

    Camberwell House, Peckham Road (South London)
    Previously Royal Naval School (about 1790 to about 1846)
    There are deeds to land occupied by Camberwell House in the early 20th century, previous occupants including John Coakley Lettsom (1744-1815), c.1790-1920 (A512). in
    Southwark Local Studies Library
    Lunacy Board 17.12.1845 "Read letter from Mr J.H. Paul surgeon, 29 King William Street, London Bridge, written on behalf of Mr [F G] Aubin of Norwood and himself, giving notice of application for a licence for premises at Camberwell lately occupied by Royal Naval School and proposed to be licensed for 12 male private patients and 70 male and 80 female paupers - Plans transmitted - Premises transmitted - Premises to be inspected on Saturday by Dr Hume and Mr Campbell of which notice to be given by Mr Paul"
    Friday 9.1.1846 Monthly meeting specially summoned received a deputation led by Mr Kemble, MP for Surrey, presenting a memorial against the asylum from 29 inhabitants of Peckham Road, Camberwell (rent from £40 to £200 a year). Amongst their reasons: ground inadequate in extent for purpose and overlooked by workhouse and two private houses.
    Wednesday 14.1.1846 Mr Aubin attending. One and a half pages of minutes on Camberwell
    Friday 23.1.1846 Rev Moore, incumbent Camden Chapel, Camberwell and Mr Spence attended a specially summoned Board. "Chairman informed the above named gentlemen that the Board would not feel justified under the circumstances in refusing the licence, especially after the heavy outlay incurred by Messrs Aubin and Paul under the reasonable expectation of its being granted"
    Alfred Richards became the third partner in Aubin & Co., proprietors of Camberwell House Lunatic Asylum'.
    Wellcome Catalogue lists: Camberwell House Asylum, Volume 2. patients admitted March 1847-May 1850, with notes on the same patients to 1876 Record no. MS6220/6220 and Vol. 3. patients admitted May 1850-June 1853, with further notes on the same patients to about 1887 Inserted loose at f. 1129 is a reception order addressed to 'Aubin & Co., proprietors of Camberwell House Lunatic Asylum',
    1848 Cholera
    1858: 327 lunatics, 266 paupers
    1859 national comparisons
    1867 Comments: More attention to the useful employment of the male patients has been suggested, but the arrangements for occupation and recreation generally have been considered satisfactory, and the plan of permitting large parties of patients of both sexes to mix together in the garden, has been noticed with approval. Every year a house is hired at the sea-side, and last season about 20 of the patients passed some time at Littlehampton.
    1875 "the largest of its kind in the metropolis" "licensed for the reception of 483 inmates, and for their care and management there are upwards of 80 officers and servants". "The several mansions, buildings and cottages are all detached, thus rendering it an easy matter for the medical staff to classify the inmates ... as their mental condition or social status may require ... in consequence ... the institution is able to receive ... patients of the upper, middle and lower classes." (Blanch, W.H. 1875, pp 348-350)
    1881 Census: "Camberwell House" Lunatic Asylum, Peckham Road, Camberwell, Surrey. Medical Superintendent: Frank Schofield; Matron: Hannah Parnell
    1885-1902 imbecile patients from Westminster
    1919 Post Office Directory: Camberwell House Ltd, Francis Henry Edwards, MD, MRCP, medial superintendent. Hubert James Norman, MB, Ch.B. and Robert N. Norman, MRCS, assistant medical officers. R. Percy Stephenson, secretary. 31, 33, 35, 30, 32, 34 Peckham Road, Camberwell, SE9
    Records in Southwark Studies Library continue to 1920
    Closed 1955 according to the Hospital database


    B. NON-PAUPER HOUSES 1828 - 1844

    1. Houses open in 1828 and 1844

    This 1847 map shows Pembroke House, just north of Exmouth Place, where Thomas Warburton previously lived. See 1950s map for relative position of the Mare Street houses.

    The information below on Pembroke House draws heavily on the research of Raymond Lee, which he generously shared with me.

    Pembroke House, Hackney (East London)
    Off Mare Street between Lamb Lane and Warburton Road.
    Opened as a lunatic asylum 1818, or earlier.
    This building was used by Isabella (born Braidwood) as Braidwood Academy for the Deaf and Dumb from 1799 to 1810.
    When the Braidwood school ended, the property was taken over by "the Heirs of Wright".
    In 1815 a house in Hackney for more than 10 patients is listed as licensed to George Rees M.D. 30.7.1818 Pembroke House official opening after it was adapted to take in the psychiatric casualties of the East India Company. [see India]
    February 1819 Advertisement in The East India Register and Army List by Dr Rees "physician to insane persons returning from India, under the patronage of the Honorable East-India Company". He claimed to have "restored to health and reason" three fourths of his patients. (Ernst, W. 1988 p.57)

    "Although Pembroke House was not the only institution in Britain to receive patients who were transferred from the three Indian asylums in the east, it nevertheless provided for the majority of formerly institutionalised returned expatriates. By 1892 about 500 lunatics who had claim on being maintained by the company had passed through the asylum in England" (Ernst, W. 1988 p.57)
    1828: Resident medical officer required by law in houses with over 100 patients
    In 1829 and 1830 proprietor William Williams. In 1829, 1830 and 1831 there were three houses with separate superintendents: 1) William Williams (35 patients) 2) David Appleton (35 patients), 3) Elizabeth Evans (15 patients). The 1829-1830 registers show the earliest male patients admitted as John Buck, 31.12.1816; Garliffe Koester, 20.6.1817, and the earliest woman as Hannah Smith on 24.6.1817. Although many patients are identified as connected with India and/or the East India Company, there are others (e.g. a "constable", a "farmer", a "mason" and a "silk-weaver" who do not seem connected.
    1840: Likely identification as house xxxvi on Sykes' list
    1.1.1844: 95 lunatics.
    proprietor Walter Davis Williams M.D.
    1859: Licence transferred to Dr Christie as Superintendent. 1859 Report Lunacy Commission (p.110) said "Dr Christie" the "new superintendent".
    1867 Comments: "Pembroke House, which is now licensed for the reception of 130 male and 16 female patients, is still devoted almost exclusively to the use of officers and soldiers belonging to the Indian Army. The women are either wives or relatives of soldiers. Notwithstanding the unfavourable nature of many of the cases, a very large proportion of the patients are usefully employed in various trades, which, in many instances, they learn in the Asylum. The grounds are somewhat small for the number of patients, but this evil is in a great measure counteracted by the large proportion of inmates who regularly go beyond the premises for exercise. It is to be feared, however, that the limited space for airing ground will before long be still further diminished by the construction of an embankment for a branch of the Great Eastern Railway. This line, if carried out as projected, will not only tend to impede the free circulation of air, but also cut off a considerable piece of the garden, and will pass directly through the centre of a large recreation hall now in constant use, thus rendering a removal of the establishment to some more suitable site almost a necessity"
    8.3.1870 Letter from the Great Eastern Railway Company to the East India Company giving Pembroke House three months to look for relocation as the area was to be redevelped.
    During 1870 patients moved to newly established Royal India Lunatic Asylum in Ealing. 25.3.1870: The East India Company purchased Elm Grove Estate (in Ealing) from Mrs Spencer Percival, the widow of Spencer Perceval junior. The cost of the purchase was £24,500. The company spent a further £11,750 to convert the property into Royal India Asylum and it officially opened on 27.8.1870.
    1881 Census
    24.6.1892 The Ealing asylum closed.

    Kensington had three lunatic asylums according to the 1868 Gazeteer and Chelsea had two. The Gazeteer lists Brompton, Earl's Court, Norland, Notting Hill, with parts of Little Chelsea, and Kensall Green in Kensington.

    The two main Kensington asylums would be: Kensington House and Earls Court House. Both businesses had started in Chelsea and then moved north to classier premises in the 1830s/1840s. The third Kensington "asylum", Clarence Villa, had just two patients.

    The two Chelsea asylums would be Blacklands House and Elm House. Chelsea and Little Chelsea have a long association with private madhouses. Chelsea was a large village (so described in 1800) on the Thames, it was connected to London by Thomas Cubbitt who built "Belgravia" between 1826 and 1831. Little Chelsea was a village on the road to Fulham. On the section of the 1836 map, Chelsea is written under the Fulham Road at Little Chelsea and Brompton above it. The village of Chelsea (east of this section) is marked "Chelsea Hospital". The borough of Chelsea (20th century) stretched from Fulham to Westminster and from the Thames to Kensington. Clunn, H.P. 1962 p.434). The earliest Chelsea madhouses may have been established (before 1743) by Michael Duffield at Little Chelsea, on the Fulham Road. "Michael Duffield maintained two private lunatic asylums at Little Chelsea, one of which in Chelsea parish occupied the mansion built by William Mart in Fulham Road; it was later demolished and replaced by Odell's Place. One treated the critic Montague Bacon before his death in 1749" (external link archive).

    Susanah Wesley complained about a man convicted of sin being confined in Chelsea madhouse. Another religious pioneer, Alexander Cruden was confined in Inskip's, Chelsea for 17 days in 1753. Peter Inskip was Michael Duffield's nephew. Turlington's, Chelsea attracted attention in the 1760s. Benjamin Faulkner, the author of Observations on the General and Improper Treatment of Insanity in 1789 was a madhouse proprietor in Little Chelsea. The Chelsea houses licensed in 1815 were: Blacklands, Jane Jones, in Kings Road, Elizabeth Radford in Little Chelsea and Robert Salmon, in Beaufort Row, Chelsea (1830 map). George Man Burrows owned a small madhouse in Chelsea from 1816 to 1823

    Chelsea seems to have been the seed-bed of the West-London madhouse trade. Whereas Hoxton and Bethnal Green specialised in pauper lunatics, Chelsea houses specialised in private patients. A Little Chelsea house receiving paupers in the 1780s, was an elite Kensington house by the 1880s. The West London houses were not only convenient for West London doctors, but were on the roads west to the West of England madhouses. In the 1830s and 1840s, the Finch family maintained houses in Chelsea/Kensington and Wiltshire.

    external link about Parish of Chelsea Public Serviceas

    Finch's Houses (West London) - houses owned by William Corbyn Finch (1800?-7.1.1848) in 1831:

    The Finch family had asylums in London and Wiltshire


    1840: Possible identification of Finch's London houses as house xi on Sykes' list

    Blacklands House and Hollywood House were also in Chelsea. The (small) Warwick House was also listed as Chelsea in 1847 and 1849.

    Elm House, Chelsea was shown in 1847, 1849, 1859 (address 6 Upper Church Street, Licensed to Miss Elliot. 7 female patients), and 1874 (9 female patients, licensed to F.A.B. Bonney, LRCS Edinburgh.
    "Elm House asylum at Queen's Elm catered for ladies suffering milder forms of mental disease". (external link)
    In Salamanca Road, which runs north from Church Street, there is a Queens Elm Cottage on the 1830 map. Elm Place and Elm Terrace on the 1862 map
    1867 Comments: "The license is limited to 10 female patients, of a quiet, harmless and chronic character. Exercise out doors by walks, carriage drives etc is occasionally allowed to all the inmates, and 4 of them went to the sea side last summer"

    Earls Court House, Cowper House and Clarence Villa listed as Brompton. Clarence Villa is shown in 1847 (Mr Samuel Batton, 2 patients), 1849 and 1859. It is also listed with two (male) patients in 1874, but licensed to Dr G.C Dale.
    1867 Comments: "Clarence Villa continues to be occupied solely by two gentlemen who are relatives. The arrangements are entirely those of a private house, and are satisfactory in every respect."

    Northumberland House, Green Lanes, Stoke Newington (East London)
    Built 1822. Licensed House by 1829. Demolished 1955 Nursing Home moved to Finchley (Closed after 1977)
    Joseph Eade took a lease on the land in 1812; Stephen Cundee, who built the house, had a sub-lease from Eade in 1824
    Opened by 1829
    Elaine Murphy says that the Metropolitan Commissioners, in 1829, "noted that the House admitted its first patient in 1813". As Northumberland House was not built then, she speculates that this relates to patients first being admitted to the Foxs' House in London Lane and that the Foxs moved their business to Northumberland House in 1822, selling it on to Mr and Mrs Richard Birkett in 1829. (Although I cannot find where Elaine gets the link of the Foxs to Northumberland House from)
    Nick Harvey (1987), p.80, says that in April 1829 the Metropolitan Commissioners refused renewal of Samuel Fox's licence for London House, "Edmonton". The reference is to correspondence in HO119/5 dated 20.4.1829 and 22.4.1829.
    1829/1830 Reports: Proprietor shown as Richard Birkett.
    Visit 31.7.1829: signed G.C.H. Somerset, Thomas Turner, H.H. Southey:
    "Divine service is performed every Sunday. The house is in good order with the exception of the Crib Room which is very offensive, nor does the keeper sleep sufficiently near to it."
    Visit 12.10.1829: signed Charles Ross, J. Bright, J.R. Hume: "Found the house in good order. The defect complained of in the last Report with respect to the Crib Room seems remedied. Divine service every Sunday.
    Visit 20.2.1830: signed G.C.H. Somerset, F. Baring, Thomas Turner, J. Bright: "Found the house in good order and the Crib Rooms much improved, but attention should be given to the repairing of the windows whenever they may be broken... "
    Visit 19.4.1830: signed Charles Ross, Thomas Turner, J.R. Hume: "This house is in good order considering that extensive alterations are carrying on. Prayers read every Sunday.
    An 1835 prospectus showed charges from 1.5 to 5 guineas a week
    1840: Likely identification as house iv on Sykes' list
    1841 Census: [Stoke Newington] Northumberland House Private Lunatic Asylum. Richard Birkett and Susannah Birkett, both aged "50" were "proprietor" and "proprietress". Mary Ann Birkett, aged "25" was their daughter. All three were born in Middlesex. About 47 patients (male and female). Total people in house: 34 male 30 female 64 altogether. Certified 7.6.1841 by Richard Birkett, Northumberland House, Green Lanes, Stoke Newington.
    1.1.1844: 46 lunatics.
    Proprietor-superintendent Richard Birkett.
    1850 Richard Birkett acquired the lease of a further 3.5 acres
    1859 Report: (p.110) Licence transferred to Dr George Birkett and Mr Robert Birkett in the place of Mr Richard Birkett deceased
    1867 Comments: "The management continues to be satisfactory. During the summer parties of patients are taken to the sea- side. About 18 of the residents go to church, and prayers are read daily in the establishment, at which 30 gentlemen and 20 ladies are usually present. The house is large and the grounds extensive, but recently a row of semi- detached villas has been erected in close proximity to the principal field and cricket ground. With a view of preventing any inconvenience from this circumstance, the proprietor has purchased the two nearest villas, and these, having been fitted up in accordance with our directions, have now been included in the license, with permission to receive therein, 5 additional patients of each sex, upon the express understanding that they shall be of a quiet and harmless class"
    1867/1868 now licensed to J T Sabben and Mrs Sabben, formerly Mrs Birkett.

    "The asylum was run by members of the Birkett family until 1877, when it was taken over as a going concern by Dr Alonzo Stocker. Stocker acquired a new lease in 1906 but died in 1912. In 1878 the medical superintendent was Dr Francis James Wright MD. After Dr Stocker's death the asylum was retained by the family until the site was acquired by the LCC in 1954. The asylum business moved to Ballard's Lane, Finchley under the direction of Dr Robert Riggall. The following year Northumberland House was demolished." (Murphy, E. 2000)

    1873 John Langley Plumbridge admitted. He was moved to Sussex House
    1877 Dr Alonzo Stocker, the owner of Peckham House in south London, acquired Northumberland House.
    1881 Census: Francis Wright (aged 33, married) Resident Medical Proprietor.
    Listed in 1901 census
    1913: Picture published
    Before the 2nd World War, Edgar or Hubert Stocker managed/ran Northumberland House, sometimes with the assistance of Rupert Stocker.
    1919 Post Office Directory: Northumberland House Private Asylum. Harold Stoker, proprietor; Bernard Hart, MD, MRCS and LRCP London, medical superintendent. 344 to 354 Green Lanes, Finsbury Park, N7
    about 1952 photograph exhibited by Stoke Newington Photographic Society in 1955 Hackney Archives D/S/38/117
    1955 Building demolished for the building of Rowley Gardens (map) on the Wooberry Down Estate. (Watson, I. 1998 p. 56)

    1954 moved to Ballard's Lane, Finchley
    A Registered Mental Nursing Home under the 1959 Mental Health Act
    1977 Post Office Directory: Northumberland Nursing Home, 237 Ballards Lane
    In 2004: Northumberland House, 237 Ballards Lane, Finchley, N3 1LB is a block of 29 private flats. (map)

    Whitmore House, Hoxton (East London)    an elite house
    Baume's House or Balmes House
    Building dates back to about 1540
    Opened as a madhouse about 1750, closed about 1850.

    "In 1757, the press noted that Balmes House had been taken by 'an eminent physician', Meyer Schomberg, for the reception of lunatics."

    [Meyer Low Schomberg was born Fetzburg, Germany in 1690. He graduated as a doctor of medicine at Giessen in 1710, came to England about 1720, LRCP 1722, FRS 30.11.1726. He was physician to the Great Synagogue. He died Hoxton 4.3.1761. His son, 1778 physician commissioner Isaac Schomberg, who converted to Christianity, was born in Germany in 1714, educated in London, naturalised by private Act of Parliament in 1749 and died 1780].

    "In the 1770s it was administered by Dr John Silvester and his partner, Roger Devey"

    [Sir John Baptist Silvester FRCP died 1789]
    (Quotes from (Watson, I. 1998 p. 56)

    Metropolitan Archives catalogue: 1773 Assignment by way of mortgage capital mess. called Balmes/Bames, formerly in possession of William Whitmore snr, deceased, William Whitmore, jnr, deceased, Richard Beauvoir, deceased, Osmond Beauvoir, snr, deceased, with small field, all late in occupation of Meyer Schomberg, Dr of Physick, now of Roger Devey and John Baptist Silvester, Dr of Physick - E/BVR/430

    The following part of its history as a madhouse relies heavily on an attack on the Warburton's published in 1825. The madhouse is said to have had not many patients and no medical attendance. Thomas Warburton, a country butcher's boy, obtained employment as gatekeeper and worked his way up to head keeper. When the owner died, Thomas and the owner's wife were married. "Tom having scraped together £200, presented it to the late Dr Willis, and engaged him for that sum annually to recommend the house. He soon had every ward of it filled and managed to get a lease of the extensive premises at Hoxton for a mere trifle". Became the Warburtons' house for rich patients.

    A 1950s guide to Hackney says "it was here that Charles Lamb brought his sister Mary during her attacks". A similar suggestion has been made by Sarah Burton (2003) Follow this link to see why I think this unlikely.

    1790 Elaine Murphy says that Thomas Warburton took over the madhouse business.
    1794 Imposing entrance gates and sundial replaced by a modern gate.

    1801. Warburton provided attendants during King George third's second madness crisis. Monday 22.2.1801: Rev Thomas Willis sent "to Mr Warburton of Hoxton" for "four of his most respectable men to attend and sit up with His Majesty" (Willis MSS). Two arrived that evening. The three Willis brothers, supported by Warburton's men, were in constant attendance on the King for a fortnight. The keepers were not sent away until 14.4.1801. However, the fears of the King's family led to the Willis brothers, with four Warburton men, re-capturing the King and holding him captive at Kew House until 19.5.1801. ( Hunter, R.A. and Macalpine, I. 1969 pages 114-129.

    19.10.1807 Alexander Bedell admitted (still a patient in 1829/1830). Said to be a talented amateur pianist.
    10.9.1811 Caroline Rolleston admitted (still a patient in 1829/1830). Said to be the daughter of Stephen Rolleston, Second Chief Clerk Foreign Office from 1804 to 1817 and First Chief Clerk from 1817 to 1824.
    1812 Parish Returns (Hackney) surnames A-J:
    "Benfield, Robt. Mr Warburtons Lun.Asyl 54 males 44 females 98 occup."
    Robert Benfield did not appear on the 1811 Parish returns)
    From at least this point, Whitmore House appears to have been run, for the Warburtons, by the Benfield family, who may have been related. Robert and Rutth Benfield had seven children and named their only known son Thomas Warburton Benfield. In 1812, Thomas Warburton lived in Mare Street, Hackney. He was a member of the Select Vestry of St John at Hackney and a Trustee of the Poor from 1812 to 1815. He chaired a vestry meeting on 29.3.1815. He was disqualified a Trustee in 1823 because his attendance was infrequent. He continued to serve as a Trustee for Dr Spurstowe's Charity (Hackney's almshouse) until 1835 (about the time of his death). John Warburton, about 19 years old, was studying (mathematics?) at Cambridge. Thomas Dunston was resident Master of St Lukes, but had other business interests in Hoxton

    [Information about the Benfields (and some about Warburtons) mostly from Thorby Walker and William De Villiers. Information about the Warburtons draws heavily on Elaine Murphy (2000). We are trying to find out more about the Benfield association with Whitmore and what their relationship was with Thomas Warburton]

    May 1812 John Mitford admitted. Discharged March 1813. He is said to have been the author of the
    1825 pamphlets. Those he lists as patients include Priscilla Wakefield. Compare Mitford's (1825) account of her treatment with her son's description of the luxury house.
    1815: One licence for more than ten patients to Thomas Warburton. [At about this time it "housed some eighty patients"]
    Sarah Ann Benfield born in Hackney about 1816
    about 1822 Thomas Warburton Benfield born He became a surgeon.
    1825 "Crimes and Horrors in ...Whitmore House" published. "Dr Warburton of Clifford Street [map], lately married to the daughter of Dr Abernethy, is now sole physician to Hoxton, with the assistance of Dunston, the Apothecary".
    1828 Elaine Murphy (email) says that Thomas Warburton stopped running the mad business about 1828, when John Warburton took over.
    27.7.1828 Christening at St Leonard's, Shoreditch of Letita Benfield, the youngest daughter of Ruth and Robert Benfield.
    1829/1830 Reports. "Whitmore House, Hoxton. Dr John Warburton. Superintendent Mr Binfield"
    Visit 9.7.1829: Report signed G.C.H. Somerset, Ashley, J.R. Hume, J. Bright: "We found the establishment in very good order. Divine service is performed every Sunday by the Rev Mr Kelly, a clergyman of the established church, to about 20 patients." [The other reports are similar]
    Visit 15.10.1829: Report signed F. Baring, J.R. Hume, Frederick G. Calthorpe , Thomas Turner, "...in some instances the visits of relations have not been in accordance with the Act of Parliament. They are desirous that Mr Binfield should call the attention of the friends of the patients to this point".
    1830: see map
    21.3.1831: Proprietor Dr John Warburton. Superintendent: Robert Benfield.
    55 patients. 30 men. 25 women.
    10.5.1831: Report in The Times (page 4) of a Writ de Lunatico Inquirendo on Miss Sophie Ellison
    Some members of the Benfield (and, possibly, Warburton) family were living in York Place, by Shoreditch Workhouse on Kingsland Road, at least from 1831. - map link - The Times contained a death notice for a Mary Benfield, wife of James, who died, aged 97, on 31.10.1831 at York Place, Kingsland, Hackney. Charles Benfield, Robert's publican cousin, was at 1 York Place 1832/1834. Robert's sister, Ann Benfield (1766-24.11.1849) lived at 2 York Place with Thomas Warburton's niece, Sarah Marsh, from 1836, or before, to her death.
    1.4.1832 Thomas Warburton's will (21 pages) signed. It says 'of Hackney' with no further address given. [Information on will from Thorby Walker and Elaine Murphy]
    Thomas Warburton's will proved on 10.3.1836 (Public Record Office, PROB11/1860). It made provision for Ann Benfield (relationship not stated) and his niece Sarah Marsh. At the time of his death, these two women were living together at 2 York Place, Kingsland.
    16.6.1838 Death of Robert Benfield (aged 57) from liver disease at Whitmore House. Registered in Hackney. Informant C Mills, servant, Whitmore House. Succeded by his daughter, Sarah, who would have been about 22 years old. Robert asked to be buried with his wife, Ruth, at St Johns Hackney.
    1840: Likely identification as house xxxiv on Sykes' list
    1841 Census: Whitmore House Private Lunatic Asylum. Parish of Hackney. Matron: Sarah Benfield, aged about "25". Three other Benfields were resident on the night of the census: Letitia (aged about "10"), Thomas (aged about "20") "Medical Student" and Emma (?) (aged about "20").
    July 1843 The Metropolitan Commissioners recommended the use of bodily restraint on a patient, a "gentleman" they found "sitting in a room with a number of other patients, who had a short time previous bitten the hand of one of the attendants, so as to cause serious apprehensions that it would have been necessary to amputate the arm. This patient had been secluded in a padded room some portion of the day on which we saw him, and at the time of our visit was unrestrained, but under the watch of two keepers, who were in the apartment for that purpose. The medical superintendent and keeper both stated that notwithstanding the precautions then in use, they were apprehensive of a similar injury being inflicted by him upon some other patient or attendant; but in a deference to the popular opinion, they did not apply mechanical restraint, although they though it was necessary. We recommended that bodily restraint should be employed. Shortly after giving this recommendation..."
    1.1.1844: Proprietor Dr John Warburton.
    41 patients
    30.6.1846
    39 patients on last visit
    Shown as licensed to John Warburton, but he died 2.6.1845. At the Lunacy Commission Board on 24.9.1845, Procter "stated the arrangements which had been made with regard to Bethnal House and Whitmore House". On 27.11.1845, Ashley and Turner directed the Secretary to write to "Mr Beverley of Whitmore House requesting information relative to the late Dr Warburton's private single patients to whom they were transferred upon his death". On 22.12.1845, Beverley called at the office. Dr Warburton had only had one single patient for three or four years prior to his death. This was Mr P.L. Fector who he attended when Mr Fector lodged at Miss? Benfield's, Kingsland Road when visiting town for six weeks each year. Mr Fector's mother lived in St James's Street, Dover and saw him weekly. He was "under the charge, in his own house, of a keeper from Whitmore House and a bailiff". His trustee or agent was Major Watson of Pall Mall.
    30.6.1847 Licensed to Mrs Sarah Benfield [ Elaine Murphy says Whitmore House was registered under the name of Charles Beverley in 1847 but changed in 1851 to Miss Sarah Benfield]
    33 patients on last visit
    1.1.1849:
    20 male and 13 female patients (= 33)
    3 male and 5 female (= 8) found lunatic by inquisition.
    1851 Census: following on from 10 De Beauvoir Crescent: Warburton's Licensed Madhouse. Head: Edward P. Beverley MRCS, aged 23, unmarried. Resident Surgeon - Others include: Sarah A. Beaufield, aged 34, unmarried - Matron - Letitia Beaufield, aged 22, unmarried, Visitor - Emma Beaufield, aged 22, unmarried, Visitor, Governess -
    1851 Sarah Benfield moved most of the patients to Derwentwater House in West London. In 1852 there were only 10 patients left at Whitmore House (Elaine Murphy)
    26.5.1852 A letter in The Times from JY of Hoxton said that the ancient mansion was about to be demolished ("there it stands a few days longer") and that members of the various "literary societies interested in British antiquities" should be allowed to meet there to examine it minutely.

    Derwentwater House, Acton 1859 licensed to "Miss Benfield" 9 patients, 1 male, 8 female. 3 women found lunatic by inquisition.
    1861 Census: Sarah Benfield described as proprietor of Derwentwater House.
    1867 Comments: "Most of the patients in Derwentwater House have resided there for many years. They are old chronic cases, and very little change takes place among them. The house, which is spacious and well furnished, is always kept in the best order, and the gardens are extensive. The majority of the ladies were last year taken to the sea-side"
    1871 Census: Derwentwater House, Acton. Horn Lane? [Between a school and the Rectory] Sarah Benfield, head, Proprietor of Lunatic Asylum, aged 54, born Hackney. Emma Benfield, sister, Governess, aged 52, born Hackney. A visitor. Six female patients, all "lunatic": Harriet Willett, widowed, aged 70. The others, unmarried, initials only, aged from 69 down to 34. One companion. Two attendants. One Cook. One Parlour Maid. One House Maid. One Under House Maid.
    Last quarter 1872: Sarah Benfield died, aged 56, in Acton (at Derwentwater House?). Death registered Brentford Registration District (which covered Acton) in the quarter ended December 1872. The entry reads: "BENFIELD, Sarah Ann. 56. ...Brentford 3a. 57" She had never married. No Benfield family members continued on with Derwentwater House. Emma Benfield moved to stay with other family members. (Thorby Walker and William De Villiers)
    Not listed 1.1.1874

    Cowper House, Old Brompton (West London)
    Opened by 1829, closed by 1859.
    Proprietor-superintendent in 1829/1831: William Hitchman Symmons, surgeon. The licence had recently been granted to him (before July 1829). Commissioners had problems with Cowper House because it had uncertified "lodgers" (Mr Simpson and Miss Wilson) and because men and women dined at the same table. This was reported to the Board. But they noted later, with apparent approval, that some of the patients dined with the family.
    39 lunatics.
    1840: Likely identification as house xxix on Sykes' list
    1.1.1844: Proprietor Mrs Eliza Symmons and Co.
    39 patients


    See Hackney Public Services which is part of British History Online

    Brooke House was probably the earliest Hackney (as distinct from Hoxton) house I have listed. [See areas included in Hackney parish]
    From Shoreditch Church, by Hoxton, one reached Hackney by travelling east along the Hackney Road, then north (past Pembroke House and London House) along Mare Street and Church Street to Hackney village. To reach Brooke House one continued north along Clapton Road.

    Brooke House, Upper Clapton (Hackney, East London).    an elite house
    Used to stand at the junction of Upper and Lower Clapton Road with Lea Bridge Road. Also spelt Brook House.
    Opened as an asylum 1759, closed 1939/1940.
    Brooke House was a country residence whose earliest records are in the 1470s. It began to lose its noble status after the death of the fourth Baron Brooke in 1677. In the early 18th century it was divided into tenements and used by traders in the early 18th century.
    The private asylum of the Monros who were the physicians to Bethlem from 1728 to 1856. The London Metropolitan Archives catalogue says the Monro family also owned a private asylum Hadham Palace, Much Hadham, Hertfordshire. It has articles of co-partnership for 1829-1838 (ACC/1063/164-165) relating to Hadham Palace.

    This is a list of Monros in Munk. Those I believe to have been proprietors of Brook House are marked with an asterisk *

    • James Monro, born Scotland 2.9.1680. Son of Alexander Monro (died 1715?), Principal of Edinburgh University and Anna Logan. James was resident physician at Bethlem from 2.10.1728 to his death. Died Sunninghill, Berkshire, 4.11.1752. "That wretched fellow Monroe" that Susannah Wesley wrote about in 1740.
    • John Monro, the eldest son of James, was born Greenwich, 16.11.1715. Appointed joint physician to Bethlem on 24.7.1751, and sole physician on his father's death in 1752. He was also physician to the Bridewell. Died Hadley, Barnet, 27.12.1791) (*)
    • Donald Monro (about 1717-1792), was probably the son of Alexander Monro, Edinburgh physician (born 1697, died 1767) and brother of Alexander Monro, anatomist, (born 1733, died 1817). As far as I know, this family of Monros were not related to the Bethlem Monros.
    • Thomas Monro, the youngest son of John, was born in London in 1759. His father's health failing, Thomas became his assistant at Bethlem in 1787, and John gradually retired. Thomas took over as physician to Bethlem and the Bridewell in 1792, following John's death. Physician at Bethlem to July 1816 An art patron (water colours) who supported J.M.W. Turner, amongst many others. Died 14.5.1833 at Bushey in Hertfordshire (*)
      [James, the second son of John Monro above, was Captain of an East India Company ship. The London Metropolitan Archive has Monro correspondence mostly consisting of letters written by James, his sons and his grandsons]
    • Edward Thomas Monro, son of Thomas. Joint physician at Bethlem from July 1816 to 1852. (*)
    • Henry Monro (1817-1891), the second son of Edward Thomas. Physician to St Luke's Hospital from 1855 to 1882. Painter and philanthropist. He was President of the Medico-Psychological Association in 1864. (*)

    1802-1806 Letters from Charles Monro to his brother James, in London Metropolitan Archives, concerning the family's financial affairs. - (ACC/1063/049-057) "These relate mainly to the family's private lunatic asylum, Brooke House, Clapton, which was being mismanaged by Robert Jacob who had married their grandmother" [says 'the widow of Dr Thomas Monro', but I think it must mean John]: "Jacob left Brooke House in 1804".
    1829/1830 Reports: licensed to Dr Edward Thomas Monro MD. Superintended by the Misses Pettingall. Maximum licensed for: 50. Typical minute would say that the house was in very good order, divine service was read every Sunday by a clergyman of the Church of England to (no more than) 10 patients who were said to be tranquillized by the service - but without permanent effect.
    1840: Likely identification as house xvii on Sykes' list
    1844: proprietor E.T. Monro MD, 34 patients.
    30.6.1846 licensed to Misses Pettingall. 39 Patients.
    30.6.1847 licensed to Dr Monro MD: 42 Patients on last visit.
    1.1.1849 had 39 patients, 17 male, 22 female. 4 of each sex found lunatic by inquisition.
    1859 licensed to "Dr H. Monro and Miss Russel" 45 patients, 23 male, 22 female. 6 men and 4 women found lunatic by inquisition. 1 male criminal lunatic.
    1859: A Resident Medical Officer appointed.
    1867 Comments: "Brooke House, to which various additions have been made from time to them, is now a large and important establishment, comprising various detached houses and out-buildings. The license is for 39 patients of each sex, the majority of those received being of the middle and upper class. Changes among the inmates are numerous, last year 35 new cases were admitted, these included one gentleman of strong suicidal propensities, who effected his escape, and committed self destruction by drowning himself in the River Lea. (See page 75) Last year 16 of the patients went to the sea-side. Dr Gardiner the resident medical officer has recently resigned, and Dr Adams has been appointed in his stead. Dr Monro does not reside on the premises."
    1.1.1874: licensed to "Dr H. Monro and J.O. Adams FRCS" 78 patients, 37 male, 48 female. 21 found lunatic by inquisition.
    1881 Census: J.O. Adams, surgeon, aged 38 and married, was head. He and his wife had two daughters, born in Hackney, aged 4 and one.
    1919 Post Office Directory: Brooke House Private Lunatic Asylum. Josiah Oake Adams, MD and Gerald H. Johnston LRCP and LRCS. 1,3,5,7 and 9 Upper Clapton Road, E5
    1939 patients were evacuated on the outbreak of war
    Sunday 8.9.1940 A bomb fell on the house, but did not explode.
    March 1944 London County Council bought the house and its five and a half acres of land.
    1955 House demolished. Later in the 1950s, Brooke House School was erected. This became (until about 2001/2002) a part of Hackney Community College.
    About 1976: One of the workers demolishing the old London Orphanage (later Salvation Army Congress Hall) in Lower Clapton told me he had demolished padded cells at Brooke House. The present Hackney Community College stands on the site of Hoxton House. [You do not have to be mad to be in Hackney, but I like being in such good company] This external link to the Hackney Society not only shows you a picture of Brooke House, but also one of the posh end of Glenarm Road. I live at the other end.
    Archives: No medical or systematic administrative records of Brooke House survive, as far as I can establish. Hackney Archives and the London Metropolitan Archive catalogue several interesting records relating to the asylum's history.

    Sutherland's Houses (West and Central London)
    proprietors:
    Alexander Robert Sutherland (born about 1781, died 1861),
    physician to Saint Luke's to 1841.
    Paternoster 1841: "Dr A.R. Sutherland has a house at Fulham for 45 females...in charge... of Mrs Mary Collins; and another house at Chelsea for 30 males, under the protection of Miss Ann Ward - the worthy doctor himself... residing in Parliament-street, and being fully engaged also in his general practice"
    Alexander John Sutherland (born 1810, died 1867),
    physician to Saint Luke's 1841 to 1860
    A.C. Sutherland
    may be Alexander C. Sutherland, born Westminster 1841, MA Oxford University, lived at 6 Richmond Terrace, London, Middlesex on census day 1881 with his widowed mother Alison J. Sutherland, born Scotland 1820. She and her son lived on dividends.

    I conclude from the following that Sutherlands first had an interest in Fisher House (a mixed-sex house in Islington, run by a woman) and Blacklands House (a mixed-sex house in Chelsea, also run by a woman). In the 1830s it was decided to separate the sexes in different houses. Men went to Blacklands and women to Otto House, in Fulham.


    1840: Likely identification as houses xxvii and xxviii on Sykes' list

      The road from the City to Islington has a long association with madhouses as one of the oldest was at Clerkenwell from 1678 to 1803. The Clerkenwell house, like Fisher House, had links with the physician of St Lukes - but also with the Monros. External links to 1830 map toll gate on St John Street near which I think the Clerkenwell House had stood. Mad House opposite Cross Street I identify as Fisher House

      Fisher House, Islington
      Lower Street (now Essex Road) "nearly opposite the east end of Cross Street". Dr William Pitcairn (died 1791) had a botanical garden in the vicinity. Circumstantial evidence suggests links.
      Opened (as a madhouse) by 1797, closed by 1844. Demolished 1845, having been for some time uninhabited. Clunn, H.P. 1962 p.364 describes Fisher House in this passage:

      "Essex Road, which has no claim to distinction, was called Lower Street from time immemorial until late in the nineteenth century. Here a cattle market was established in 1833... Another interesting feature ... was Fisher House, a spacious mansion situated nearly opposite the east end of Cross Street. It was built early in the seventeenth century by Sir Thomas Fisher, and had very fine grounds. In 1845 it was demolished for local street improvements, but for some time previously it had been uninhabited."

      Mary Lamb was a patient in an Islington house following her murder of her mother in 1796. As a patient still resident in 1829/1830 was admitted in 1797, Fisher House's history goes back to the period of Mary's admission, and I think this is the same house. The charge for Mary was about one guinea a week - without any medical fees - for a room and nurse to herself.
      Jess Annandale had a house for more than 10 patients in Lower Street, Islington in 1815, which I think it reasonable to assume was the same.
      1816 Euphemia Boswell (1774-1837), second daughter of James Boswell, was declared insane and placed in Fisher House by her brothers. The original charge was four guineas a week for board and maintenance and medical and other attendance.
      September 1824 Charge for Euphemia Boswell reduced to £140 a year (about 2.5 guineas a week), the amount of an annuity she was then receiving. (Kassler, M. 2003, pp 465)
      1829/1830: Proprietors Dr Sutherland and Ann Ward. Superintendent: Ann Ward. The reports say that Miss Ward superintended the male patients. Before April 1830 there were 29 male and 33 female patients listed. The earliest admission recorded was 1797. 3 males died, 13 were discharged and the other 13 removed: Possibly to Blacklands House, where Ann Ward seems to have moved, as well.
      21.3.1831: Proprietor Dr Sutherland. Superintendent: Mary Collins
      25 patients, all female. (Licensed for up to 45)
      Euphemia Boswell as discharged about 1836 "convalescent". Dr Sutherland sued her (in the Scottish Courts) for £1648..13/9d fees and interest he said were due to him. (Kassler, M. 2003, pp 465)
      Patients probably moved to Otto House.

      Blacklands House, Chelsea
      Immediately north of Kings Road, near Chelsea Hospital. The old Chelsea Common was bounded on the east by Blacklands Lane (now Draycott Avenue), which ran into King's Road. The Common to the west is "Whitelands". To the east on an 1802 map is Blacklands (the house). On an 1827 map it is just "Lunatic Asylum". 1830 Greenwoods Map
      From at least early 18th century, an expensive French boarding school for girls (external link)
      Opened as an asylum by 1802, moved to Tooting 1890
      Licensed to Mary Bastable in 1815
      July 1817 to June 1818: Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) confined in Blacklands House. Samuel Wesley, nephew of John Wesley, was a composer and organist who played a leading role in introducing J S Bach's music in England. " Dr Alexander Robert Sutherland was the physician in charge of Blacklands then". "There are several references in Samuel Wesley's correspondence to the superintendent 'Mrs Bastable'" [Michael Kassler - email]
      7.7.1817 Sarah Wesley to Thomas Maurice: Sutherland had to "obtain the advice" of Dr George Leman Tuthill before treatment could begin
      23.8.1817 William B. Kingston visited Samuel. He described "Mrs Bastable, the proprietress of the establishment" as "of masculine nerves and resolution; to which is added a portion of animal spirits perhaps best adapted to conduct so peculiar an undertaking" (Kassler, M. 2003, pp 463-464)
      Proprietor 1831 Dr Sutherland.
      1829/1830 Reports:
      Superintendent: Mary Bastable then Ann Ward
      13.4.1830: 26 patients listed, first admission 1802. 5 female, 21 male. Of those listed, two had died and 6 been discharged. Professions included two surgeons, a clergyman and a clerk. Dr Sutherland intended to appropriate the house entirely to male patients. In April 1830 the Commissioners found the house undergoing considerable alterations and improvements. Miss Ward read divine service (new).
      17.4.1831: 32 male patients listed (no females), the earliest 1808. Of those listed, one had died and eight been discharged.   Professions listed were: clerk, housekeeper, insurance broker, stock broker, gentleman, teacher of languages.
      1839: summons (on vellum) to enquire whether Henry Robert Pearce (confined at Blacklands House, Chelsea) is a lunatic. Hearing to be held at the Cadogan Hotel in Sloan Square. (Durtnalls Manuscripts)
      1841: Paternoster commented on men being "under the protection" of an unmarried woman. "I trust that Miss Ann Ward finds amusement and occupation enough with her 30 protegés"
      1841 Census: [North East Chelsea] Ann Ward aged "45" Superintendent. Ann Clarke aged "25" Assistant. Occupations of the 31 patients (all male) shown as Gentleman, Medical, Army, Clergyman, Barrister, Shipbroker, Clerk, Wine Merchant, East India Service, Brewer, Navy. 6 female servants ages "15" to "25". 10 male keepers aged "25" to "30". House Porter "35" and gardener "25" also male. Certified 7.6.1841 by Ann Ward, Resident Superintendent
      Proprietor 1.1.1844: A.R. Sutherland, M.D.
      30 patients
      1.1.1849: 25 patients, all male. 2 found lunatic by inquisition, one a criminal lunatic.
      1854 Dr Ralph William Shipperdson Hopper a patient (external link)
      In 1858 A J Sutherland appointed Dr Blandford Resident Medical Officer of his two asylums, Blacklands and Otto, and also superintending officer to Alpha Road Cottages . (Hervey, N.B. 1987)
      Proprietors 1859: "Drs Sutherland". In 1859 a Resident Medical Officer was appointed.
      1867/1868: A C Sutherland became the Licensee of both Blacklands House Chelsea and Otto House Fulham.
      1867 Comments: "Since the death of Dr Sutherland, the house has been carried on for the benefit of his family, the license being granted to Mr A C Sutherland and Mr Hall, who is the resident medical officer. Last year 13 of the gentlemen went ot Bognor for a month. Many of the patients are taken to various places of amusement, and theatrical representations are occasionally given in the house"
      Proprietors 1.1.1874: A. C. Sutherland and E. Hall MRCS.
      20 patients, all male, 4 found lunatic by inquisition.
      1881 Census: Edward Thomas Hall (aged 51), surgeon was head and Mary Ward, aged 44, was matron.
      1890: Lease on Blacklands House expired and the asylum moved to Newlands House, Tooting Common, "where the Sutherland family continued to retain an interest in its operation. Newlands House closed at the time of World War 2" (Kassler, M. 2003 endnote 53)

      Otto House, "North End", Fulham
      Otto House, 47 North End Road, Kensington
      The present numbering suggests this was in the neighbourhood of the present West London County Court. A "lunatic asylum" is shown on an 1874 map near here. Other sources show "North End Villa" between Vernon Street and Edith Road and Otto House on the opposite side of North End Road. On an 1888 map, Otto House is shown next to The Grange (where the artist Edward Burne-Jones lived from 1867 to 1898). The Grange (and possibly Otto House) has been replaced by high-rise council flats, also called The Grange
      Opened by 1841, still open 1931.
      1.1.1844: Proprietor A.R. Sutherland, M.D.
      22 lunatics.
      1.1.1849: 28 patients, all female. 1 found lunatic by inquisition.
      1859: Proprietors "Drs Sutherland"
      1867/1868: A C Sutherland became the Licensee of both Blacklands House Chelsea and Otto House Fulham.
      A patient: From 1870 to 1874, Frederick Schlusser and his wife Louisa (1831-1920) lived in Lower Norwood. Frederick Schlusser died on 9.4.1874. Louisa Schlusser, who had become mentally ill, was admitted to Otto House on 23.10.1874 and lived there for the rest of her life. She died on 3.5.1920 at 5.30 a.m. of "cardial degeneration" at Otto House, 47 North End Road, West Kensington. Friedrich von Petersdorff, one of her descendants, has given me considerable help with researching Otto House.
      (If any one has further information about, please mail me)
      1.1.1874: licensed to A. C. Sutherland and Miss E. Dixon. 34 patients, all female, 7 found lunatic by inquisition.
      1881 Census: Caroline Sharpe (Servant, unmarried, aged 52) was Superintendent, and Georgina Holloway (Servant, unmarried, aged 36) was Deputy Superintendent of the "Private Asylum (Hospital)", but Martha Humphrey (Servant, unmarried, aged 42) was head of the household. The "Boarders" are all listed as "Gentlewoman".


      The Royal College of Psychiatrists has a Casebook (no.1) of admissions to Otto House (West Kensington) from 1902 to 1915, with notes up to 1931.

    The Stilwell Houses See also Surrey

    William Stilwell of Ealing, died 1857
    James Stilwell died 1839 and Ann Stilwell born about 1773 were probably "Mr and Mrs Stilwell" who ran Moor Croft together with James (junior). Mrs Stilwell became a patient.
    James Stillwell junior born Stoke near Guildford about April 1798, died 1870, would be their son.
    Arthur Stilwell (surgeon) born Stoke 16.12.1813. Son of James (presumably junior) and Ann. Died 1853.
    Dr George James Stilwell, born Ewell 1833 died 1867. Son of George and Jane
    Mrs E S Stilwell
    Dr Henry Stilwell, born Uxbridge about 1836
    John Finnis Stilwell, born Hillingdon about 1847

    Normand House, Fulham (West London)
    1769: Edward Talfourd born Reading, Berkshire. At some time, a brewer.
    1773: Anne Noon, who married Edward Talfourd, born. She was the daughter of Thomas Noon, Minister of the independent chapel at Reading, Berkshire.
    1795: Thomas Noon Talfourd born. Father: Edward Talfourd. Mother Ann. Christened 12th.7.1795 at Broad Street Meeting-Independent, Reading, Berkshire, England.
    About 1806: Anne Talfourd, daughter of Edward and Anne Talfourd, born.
    1807 Froome Talfourd (died 1902) born Reading, Berkshire.
    September 1809: Field Talfourd born. Christened 22.10.1809 at Broad Street Meeting - Independent, Reading, Berkshire. Father Edward Talfourd. Mother Ann. [The Field Talfourd who drew pictures of Elizabeth and Robert Browning has been said to have been born in 1815 and died 1874]
    22.10.1812 Admission of Margaret Blair to Normand House. The earliest admission shown in the 1829/1830 Lists
    Listed in 1815 ("Talfourd's, Walham Green").
    Good opinion of Edward Wakefield: fourteen ladies who appeared to be treated with the greatest kindness. They went to the local church, and were allowed out for walks - two had just walked to Walham Green to see Louis 18
    7.6.1815: house for more than 10 patients licensed to Edward Talfourd
    Thomas Noon Talfourd met Charles and Mary Lamb in 1815
    1829/1830: Licensed for 20 private patients to Edward and Ann Talfourd
    The reports list 23 patients, all women.
    Mary Lamb was a patient from 20.5.1829 to 12.8.1829 and 6.7.1830 to 13.10.1830
    All the commissioners' quarterly visits make a report like this:
    25.7.1829: "The establishment is in excellent order. Religious service is regularly performed every Sunday evening to such patients as are capable of attending". But on one visit they made a recommendation for improvement:
    17.11.1830: "This house is in a very creditable state, but the commissioners would recommend that a larger room be appropriated to the worst class of patients"
    23.3.1831: "This house appears in very good order. The suggestion made in the last Report has been attended to in the removal of the worst class of patients into a larger room"
    1832 Froome and Field Talfourd emigrated to Canada. Field returned shortly afterwards.
    1837 Shown on map on opposite side of North End Road to Beaufort House
    1840: Likely identification as house xxx on Sykes' list
    1841 Census: Normand House: Anne Talfourd aged "65". Anne Talfourd aged "30". Field Talfourd aged "30".
    1.1.1844: Proprietor Mrs Ann Talfourd
    18 lunatics
    Froome Talford "visiting superintendent" to the local Indian reserves, in Canada from 1855 to 1868. when he returned to England.
    1859 Report: (p.110) Licence transferred to Miss Anne Talfourd in the place of Mrs Anne Talfourd deceased
    1.1.1874: Still open
    1881 census: Anne Talfourd, unmarried, born 1806 in Reading, Berkshire (now 75 years of age) was the Superintendent of an Institution (Hospital) Private Asylum Normand House. There was a resident cook (Eliza Arnold) aged 37, housemaid (Jane Buck) aged 58 and three nurses (Rose Tandy, aged 58; Emma Hiller, aged 43 and Mary Bulpit, aged 53) to look after seven patients, all of whom had the occupation "Lady". All the servants except Mary Bulpit (widow) were unmarried, as were all the patients except one widow and one wife. The youngest patient was 44 years old, the oldest 74. Patients are identified by initials.
    1881 Census Froome Talfourd (aged 73) and his wife, Jane (aged 49) lived at "Frome Field", Rose Hill Road, Wandsworth, Surrey.
    1885: Normand House was purchased by the St. Katharine's Sisterhood, the employment of the Sisters being prison rescue work among young women convicted of a first theft.

    Western House, St Pancras (Central London)
    Opened by 1829, closed by 1859
    1831: Proprietor W.B. Diamond
    16 male and one female lunatic
    1840: Likely identification as either house vi or house vii on
    Sykes' list
    1831: Proprietor W.B. Diamond, surgeon
    13 lunatics

    Clapham Retreat in Clapham, South London, was opened by Dr George Man Burrows FRCP in 1823. It is the only licensed house in Clapham I have a record of.
    G.M. Burrows was born in Kent in May 1771 (He died 1846)
    At some time, he studied medicine at St Andrew's Univesity, Scotland (MD) - but he started (about 1787) as a surgeon's apprentice
    2.7.1794 Married Mary Dale?
    16.3.1797 Married Sophie Druce?
    Friday, 3.7.1812 The Association of Apothecaries and Surgeon- Apothecaries formed with Burrows as a leading officer.
    From 1814, he and others edited a monthly journal called (with variation) The London Medical, Surgical, and Pharmaceutical Repository. Passed editorship to J. Copland in 1822.
    From 1815 "he devoted himself entirely to the treatment of insanity". - [I think he practised in London (Bloomsbury) and sent patients first to Chelsea and then to Clapham]
    1815 Observations on comparative mortality
    From 1816 to 1823 Burrows owned a small madhouse in Chelsea.
    1817 ...Remarks on a bill...for regulating of mad-houses...
    About 1818 issued a proposal to publish a book on insanity (by subscription), however, his manuscripts were stolen and he had to start again (published 1828).
    1818 Strictures on the uses and defects of Parish Registers
    1819 Year in which William Conway Campbell (1773?- 1856?) is thought to have been found lunatic. (Information from Melinda Rockwell)
    1820 An inquiry into certain errors relative to insanity; and their consequences; physical, moral, and civil
    4.9.1820 Lucy (born Thomas), wife of William Henry Pollard (born about 1797), gave birth to Laura Anne Pollard
    17.2.1822 Lucy (born Thomas), wife of William Henry Pollard (born about 1797), gave birth to Jane Phoebe Pollard
    1822 Inquiry translated into German by Heinroth.
    Burrows opened Clapham Retreat in 1823, and appears to have moved his Chelsea patients there.
    21.12.1824: Laura Anne Pollard (born 1820) and Jane Phoebe Pollard (born 1822) both christened at Holy Trinity, Clapham
    25.6.1828 Ellen Burrows (born 1820) daughter of Dr [George Mann] Burrows of Montaque Street, Russell Square, married Charles Arnold son of Thomas Graham Arnold
    1828 Burrows' Commentaries on the Causes, Forms, Symptoms, and Treatment, Moral and Medical, of Insanity
    "Insanity is the scourge brought down on sinful men
    by the wrath of the Almighty"
    Borrows (1828) is said to have said mania can be diagnosed by the smell of fermenting henbane. Conolly denied that there is any smell to insanity - only to asylums!
    1829/1830 List: Proprietor Dr Burrows - Superintendent: William Henry Pollard
    1829/1830 Reports: "Clapham Retreat": Licensed to George Man Burrows, MD, but "Mr Pollard" mentioned in earliest report. Licensed for a maximum of 30 patients. (13.7.1829). "G. Burrows" signed many of the medical certificates. The earliest admission is 1821 (presumably to the Chelsea House), There are 48 names listed (34 males and 14 females), but there had been 5 deaths and 20 discharges. Patients include four clerks, two "officers", a surgeon, silversmith, tea dealer broker, silver chaser, tobacconist, merchant, bricklayer servant and a wine merchant.
    Visited 13.7.1829 Report signed Ashley, J.R. Hume, J. Bright: "The house appears to be in excellent order. Divine service is performed every Sunday by Mr Pollard and is we understand to the satisfaction of the patients"
    Visited 16.10.1829 Report signed Charles Ross, Thomas Turner, H.H. Southey: "The house is in good order. The Commissioners call the attention of Dr Burrows to their report of April 13th. They wish he could devise some means to meet the complaint which is there made and to prevent such a great intermixture of the sleeping rooms of the two sexes. Religious service is performed every Sunday."
    Visited 6.2.1830 Report signed Somerset, J.R. Hume, J. Bright: Divine service is performed every Sunday to such patients as are capable of attending. The House appears clean and in good order, but the want of a due separation of the apartments for the two sexes is objectionable."
    Visited 22.4.1830 Report signed Frederick G. Calthorpe , J. Bright, H.H. Southey: "This House is in excellent order. Divine service is regularly performed to such patients as are capable of attending to it and the effect is stated to be rather beneficial than otherwise.
    1830: ... on a commission of lunacy on Edward Davies (See chancery lunatics)
    Superintendent 1831: Proprietor George Mann Burrows MD. Superintendent William Henry Pollard.
    18 male and 5 female private patients (= 23)
    1831 German translation of the Commentaries
    25.9.1832 At Holy Trinity, Clapham; David Capon, major in the Bombay Army, married Emma Burrell (1818-4.3.1869) third daughter of George Mann Burrows and Sophie Druce Burrows of Larkhill Rise Clapham. [Holy Trinity was one of the centres of the Evangelical revival in the Church of England]
    8.6.1837 William Barnett left Austria
    Thursday 20.6.1837 Death of William 4th. Victoria began reign.
    Monday 17.7.1837 Commission of lunacy on Rev William Barnett, MA held at the Horne Tavern, Kennington, before Commissioners Phillimore, Winslow and Blount. "The usual practice, and the most desirable one, was that the unfortunate person be brought into the room and examined by the jury, in order that their minds might be satisfied as to the actual state of his mind; but in this instance it appeared that such a step would be attended with considerable danger to the patient, and therefore it would be for the jury to depute some gentlemen from their number to proceed to the asylum where he was confined". William Barnett had been brought from Vienna in June 1837 by Dr Koestler, medical officer of a Vienna lunatic asylum. Henry Glover, keeper at "Dr Burroughs's asylum" testified that, when he first arrived, William Barnett had thought he had occasioned the death of the Queen" (Victoria), but that she had come alive again and had sent a carriage to Clapham to have him removed to St Bartholomew's Hospital. (Times Wednesday 19.7.1837 - cutting provided by Richard Shrubb who produced the feature programme for Radio B200 )
    1839 In Vienna, Dr Koestler (Köstler) published Remarks over several lunatic asylums of England, France, and Belgium
    1840: Likely identification as house iii on Sykes' list
    1841 Census: "The Retreat Lunatic Asylum, Parish of Clapham". Elizabeth Stevens (aged 35) Resident Superintendent. Two female nurses - Louisa Allis, aged 35 and Jemma? Newland, aged 20 - and a cook - Mary Dorknier? aged 25 - and three male keepers - Henry Fletcher, aged 25 - Edward Waller, aged 20 - William Hunter, aged 20. The female lunatics are Maria Smith, aged 50; Frederica Lefevre?, aged 35; Elizabeth Matilda Cookson? aged 35; Valerie ---------? aged 35; Jane Mullens?, aged 45. The male lunatics are William Conway Campbell? aged 60; John Macdonald, aged 65; Henry Whylie, aged 55 (born Scotland); Ralph Peters, aged 30; Vincent St Luce Prosper, aged 40; Alexander Bumphrey Stevens, aged 30; John Francis Foxhale? aged 35; Henry Mapother, aged 40; George Gray, aged 50. No one (staff or lunatic) was born in Surrey, but all except one (Scotland) were born in England. The return was signed by Elizabeth Stevens, as Resident Sperintendent, on 7.6.1841.
    Hervey , N.B. 1987 says "Clapham took the majority of Chancery patients from the south-east of England admitted to asylum care in the 1840s and 1850s, who were not placed in Ticehurst Asylum", but this is not confirmed by the data I have. [1.1.1849: two patients lunatic by inquisition - 1.1.1859: non] But notice the apparent conflict (below) between the number of inquisitions and the number of inquisition patients in the late 1850s.
    1844 John Bush, surgeon, took over from Burrows. John Bush was the brother in law of of Edward Augustine Batt, the proprietor of Witney asylum in Oxfordshire. John Bush had worked in the Witney Asylum before taking over Clapham retreat. Nic Hervey says that, under John Bush, Clapham Retreat ncreasingly began to attract adverse comment from the Lunacy Commission, especially for its excessive use of restraint." Hervey , N.B. 1987
    Proprietor 1.1.1844: John Bush
    12 lunatics on 1.1.1844:
    29.10.1846 Death of George Man Burrows
    March 1854 Inquisition on Richard Cannon, of The Retreat [asylum], Clapham Rise, Surrey
    March 1856 Inquisition on Elizabeth Corbin of The Retreat, Clapham..
    1856 William Buckland (1784-1856) may have been a patient when he died: "Buckland's humour could elapse into the gross and some observers were considerably intimidated by his daring jokes. Sadly ironically, Buckland spent his last years under the influence ofa mental illness that drove him entirely out of the secure into the realm of the coarse jokes. He had to be sent to a mental asylum in Clapham" (Marianne Sommer March 2004 British Journal for the History of Science 37/1:53-74)
    December Quarter 1856 Death of a William Conway Campbell recorded in the Wandsworth area
    December 1856 Inquisition on Thomas Phillips of The Retreat Asylum, Clapham, Surrey
    January 1857 Inquisition on Captain John Hall of The Retreat Asylum, Clapham...
    September 1857 Inquisition on Walter Blackmore, formerly of Wandsworth; now at The Retreat Asylum, Union Road, Clapham Rise, Surrey
    September 1857 Inquisition on Emily Bryant of The Retreat Asylum, Union Road, Clapham...
    1.1.1859: licensed to John Birch, surgeon. 17 patients, 12 male, 5 female, 1 male criminal lunatic, none found lunatic by inquisition.
    December 1862 Inquisition on Christi Hayward, formerly of 1 Sutherland Square, Walworth, Surrey; now at The Retreat Asylum, Clapham, Surrey
    1867 Comments: "Very satisfactory reports have been made relative to this house which is licensed to receive 18 male and 10 female private patients"
    July 1869 Inquisition on James Powell senior of The Retreat Asylum, Clapham...
    February 1870 Inquisition on Charles Forster of The Retreat Asylum, Union Road, Clapham...
    1871 The Retreat, Union Road, Clapham licensed to John Bush (surgeon) Rossbret link
    2.4.1871 Death of Margaret Bush, wife of John Bush
    5.10.1871 Death of John Bush
    Clapham Retreat was closed by 1874
    Clapham Retreat 1880 The Retreat is shown on an 1880 Ordnance Survey map (presumably after it closed) as in what look like large grounds west of St John's Church and the British Home for Incurables on Clapham Rise (High Street), north of Clapham Station and east of the railway line from there to Wandsworth Road Station. It is south of Union Street (not on it). Coordinates roughly 529750,175750. It is a little north of Clapham Common.

    Althorpe House, Battersea (South London)
    Opened by 1829, closed by 1859
    Proprietor
    1831: Paul Haines
    1840: May be house xii on Sykes' list. If so, it had five to eight male and female paupers, as well as its non-pauper patients, in 1837, 1838 and 1839.
    Proprietor 1.1.1844: James Tow
    13 lunatics in 1844
    1848 Cholera

    Ayres' and Oxley's (West London, moved to East London by 1844)
    Proprietor-superintendents:
    William Ayres (surgeon by 1844)
    William Oxley, surgeon (MD by 1859)
    Mrs Ayres

    The Mare Street locations: British History Online: says that "the old Black and White House" in Mare Street was a madhouse in 1724. (GLRO M79/LH/49, 10.4.1724) and that this was near to what became Thomas Warburton's Mare Street home. It says Pembroke House was "nearby". [Pembrooke House and Warburton's home were near where Warburton Road is on this 1950s map - See 1847 map]

    London Lane is further north, just south of Ellingfort Road. British History Online: says London House "also nearby", was an asylum c. 1826 under Samuel Fox (Pigot's Commercial Directory 1826-1827; HAD M 4404/7) and in 1830 and 1844 under William Oxley, "who joined its grounds to those of a house in Mare Street, possibly the later Tre-Wint industrial home; presumably they constituted the male and female asylums with 15 and 22 inmates in 1861. ( HAD M 4404/5/1-2; Clarke, Hackney, 30; Imperial Gaz. of Eng. and Wales, ed. J. M. Wilson [1866-9], iii. 831.)" [Tre-Wint industrial home was at 201 Mare Street by 1859, when it received a parliamentary grant, until 1880 or later; by 1902 it was in Haverstock Hill, Hampstead]

      Ayre's, Mare Street, Hackney
      5 lunatics on 1.1.1844.
      Proprietor, William Ayres, Surgeon
      1841 Census: [Hackney District] Lower House, London Field House: William Ayre (surgeon) and Mary Ayre both aged "25". Eliza Hooker (Nurse) aged "20". Elizabeth Codlin (Cook) aged "20". Ann Masterman? aged "15" Patients: Elizabeth Wigall above 20, Penelope Makin 80, Maria Good above 20, Sarah Fordred 40, Elinor Fay 40 and Frederika London 25. The account was completed and signed by William Ayre on 14.6.1841.
      1846 list on: Mare Street House, Hackney
      30.6.1846 Licensed to William Ayres, Surgeon, with 5 patients on last visit.
      30.6.1847 Licensed to William Ayres, Surgeon, with 5 patients on last visit.
      1.1.1849 six patients, all female.
      1851 Report p.350 Dr Oxley replaces Mr Ayre at Mare-street House
      Not shown on 1859 list, but London House (below) was licensed to Dr Oxley and Mrs Ayres.
      1861 Census: Mare Street House (Lunatic Asylum), South Hackney

      London Retreat/House, Mare Street, Hackney (East London)
      From 1831 to after 1874

      There is an argument that this might have been the same building as the house listed in 1815 as "Samuel Fox, London Lane, Hackney". [visited by Wakefield 1815] If so, it may have been on the corner of London Lane and Mare Street. On Greenwood's 1830 map, London Lane faces St Thomas Square. (modern map). Notice that, in 1830, Mare Street becomes Church Street just north of this point. Elaine Murphy says "Samuel Fox and his wife ran... London House in London Lane, from 1813 to 1822 but moved their business to ... Northumberland House. If it is the same house, there is a gap between 1822 and 1831:
      Dr Alexander Morison is said to have been consulting physician to London House, Southall Park, Earls Court House and Elm Grove Asylum (Scull, MacKenzie and Hervey 1996 p.149, unreferenced)
      1829/1830 Reports: Mr William Oxley, London House, Hackney entered last in a half empty book and entered on the printed list at the front in ink. One visit minuted:
      31.3.1831 "The arrangements of this house are very satisfactory; Divine Service is performed morning and evening to the Females, but neither of the present patients is capable of attending it". S. Perceval, A.M. Campbell, J.R. Hume, E.J. Seymour,
      The house was licensed for fifteen patients, but only two (both male) were in it: Gorge Pybus McDonald, a single man aged 31 who worked as a clerk and lived with his mother at 13 Great Hermitage Street, St George's East was admitted by his mother (Hannah McDonald) on 4.4.1831. Robert Fry Yeatman, a solicitor from Southwark aged 38, was admitted by his brother, John C. Yeatman, a surgeon from Frome in Somerset, on 7.5.1831.
      1841 Census: [South Hackney District] London House [Or London House Private Lunatic Asylum]. William Oxley, aged 62, physician. Born Yorkshire. Ann Oxley, aged 60, born Northumberland. Harriet Lawson, aged 52, born Yorkshire. plus servants and about 29 (female and male) patients. One of the patients appears to be a "Mary Ayer" aged 31, born Middlesex.
      London Retreat, Hackney on 1844 list Licensed to William Oxley, Surgeon (28 patients)
      London House, Hackney on 1846 list onwards
      30.6.1846: Licensed to William Oxley, Surgeon (29 patients)
      30.6.1847:
      Licensed to William Oxley, Surgeon (27 patients)
      1848 Cholera
      1.1.1849: 25 patients. 11 male, 14 female. One male and one female found lunatic by inquisition.
      1.1.1859 Licensed to: Dr Oxley and Mrs Ayres (18 female patients)
      1861 Census: London House (Lunatic Asylum), South Hackney
      1868:
      "London House. Only female patients are received at London house. The license formerly held by Dr Oxley has, since his death, in the early part of last year, been granted to his daughter Mrs Ayre (sic) and the establishment is now entirely under her management, the patients being visited twice a week by a medical man." The entry goes on to complain of the gloomy atmosphere and the use of seclusion and restraint for difficult patients.(22nd Annual Report of the Commissioners in Lunacy 1868. p22 emailed to me by Elaine Murphy)

      1.1.1874: Licensed to: Mrs Ayres (12 female patients)
      Chancery lunacy inquisition December 1877 Hannah Matthews: formerly in the care of Mrs Ayre, London House, London Lane, Hackney; now of Camberwell House Asylum, Camberwell, Surrey
      1881 Census a Caroline Oxley and Jane Oxley, elderly spinsters, living on shares [Upper] Clapton Road,

    Mary Bradbury's (West London)
    Proprietor-superintendent Mrs Mary Bradbury


    2. Houses open in 1829 closed by 1844

    Gloucester House, Camden Town (Central London)
    Opened by 1815 ("Weston Place, Somers Town, James Pell")
    Proprietor-superintendent in
    1831: James Pell
    26 lunatics in 1831

    Plaistow, Essex (East London)
    33 lunatics in 1829
    License revoked in 1829

    Sleaford House, Battersea Fields (South London)
    Opened 1824?
    Proprietor-superintendent: Thomas Cann
    14 lunatics in
    1831
    1840: May be house v on Sykes' list. This was still open in 1839.

    Surrey House, High Street, Battersea (South London)
    Open by 1829
    Proprietor-superintendent: Walter Dobbs, surgeon
    11 lunatics in
    1831
    1840: Likely identification as either house vi or house vii on Sykes' list. If so, still open in 1839.

    The parish of Hammersmith lies west of Fulham and Kensington. (1836 map)
    Moving west the parishes are Chiswick and Acton, followed by Ealing, and then Hanwell
    External link: GENUKI Hammersmith 1868 History

    Hope House, Hammersmith (Middlesex)
    Open by 1829. Probably opened 1820
    Owned by Thomas Maynard Knight, surgeon
    1829/1830 Lists and 21.3.1831 list: Licensed for 30 private patients to Thomas Maynard Knight (surgeon).
    Superintendents: Robert Jackson and Martha Thorogood.
    1829/1830 Reports: 36 patients listed: 18 of each sex First admitted 1820. Occupations given: gentleman, tailor, farmer, farmer's wife. 9 discharges, one death. "October 10 1829 The Commissioners lament that the Sleeping Rooms of the dirty patients are still by no means as sweet as they might be the straw in the palliasses should be more frequently changed and the covers more perfectly aired and dried. In other respects the house is in good order and the patients seem well attended to, Religious service performed as usual. Charles Ross, J.R. Hume, Thomas Turner"
    1829/1830 Reports: 24 lunatics listed: 20 female and 4 male. Earliest 1820. 8 discharged. One died. Professions: gentleman, ironmonger, solicitor.

    Brooke Green House
    1831: Proprietor Thomas Maynard Knight, Hammersmith (Brook Green). Licensed for up to 20 males.
    Superintendent Joseph Barber Knight
    1829/1830 Reports: Only two visits: 16.3.1831 and 22.4.1831. Ten male patients entered. Earliest admission 1820.

    1841 Census: [District St Paul's Hammersmith] Brook House Lunatic Asylum, Brook Green
    George Mullins, Surgeon aged 37 (not born Middlesex); Eliza Mullins, aged "30". Other relatives; 9 patients, all male; 2 male attendants and two female servants. Certified 7.6.1841 by George Mullins. In 1881, Eliza Mullins (widow, aged 74) was living at 40 Sutherland Place, Middlesex with (amongst others) William Mullins, her unmarried son, aged 41, who was "Secretary to India"

    Hope House, Brook Green
    Licensed to D.T. Roy (Surgeon)
    8 lunatics on
    1.1.1844
    1847: Hope House, Brook Green, Daniel J. Roy. Surgeon
    1849: Montague House, Brooke Green, 6 patients
    1859: Montague House, Brook Green, Mrs Roy.
    1867 Comments: "The license is held by Mrs Roy, to whom it was transferred upon the death of her husband. 12 male patients are received, and reports have been very favourable. The Medical officer is Mr Barnes, who resides near, and attends frequently."
    8 patients (all male)
    1.1.1874:: Montague House, Brook Green, Mrs Roy.
    10 patients (all male)


    3. Houses opened between 1831 and 1843

    Manor House, Chiswick (Middlesex)    an elite house

    Elaine Murphy says "Edward Francis Tuke MD lived at Sidney House, Hackney Wick briefly from 1828 to 1833, using his home as a licensed house for five patients of independent means. He moved his home and his business to Chiswick in 1833, establishing a larger licensed house for wealthy clients."
    "Manor House, a private asylum at Chiswick, London, founded by the Quaker Edward Francis Tuke (c 1776-1846)" ( thomasmuir.com). W.F. Bynum (1991 p.163) says that Harrington Tuke was not related to Daniel Hack Tuke. Harrington Tuke said that Daniel Hack Tuke's books had brought him (Harrington) a lot of patients, through the association of names. (Ireland, W.W. 1895). The Manor House Tukes were not, therefore, related to the Retreat Tukes, and it seems unlikely, to me, that the Manor House Tukes were Quakers. Has anyone further information?

    About 1798 Robert Bell born in Ireland
    About 1808 to 1813 Anthony Ashley Cooper a pupil at Manor House School, Chiswick.
    1826 Birth of Thomas H.M.D. Tuke, Somerset
    1837 Date Pamela Bater gives for the opening of Manor House Asylum. Its owner was Robert Bell (not a doctor) who ran it with his brother-in-law, Edward Francis Tuke.
    1841 Census: [District Chiswick] Manor House Chiswick Lunatic Asylum. Robert Bell aged 40, proprietor, born Ireland. Edward Francis Tuke aged 50, superintendent, born Ireland. Eliza Bell aged 40, not born in Middlesex. Mary Tuke aged 40, not born in Middlesex. Thomas Harrington Tuke, aged 14, and Edward Kentish Tuke, aged 12, were not born in Middlesex, but Emily Jane Tuke, aged 11, and Charles Edward Tuke, aged 4, were.
    1.1.1844: owned by Robert Bell
    16 lunatics on 1.1.1844:
    1849 Pamela Bater says that Edward Francis Tuke "got into debt and had to flee the country". The license was taken over by his son, Thomas Harrington, age 23, and his mother (Mary Tuke)
    1850 Report p.395: "Dr Tuke has become co-proprietor with Mrs Tuke of Manor House Chiswick"
    1852 Thomas Harrington Tuke married Sophia Jane Conolly (daughter of John Conolly )
    16.6.1852: House of Commons agreed that Feargus O'Connor should be transferred to Harrington Tuke's asylum at Chiswick
    1856 Birth of Thomas S. Tuke, son of Thomas Harrington and Sophia Jane
    1859: Proprietor Dr Tuke. 21 lunatics, 11 male, 21 female. 2 male and 5 female found lunatic by inquisition.
    "In the 1860s Manor House was run by Thomas Harrinton Tuke" ( thomasmuir.com).
    1863 Charles Johnston (1801-1865), banker and company director, placed in "Dr Harrington Tuke's asylum at The Manor House, Chiswick. In one of his lucid moments Charles wrote to his elder daughter, Harriet describing his life at Chiswick where he was, apparently, very happy (ACC/1292/040)" (London Metropolitan Archives catalogue)
    9.3.1866 Commission of Lunacy Papers on George Muir junior (below) include 13.10.1865 affidavit of Henry Maudsley of No 38 Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square and 16.10.1865 Thomas Harrington Tuke of No 57 Albermarle Street Piccadilly and of the Manor House Chiswick
    4.5.1868 Death of George Muir junior, patient of general paralysis of the insane. Visit http://www.thomasmuir.com/gmuirjuniorthree.html for detailed family history.
    1874 Ordnace Survey map shows Manor House on Chiswick Lane. Coordinates 521471,178260. ((modern map)
    1881 Census: Private Lunatic Asylum Manor House, Chiswick, Middlesex. Head: Household: Thomas H.M.D. Tuke age 54, married, born Clitton, Somerset. Physician and Landed Proprietor. A large percentage of the patients (full names provided) are listed as landed proprietors.
    1881 Census: Robert (a clergyman) and Eliza Bell living in Devon
    1893 Manor House Asylum moved to Chiswick House Asylum and became Chiswick House Asylum.
    1928 Chiswick House Asylum closed. Most patients moved to two houses in Pinner, under the continuing care of the doctors from Chiswick House.
    Val Bott writes "Chiswick House and grounds had been sold to Middlesex County Council in 1929 and the grounds were leased to the Brentford and Chiswick Urban District Council which opened them as a public park."
    One source says the buisiness closed about 1940.
    Address: Burlington Lane, London, W4. (map) Wellcome Library has case records 1870-1925 and correspondence. Its database says the asylum opened about 1800.

    Grove House, Stoke Newington Green (East London)
    House said to be in Stoke Newington Green 1844. From 1847 onwards, just Stoke Newington. The other house in Stoke Newington was
    Northumberland House
    1841 Census: [Hornsey District - including parts of Newington Green] "Licensed Mad-House" "Grove House Lunatic Asylum" Proprietor Harriet Norwood Burrow, Medical Superintendent: James something Atkins aged "35", Matron: Louisa Mary Atkins aged "25" (Louisa Ann Atkins aged 3.5 and Mary Maria Atkins aged 2 in house). Housekeeper: Fanny Jane Burrows. Also present Henry Charles Burrows aged "15" and Maria Atkins aged "20". In addition to staff, there were about 12 patients: male and female.
    1.1.1844 Licensed to Miss Burrow with 13 lunatics
    30.6.1846 Licensed to J.R. Atkins, surgeon, 10 patients at last visit
    30.6.1847 Licensed to J.R. Atkins, surgeon, 10 patients at last visit 1.1.1849: 7 male and 3 female patients (= 10), one male found lunatic by inquisition.
    1859: Licensed to "Dr Atkins". 7 male and 6 female patients (= 13), two males found lunatic by inquisition.
    1861 Census: not listed.
    1867 Comments: No comments recorded, but listed
    1881 Census: Harriet N. Burrow born Hoxton about 1816 was living with her sister Fanny J. Burrow, born Hoxton about 1819 and a visitor and servant at 23 Lordship Road, Middlesex. Both "Annuitant"

    Dartmouth House, Lewisham (South London)
    Still open in 1850
    Owned by James Cole
    13 lunatics on
    1.1.1844

    Lampton House, Hounslow (Middlesex)
    Still open in 1850
    Owned by William Smith
    10 lunatics on
    1.1.1844


    4. Smaller Houses (less than ten patients) listed 1829 to 1844, and new houses listed in 1844 without patient numbers, plus notes on London houses opened after 1844

    Mary Douglas, Ealing
    1831: Licensed to Mary Douglas with two female lunatics
    One died 1834, remaining one recorded for 1835, but house not listed 1836
    1840: House viii on Sykes' list fits the above pattern.
    Not listed 1844

    Warwick House, Fulham Road
    1831: Licensed to Mrs Mary Flemming, Fulham Road, with six female lunatics
    1840: Probably house x on Sykes' list. Only received female patients.
    1.1.1844: Licensed to Mrs Mary Flemming, Warwick House, Fulham Road with five lunatics
    Shown as Warwick House, Chelsea in 1847 and 1849
    1859 not listed

    Esther Amelia Buck (widow) aged 44 was Matron in 1881 (census) of "Dr Winslow's Female Lunatic Asylum", Fulham Road, Middlesex

    Forbes Benignus Winslow (1810-1874) is said to have owned two licensed houses in Hammersmith London.
    Henry Forbes? Winslow (about 1837-?) married Mary
    Lyttleton Stewart Forbes Winslow (1844-1913) was F.B. Winslow's son
    Florence Jessie Winslow (nee Winn, born Truro about 1844, died 1906) was Lyttleton's first wife

    The Brandenburgh House where Queen Caroline died (1821) within a year, demolished, and a large factory built there. It stood near the river about a quarter of a mile east of Hammersmith Bridge. (Clunn, H.P. 1962 p. 452) In 1848-1849 the new Fulham Workhouse was erected close to the site of the old Brandenburgh House. Peter Higginbotham's site has a map showing Sussex House and the new Brandenburgh House in 1888. Brandenburgh and Sussex House faced over Fulham Road - 1862 Motco map
    In 1846: Sussex House, Hammersmith 12 patients) and 3 Brandenburgh Place, Hammersmith (patients not stated) (both licensed to Dr F. Winslow), are both listed
    In 1847, Sussex House had 15 and "Brandenburgh House" 12 patients. In 1849 Sussex House is shown with 19 patients, all but two of them men, and one of the men found lunatic by inquisition. Brandenburgh House had 11 patients, 4 men and 7 women. In 1859 the houses are listed together and licensed to Dr Winslow and J. Bartlett, surgeon. They had 48 patients, 31 male and 17 female. 3 of the men and 4 of the women were found lunatic by inquisition.
    1867 Comments: "Sussex House is used exclusively for gentlemen and Brandenburgh House for ladies, the patients in the most part belong to the middle and upper classes, and the payments are generally liberal"
    1.10.1858 "Case of the Rev. W.J..J. Leach" Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology, volume 17
    In 1870 licensed to Dr Winslow & Dr. T. Boisragon
    In the 1870s, Florence Jessie Winslow (nee Winn, born Truro about 1844, died 1906), Sussex House, Hammersmith, was a correspondent of Whistler. She was the first wife of Lyttleton Forbes Winslow (1844-1913).
    1873 John Langley Plumbridge admitted from Northumberland House. He escaped by clambering over a wall, getting to the railway station and travelling to London, calling on a Mr Hurry and then leaving the country to stay in Boulogne for two years.
    In 1875 they are licensed to Drs H.F. Winslow and LSF Winslow. They had 59 patients, 39 male and 20 female. 17 were found lunatic by inquisition.
    1881 Census: Mrs Forbes B. Winslow, widow, aged 70, 23 Cavendish Square.
    1881 Census Theodore S. Gurmastone Boisragon aged 71, born Cheltenham. Physician Surgeon M.D. Not Practising
    Also see Hayes Park
    Fulham Parish Infirmary may have been built on part of the grounds of Sussex House in 1884. It later became Fulham Hospital and is now the site of Charing Cross Hospital.

    map seller's catalogue "Brandenburgh House Estate, Hammersmith. Particulars and Conditions of Sale (with Plan) of Very Valuable Freehold Building Land with frontages to Fulham Palace Road, Lochaline Street & Parfrey Street.... [Opposite Charing Cross Hospital] Which Thurgood & Martin Have received Instructions to Sell by Auction.... On Monday 16th, February 1903. Folio, coloured folding plan, 6pp, folded. 1903. Includes 'a Desirable Site for a Church or Institution'"

    John Netten Radcliffe (1826-1884), subeditor of the Winslows' Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology from 1858, was medical superintendent from 1863 to 1869 of a hospital in Queen Square, Bloomsbury founded in 1859 [or 1860] as National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic. [Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard (1817-1894) was the original physician-in-chief and Hughlings Jackson also became a physician]. Doctors from this hospital helped to establish The National Society for the Employment of Epileptics in 1892 and the Chalfont Colony. The hospital became National Hospital for the Relief and Cure of the Paralysed and Epileptic from 1904 to 1925 and then the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases. This closed about 1946 - But see Wikipedia. The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery Previous name(s) The National Hospital Queen Square London WC1N 3BG - Foundation Year 1859 - is shown on the hospital database.

    Lyttleton Stewart Forbes Winslow was founder and physician to British Hospital for Mental Disorders, later the British Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders; 208 Euston Road, later 72 Camden Road. London Metropolitan Archives have correspondence files, A/FWA/C/D/198/001 and A/FWA/C/D/198/002 of the Family Welfare Association with, dated 1894 to 1927. He was also, at some time, physician to the West End Hospital For Nervous Diseases, London. This was founded as West End Hospital for Diseases of the Nervous System, Paralysis and Epilepsy in 1878 (name changed 1915). It is now closed. 73 Welbeck Street London NW1 (1878- ?), St Katharine's Lodge, Regent's Park, London NW1 (?-1940s?), 91 Dean Street London W1 (Since 1955). Hospital Database record

    This hospitals are listed Hunter and Macalpine 1963 p.965. Most of the information about them comes from the Hospital database

    Jane Holmes, Winchmore Hill
    1831: Licensed to Jane Holmes, Winchmore Hill with two female lunatics

    Turnham Green Terrace, Turnham Green
    (A Short walking distance from Manor House, Chiswick)
    3.3.1818 James Poynder (probably born 23.2.1795 in Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire) became an inmate.
    9.9.1822: Justly William Hill (probably born 3.11.1796 and christened at Saint Mary Marlebone) became an inmate.
    1831: Licensed to John Thompson Jackson with two lunatics
    1841 Census: [Chiswick District] Jacksons Lunatic Asylum John Thompson Jackson aged 68 Master; Mary Thompson Jackson aged 60; James Poynder aged "45" of independant means; Justly William Hill aged "50" of independant means; Charles Heather aged "20" servant; Elizabeth Hudson aged "20" servant
    1.1.1844: Licensed to John Thompson Jackson with two lunatics
    1850 Report p.395 Licence for Turnham Green Terrace (Mr Jackson) not applied for.


    Audley House, Old Kent Road
    1831: Licensed to John Kirkman, surgeon with one male and one female lunatic
    1840: May be house xiv on Sykes' list. This had two or three patients of both sexes to 1837, when the remaining man and woman were discharged. The house is not listed after that.
    A John Kirkman (1794-1887) MD Edinburgh was medical supeintendent of Suffolk County Asylum from 1831 to 1876. (Hunter and Macalpine 1963 p.882)


    Melina Place, St John's Wood
    A small house run by William Langdon and his wife
    1829/1830 Reports:. Prayers were read daily, morning and evening by Mrs Langdon. One of the patients also attended religious services. The patients were Mary Smith, who had been there since 31.7.1815; Phoebe Hawes, admitted 17.1.1827; Joseph Henshaw admitted 26.5.1828; Captain J.R.F. Doveton, of Gloucester Place, Portman Square, of the merchant navy, who was admitted 12.9.1829 and died 16.11.1829 and Henry Bergman, a tailor of Gilbert Street, Grosvenor Square who was admitted by Ann Bergman, his wife, on 20.10.1829, discharged by her on 3.11.1829, re-admitted by her on 28.11.1829 and again discharged on 19.2.1830
    1831: Licensed to William Langdon with one male and one female lunatic:
    Not listed 1844

    Rebecca Law, Brompton
    ( 1829/1830 Lists) Licensed to Rebecca Law, Rawstone Street, Brompton with five female lunatics. The earliest was admitted in 1826. House "in good order" on three visits. Four patients were discharged, leaving one (admitted from Blacklands). On 16.4.1830 the Commissioners minuted ""There is but one patient and the room in which she is confined is close and offensive". [Royston Street on Greenwood's 1830 map, east of Brompton Church, is shown as Rawstone Street on Stamford's 1862 map

    William Moyes, Lower Tooting
    1831: Licensed to William Moyes, surgeon, with two male lunatics
    Not listed 1844


    Beaufort House was probably the earliest Fulham house I have listed. In the early 19th century, Fulham was the market garden area for London and "contained many handsome villas and country seats" (Clunn, H.P. 1962 pp 448-449). Old Brompton Road (becoming Lillie Road) links Brompton to Fulham. Brompton is the area south of Kensington Gore which now contains the South Kensington museums. (1836 map) - 1862 Overview map on Motco site. Hammersmith Bridge is in the north west of this map. Brandenburgh and Sussex House are close to the end of Greyhound Road near that bridge. Beaufort House and Normand House are close to the other end of Greyhound Road. Otto House is at the north border of the map, on the other side of North End Road to North End Villa. Old Brompton is in the north east of the map. Earls Court House will be found if you follow Richmond Road from near Beaufort House to the point where it becomes Old Brompton Road.

    Beaufort House, Fulham (West London)
    On the east of North End Road, close to Lillie Road. It had eight acres of grounds. This was in the same hamlet (North End or St John's) as Normand House
    1831: Licensed to Charles Mence as trustee for Mrs Mence and Miss Pearce. Four lunatics (both sexes): Earliest listed as admitted 27.4.1801, others in 1814 and 1818. Others were admitted in 1830 and 1831.
    Listed in 1839 Pigot
    5 lunatics on 1.1.1844
    Licensed to Miss Mary Ann Pierce
    1850 Report p.395 Licence for Beaufort House (Mr Wing) not applied for.
    Was later used as the headquarters of the South Middlesex Volunteers
    Demolished about 1900. The grounds are now several streets of two- storied houses.

    Munster House Fulham, Kensington
    Thirty four
    chancery lunacy inquisitions: first October 1855, last May 1884
    1861]; Fulham Munster House: C.A. Elliott

    Effra Hall Brixton, Lambeth
    Six
    chancery lunacy inquisitions: first June 1854, last July 1873
    Proprietor: Warren Hastings Diamond, born 21.9.1834. The son of Hugh Welch and Janet Diamond. Christened 24.9.1834 at Saint Anne Soho, Westminster.
    1861
    15.9.1863 Marriage of Warren Hastings Diamond of Dudley Villa, Brixton, SW, Surrey to Victoria Gonville Bromhead born about 1833, of Thurlby, Lincoln
    C.A Elliott and Dr W.H. Diamond
    1.1.1874: Dudley Villa, late Effra Hall. Effra Road, Dr W.H. Diamond. 19 female private patients
    Effra Road Brixton is SW2 1BZ
    1881 Census: Effra Road 1 Roseville Gardens, Lambeth, Surrey: Warren Hastings Diamond aged 46, born Soho, Middlesex, General Practitioner MRCS CS, living with his wife and family.

    Twickenham House
    Three
    chancery lunacy inquisitions: first April 1862, last December 1884
    Heath Road, Twickenham The house of Hugh Welch Diamond, previously at Surrey County Lunatic Asylum
    "Twickenham House was used as a private lunatic asylum from 1858 until shortly before it was demolished in 1887"
    Dr H W Diamond and Mrs
    1881 Census: "Twickenham House Lunatic Asylum", Heath Road, Twickenham, Middlesex, Hugh Welch Diamond, Widower aged 72, born Girdhurst. MD; MRCS England; LSA. Treasa Diamond, his unmarried daughter, aged 30, born Chelsea, Middlesex and Ann M. Simpson, a visitor, aged 38, born Darlington, Durham. The widowed wife of a journalist. One of the patients is "S.W." the daughter of a Master In Lunacy. This could be Sarah Warren, who became a Chancery lunatic in December 1857. If so, she was, presumably, the daughter of Samuel Warren, who had died in 1877. Alternatively, S.W. could have been a daughter of Edward Winslow. If you have any ideas or information on this, please let me know.
    21.6.1886 Hugh Welch Diamond died

    Sidney House, Hackney Wick    an elite house
    Proprietor Mr Edward Francis Tuke
    30.7.1829 "There appears to be no patient. The house is very commodious"
    1.8.1829 Josephine Corben admitted
    1.8.1829 Ed Liddell Farrer, Hackney, Lieutenant Bengal, admitted by his father
    23.9.1829 Ed Liddell Farrer discharged cured
    5.11.1829 "The house is commodious and the airing grounds very extensive. There is only one patient, who is incapable of attending divine service"
    6.3.1830 "... the only patient here seems to be as comfortable as she is capable of being..."
    14.4.1830 Charles Webber admitted
    14.5.1830 Charles Wright admitted
    22.5.1830 "This is an excellent establishment and in every respect calls for the approbation of the commissioners. No patient is capable of attending divine service"
    14.7.1830 "The house is extremely comfortable..."
    15.8.1830 Charles Webber discharged, improved
    18.6.1830 Charles Wright discharged, improved
    23.10.1830 James Walker, artist, aged 73, admitted by his daughter, M.A. Richardson.
    14.12.1830 James Thornbum admitted from HMS Ship Grampus.
    10.3.1831 James Thornbum discharged cured
    19.3.1831 Elizabeth Rogers admitted by Mary Wood, her daughter
    28.4.1831 James Walker discharged
    1831: Licensed to Francis Edward Tuke MD, with five lunatics, four men and one woman.
    7.4.1831 Frederick Natousch, Ship Insurance Broker, admitted

    Elaine Murphy says Edward Francis Tuke MD lived at Sidney House from 1828 to 1833... moving his home and his business to Chiswick in 1833

    Brentford, an ancient market town, lies on the river Brent, just north of Kew Gardens. Following Brent river north brings one to Hanwell and Southall. The residents of Brentford were frightened, in the early 1830s, by the idea of convalescent patients from Hanwell Pauper Lunatic Asylum visiting. (1836 map)

    Wyke House, Sion Hll, Brentford
    1778 Wyke House built as a private residence. It later became a school.
    A 1786 map shows two parks with houses in. The largest is Osterley Park marked "Mrs Child", to the south east is one marked "Robinson esq". This smaller park and house is exactly the position of Wyke House (between Syon Lane and Wood Lane) on a 1948 map. The area is now a sports ground with a small "Wyke Green" north of it.
    A new house according to the 1844 Report although Parry-Jones p.28 says it this was established in 1826
    Licensed to W.B. Costello, M.D.
    22.6.1846 Alexander Morison records in his diary that Dr Costello is offering him Joint Stock Lunatic Asylum shares at £25 each for Wyke House.
    30.7.1847 14 patients at last visit
    1850 Report p.395: Dr Bascombe and Mr John Gregory replace Dr Costello as proprietor Wyke House, Brentford
    The following entry in the Gardiner Hill family Bible indicates they had moved from Lincoln to London by 1856:
    18.9.1856: Hugh Gardiner Hill born Old Brentford in the parish of Ealing, Middlesex. One of his godfathers was Dr E.S. Willett.
    1857 Robert Gardiner Hill's history of the abolition of mechanical restraint
    June/July 1858 Confinement of Rosina Bulwer-Lytton at Inverness Lodge.
    Twenty six chancery lunacy inquisitions: first December 1858, last November 1904
    December 1858: Inquisition on William Cooper
    1859 licensed to R.G. Hill (surgeon) and Dr E. Willett
    16 male and 12 female patients. 2 men and 3 women found lunatic by inquisition. 1860 Robert Gardiner Hill moved to Shillingthorpe
    November 1862 Inquisition on Mortimore Timpson
    April 1863 Inquisition on Jacob Flint
    November 1863 Inquisition on Sophia Jacobs
    25.11.1863 Report relating to the property of Sophia Pauline Jacobs, lunatic patient in Wyke House (date 27.3.1860 may be start of investigation) [1881: S.P.J. unmarried female patient, aged 59, born Middlesex] MH 51/50
    July 1864 Inquisition on Arnold Hughes
    December 1864 Inquisition on George Morant
    April 1865 Inquisition on Joseph Bradford
    December 1865 Inquisition on Lawrence Fennings
    1867 Comments: "Wyke House continues to be well conducted by the proprietor Dr Willett. Private patients of both sexes are received here. Between 20 and 30 patients usually dine together. During the autumn some correspondence took place between the Board and Dr Willett, respecting the medical charge of the patients during his occasional absence, which resulted in the appointment of Mr George Mickley, who now resides on the premises as assistant Medical Officer". George Mickley appears to have become physician at St Lukes by 1881
    December 1867 Inquisition on Frederick Bradford
    1870: Dr E. S. Willett
    1.1.1874: licensed to Dr E.S. Willett
    24 male and 19 female patients. 13 patients found lunatic by inquisition.
    March 1869 Inquisition on Eleanor Vause
    June 1871 Inquisitions on Octavius Brewer and Richard Bishopp
    May 1873 Inquisition on Richard Spalding
    June 1873 Inquisition on Alice Goring
    March 1874 Inquisition on Henry Pilcher
    December 1876 Inquisition on John Murray
    August 1877 Inquisition on Philadelphia Purling
    November 1878 Inquisition on George Evans
    July 1880 Inquisition on Ann Daniel
    1881 Census: Sarah Jane Willett, aged 50, (married) Occupation: Private Lunatic Asylum Wife, shown as head of the household. Frederick Willett, son, unmarried, aged 26, Secretary to Lunatic Hospital. (Wyke House Private Lunatic Asylum, Syon Hill, Isleworth, Middlesex). One of the unmarried male patients is Rev. H.L.P. aged 38 born (about 1843) in Berkshire. Hector Lawrence Parsons was christened in the Chapel Royal, Brighton, on 26.4.1843. His father was Lawrence Parsons (Mother Elizabeth). Lawrence Parsons born 2.11.1805 married 1) Elizabeth Toler at St James Westminster on 7.5.1836 2) Jane Feversham on 11.4.1849. In 1881 Lawrence Parsons (aged 75) "Son of Peer J.P., M.A." is living with Jane (age 56, born Helmsley, York), a gentleman visitor and lots of servants at Winkfield Place, Winkfield, Berkshire. [See Peerage.com]. His older brother was William Parsons (1800-1867), 3rd Earl of Rosse, the astronomer who built the world's (then) largest telescope in Ireland Wikipedia
    February 1885 Inquisition on Eliza Brooks
    February 1888 Inquisition on Emily Parsons
    about 1890 Photographs of Head Gardner at Wyke House,, George Daniel Manning, weaing boots and spurs, astride a pig which is eating from a trough. Another of staff and patients photographed in the ballroom at a Christmas fancy dress party. Matron is seated, ecentre, in an ornate chair. Minnie Bloomfield, a nurse, is to her(?) right and Henry Whenman wears a tall conical hat. (Isleworth 1995) Another of the indoor domestic staff, together with a local policeman and a Chinese man (possibly a laundry man or cook) (Isleworth 1998)
    March 1891 Inquisition on Frederick Maitland
    September quarter 1893: Minnie Elizabeth F. Bloomfield married in the Kensington district
    22.11.1894 Death of Lawrence Parsons
    April 1896
    Inquisition on Hector Parsons
    February 1896 Inquisition on a Lawrence Parsons
    August 1900 Inquisition on Maud Routh (found to be of sound mind)
    Listed in 1901 census
    November 1904 Inquisition on Florence Lind
    about 1905 Photograph of Garden staff at Wyke House. Five men, including George Daniel Manning, the head gardener, and George Hurst, houseman and gardener. (Isleworth 1995).
    about 1920 Photograph of Wyke House "standing isolated in large walled grounds off Syon Lane. Residents recall that it had a somewhat gloomy atmosphere". (Isleworth 1998). Another photograph, possibly of the rear, from the garden, does not look gloomy. (Isleworth 1995).
    1932 Aerial photograph of the "walled gardens of Wyke House" (Isleworth 1995).
    1936 Retirement, due to loss of sight, of George Hurst, houseman and gardener at Wyke House for over thirty years.
    A Registered Mental Nursing Home under the 1959 Mental Health Act?
    Mary Brown (letter 12.3.2008) "Wyke House was a private Nursing Home under the supervision of, among others, Dr Merchesson, Dr G.W. Smith, and, for 22 years, Dr H.J. Pullard Streaker." [See spelling below]
    April 1953 Journal of Mental Science advertisement. (See
    online - offline)
    Drawn to my attention by Timothy Digby 18.9.2009
    WYKE HOUSE, ISLEWORTH
    MIDDLESEX Tel. EALing 7000
    A Private Hospital for individual treatment of all forms of Nervous and Mental Illness, including Alcoholism. Uncertified and certified patients are admitted and particular attention is given to the needs of the aged. This well-known Home for Men and Women is surrounded by attractive and secluded grounds, and all well-tried modern treatments are available.
    DR. H. PULLAR-STRECKER       DR. G. W. SMITH, O.B.E.
    Parry-Jones p.28 says it this was still operating as a nursing home in 1972
    October 1977 Wyke House, now derelict, demolished "despite local efforts to save it and acquire a listed building status"
    1995 Isleworth Old photographs of Isleworth and its surrounding district from the collection of Kevin and Mary Brown (paperback, 128 pages); ISBN 075240346X. Images of London Series, Chalford Publishing Company. Contains photographs about 1890 (two), about 1905, about 1920, 1932.
    1998 Isleworth: The Second Selection; Old photographs of Isleworth and its surrounding district from the collection of Kevin and Mary Brown (paperback, 128 pages); ISBN 0752415018. Stroud : Tempus, 1998 Contains photographs about 1890 (domestic staff with local policeman etc) and about 1920 (Wyke House standing isolated etc)
    January 2005 email from Therese Caudell: "My Granny, born Minnie Elizabeth Field Bloomfield in 1870, was a nurse at Wyke House. I seem to remember my mother telling me she was Head Nurse at aged 19. I have a photo of the matron and staff taken at a fancy dress ball there
    about 1890. I believe my grandparents met there when my grandfather did some work at the hospital, they are both in the photo. Granny used to speak about the King's chair, I think it was used by George 3rd, but with the passing of time I cannot be 100% sure my memory is correct. Others have mentioned hearing of this chair to me but did not know what had happened to it. Matron is seated in it in the photo. Mary Brown (West Middlesex Family History Society) has produced other photos of Wyke House staff in her book on the area. I was told that in spite of many efforts to save the building it was demolished, workmen engaged in burning records and documents refused to let local historians take them. I do remember her speaking about a Dr Willett and one patient was Mrs Davenport, a widow of I think a judge and of the china manufacturing family."

      Hunter and McAlpine say that Robert Gardiner Hill was joint proprietor of three London houses: Wyke House, Earls Court House and Inverness Lodge, Brentford Middlesex. I could not find Inverness Lodge listed as an asylum. However, Dr Hill of Inverness Lodge, Brentford examined Rosina Bulwer-Lytton on 21.6.1858 and she was confined at Inverness Lodge for about two weeks in July, being released on 17th July (See Timeline) and a letter survives from Robert Gardiner Hill to Rosina's husband, written from Inverness Lodge in 1858. Rosina described it as "a very fine house in fine grounds which had formerly belonged to the Duke of Cumberland". From her carriage window, when she arrived, she saw about 50 ladies walking in the grounds who were the patients, but who Mr Hill called his "children". They were "picking strawberries". "Mr H--- sent all his 'children' to his other madhouse farther on the road, so that I had the Palladian Villa all to myself". Rosina also says "after my departure", due to "public indignation" "Brentford became to hot for him, and he removed to London". (Bulwer Lytton, R. 1880 pages 36, 37 + 55) A John Tattersall took a 21 year lease on Inverness Lodge, Boston Road, Brentford Butts, Ealing from 25.3.1862. Near the junction of Boston Manor Road and Windmill Road there is now Inverness Lodge Social Club Ltd, 9 Boston Manor Road, Brentford, TW8 8DW.

    Harefield Park, Uxbridge
    Licensed to W. F. Haines (Surgeon)
    2 lunatics on
    1.1.1844

    17 Pembroke Square, Kensington
    Licensed to Alfred George Kerr (Surgeon)
    2 lunatics on 1.1.1844

    Oak Tree Cottage, Harrow
    Licensed to Mrs Harriet Sloman
    new house in 1844

    Houses near Hanwell 1836 map

    Pope's - Hanwell 1829/1830 Reports: Licensed in 1829 to "Executers of Ann Pope". Six (female) patients are listed. The earliest admmisssion date is 1804 (but the house is not on the 7.6.1815 List). Licensed in 1830 to Mr Jonas Hall Pope. The house was generally in excellent order. Most patients were not capable of attending divine service, but a Mrs Hammond as in the habit of reading a religious book to herself.
    1831: Licensed to Jonas Hall Pope. Superintendent: Miss Hall. Six female patients.

    Elm Grove House, Hanwell

    1833 William Ellis asked Morison to procure patients for Susan Wood at Elm Grove Asylum. Susan was the wife of Dr Wood, who was the brother of Mrs Ellis. (Hervey, N.B. 1987). (Sophia Susannah Nicoll, christened 29.5.1808 at Cherington, married Thomas Wood, 16.7.1827 at Cherington, Warwick)
    1844 Licensed to Mrs Susan Wood
    7 lunatics on 1.1.1844
    1851 S. S. Wood, a widow, at Elm Grove, Hanwell. Her sister, Jane Nicoll, living with her.

    Family information about the Wood and the Ellis families has been provided by Debra Jahn, who is researching her family connection to Susan Wood. Debra has provided census data and the copy of William Ellis's will that gives the full name of "Mrs Ellis". Further information about the Ellis family has been provided by Geoffrey Castle, whose mother was a direct descendent of Sir Charles and Lady Mildred Ellis. Information about Mildred Ellis's brother and sister-in-law comes from Hervey, N.B. 1987 and draws on his research with Alexander Morison's diaries

    Southall Park

    20.9.1838 William Ellis, moved from Denham Park, and opened a small private asylum of his own, Southall Park, near Hanwell, where he died, aged 59, 24.10.1839. The last will of Sir William Charles Ellis was signed on 30.4.1839 and proved 25.1.1840. The names of the executers appear to be Jane Mildred Ellis, relict, and William Robert Ellis, son. The will was witnessed by William Chapman Begley and George P. Button
    1844 Licensed to J. B. Steward, M.D. and G. W. Daniel (Surgeon)
    9 lunatics on 1.1.1844
    1.1.1859: licensed to T. North, Mrs Vickers and Dr Steward with 20 patients, 13 male and 7 female. 2 patients found lunatic by inquisition.
    1868 "Our Doctor;" or Memorials of Sir William Chas. Ellis, M.D., of Southall Park, Middlesex, by Harriet Warner Ellis, London: Seeley, Jackson, & Halliday. bookseller's list (archive)
    1.1.1874: licensed to Dr R. Boyd with 20 patients, 12 male and 8 female. 3 patients found lunatic by inquisition.
    1881 Census: Robert Boyd, Physician, aged 72, and his wife, Isabella, aged 67, both born Ireland. Mary (aged 30) and Isabella (aged 28), their unmarried, unemployed daughters, born Bath and Wells, Somerset. 18 "Boarders" include professionals (solicitor, Indian Army officer..)
    1883 The Illustrated London News contained before and after drawings of "Scene at the Disastrous Fire at the Private Lunatic Asylum in Southall"



    This section from the 1868 Ordnace Survey, shows Southall Park, The Shrubbery and Vine Cottage. The relation of Southall Park to Hanwell County Asylum can be seen on an 1836 map.

    The Shrubbery, Southall
    Private residence of
    Dr and Mrs Steward, where they sometimes had patients. A license would only be required if more than one patient was staying.
    Dr Steward was at Southall Shrubbery in 1847, with no patients listed. The house does not appear in 1849 or 1859.
    1867 Comments: "This is the private residence of Dr Steward who also holds the license and acts as Medical Superintendent for Southall Park. The license is for 4 female patients, but only 1 has resided there in the past year"
    1.1.1874: Licensed to Dr J.B. and Mrs Steward with 4 female patients.
    1881 Census: The Shrubbery, North Road, Norwood. Harriet I. Rosser, unmarried female, aged 55, born Madras, East Indies Proprietor Of Private Asylum and her companion Jane H. Stenhouse, aged 53 born Scotland, a Governess with two Gentlewoman patients, aged 33, and servants. [A Miss Rosser was joint licensee of Hendon House in 1874)

    Vine Cottage, Norwood Green, Southall
    1.1.1859:. Shown as "Vine Cottage, Norwood Green, Hanwell". Licensed to Dr and Mrs Horsbrugh, with 9 (female) patients.
    1867 Comments: "Vine Cottage is at Norwood Green near Hanwell. It is licensed for 9 female patients, and only quiet tractable cases are retained. Most of the present inmates have resided for many years past with Dr Horsbrough, whose treatment of them has at all times met with our approval"
    1.1.1874: Licensed to W.O. Chalk, MRCS and Mrs Chalk with 11 male patients
    In 1881, Vine Cottage, Norwood, is in use as a private residence.

    South Lodge Southall "It is only licensed to receive 2 ladies, who are sisters, and for whom everything appears to be done that each respectively requires. One of them is able to make frequent visits to public places of amusement, and both had a trip to Cornwall during the past year" (1867 Comments)

    Martha Mugnall's, Hanwell
    Licensed to Mrs Martha Mugnall
    5 lunatics on
    1.1.1844

    Lawn House, Hanwell
    "The Lawn" is just south of Hanwell station on an 1868 map. On a 1948 (and present) map the area has a housing estate with road names including Conolly Road and Lawn Gardens.
    1844: Licensed to Edward Horner and Co.
    new house in 1844. An Edward Horner (2.4.1823-28.8.1891) married Ann Ellis (7.12.1819-31.10.1897). They moved to the USA in 1854. (external link). Messrs Horner and Harper owned Denham Park.
    30.6.1846 licensed to Dr Conolly, with 7 patients on last visit
    Dr John Conolly was resident physician at Hanwell County Asylum from 1839 to 1844 and then visiting physician from 1844 to 1852
    Parry-Jones, W.L. 1972 p.80:

    "From 1845 until 1866, he used his own residence, Lawn House, Hanwell, as a small, select asylum for up to six ladies and, in 1848, he is recorded as being one of the co-licensees of Wood End Grove, Hayes, Hayes, Middlesex. His brother, Dr William Conolly, was proprietor of Castleton House, Cheltenham, from 1835 to 1849, before moving to Hayes Park licensed house, Middlesex. When he, in turn, retired in 1852, his son-in-law, Charles Fitzgerald, continued the work, but ran into financial difficulties in 1859, whereupon Conolly and his son, E.T. Conolly, took over the licence until 1861."
    1852 Census: John Conolly, head of household. Edward Tennyson Conolly, aged 28, single, "law student Inner Temple"; Sophia Jane Conolly, aged 24; Anne Caroline Conolly, aged 21. Two visitors, four patients and supporting staff of butler, house maid, kitchen maid and three attendants.
    1852 Sophia Jane married Thomas Harrington Tuke
    1859 Licensed to Dr J. Conolly with four female patients
    1863 Conolly sharing Harrington Tuke's consulting rooms at 37 (57?) Albermarle Street
    Conolly's A study of Hamlet and Charles Reade's novel Hard Cash in which "Dr Wycherley's" London asylum was run on the "non-restraint system". (Chapter 36). Dr Wycherley has been identified with Conolly but it should be noticed that Conolly specialised in women patients (not mixed sex as in the story).
    1866: Lease on Lawn House transferred to Anne Caroline
    Anne Caroline married Henry Maudsley
    3.5.1866 Conolly died at the Lawn
    Henry Maudsley proprietor. Also taking over from Conolly as visiting physician to Moorcroft House and Wood End
    1870: Dr H. Maudsley
    1.1.1874: licensed to Dr H. Maudsley with 8 female patients.
    By 1876 the licence had been transferred to Emma Dixon who had previously been matron at Otto House
    1881 Census The Lawn, Hanwell, Middlesex. Emma Dixon, Head, unmarried, aged 66, born Portsmouth, Hampshire. "Proprietor Private Asylum For Ladies" ; Louisa F. K. Dixon, niece, unmarried, aged 18, born Ramsgate, Kent. Jemima Cooper, Companion, unmarried, aged 27, born Great Munden, Hertfordshire. Eight boarders. A cook. Four domestic servants. Five attendants on ladies.

    Hayes is to the north west of Southall and Norwood. Until 1859, both parishes were part of Hayes. GENUKI Hayes 1868 History: "There are National schools for both sexes; also a lunatic asylum for the middle and upper classes, situated in Hayes Park."

    Wood End Grove, Hayes, Middlesex
    Wood End is north of Hayes and south east of Hayes Park
    1.1.1849: 12 female patients, one found lunatic by inquisition. 1859 Licensed to Dr Conolly and Mrs Fenton with 16 female patients.
    1867/1868: Lunacy Commission recorded death of Dr G J Stilwell the former licensee of Moorcroft House, Hillingdon and Wood End, Hayes
    1867 Comments: The license is for 19 ladies, and the house is generally well filled. The house is under the superintendence and management of Mrs Fenton, the patients being visited medically by Mr James Stilwell. Last year a few of the ladies were taken to the sea-side.
    1870: Dr. H. Stilwell & Dr. J. Stilwell & Mrs Spence
    James Stilwell died in 1870
    1.1.1874: licensed to Dr H. Stilwell and Mrs Spence with 18 female patients.

    Hayes Park 1850 Report p.395 New licence granted to Dr William Conolly at Hayes Park for 10 male patients and 10 female patients.
    1852 William Conolly retired and his son in law, Charles Fitz-Gerald, took over.
    1859 Licensed to Charles Fitz-Gerald with 8 male and 6 female patients
    1859 to 1861 John and E.T. Conolly took on the licence
    1867 Comments: "Hayes Park, which was formerly licensed for patients of both sexes, is now appropriated exclusively to the reception of 18 ladies. The house is large, the park and grounds extensive and the accommodation generally is of a superior class. There are generally 7 or 8 of the ladies who dined at Mr Benbow's table, and with hardly an exception all have had the opportunity of carriage drives. Last year a house was taken at Bognor and 6 of the patients passed some time there"
    1868 Ordnance Survey map: "Hayes Park Private Lunatic Asylum" shown on the west of parkland at corresponding coordinate (509600:182300) to present Hayes Park.
    1870: Mr & Mrs Benbow
    1.1.1874: licensed to Mr Benbow with 14 female patients.
    1881 Census: Henry F. Winslow. Physician. Hayes Park, Hayes, Middlesex


    Kent Lodge "Situated at Hanwell, this was first licensed to Mr T Waite in 1864, for the reception of 3 male and 2 female inmates. Only idiots or persons of weak intellect are received, and several of the patients are children. (1867 Comments)

    Other houses 1867:

    Upper Mall House [Mall House, Hammersmith , Kensington 1861] "The license for Upper Mall House was held by Mrs Gale and her daughter Mrs Cotes and is for 8 female patientsof harmless nature. Mrs Gale has recently died"; See map of London Corinthian Sailing Club

    Hendon House:
    Hendon House, Brent Street, home of John Norden, Queen Elizabeth's mapmaker, Later belonged to Sir Jeremy Whichcot. Earle family owned in 18th century. now demolished. Hendon School now stands on the site
    1.1.1859 Hendon House, Hendon, Miss Dence, 16 female private patients, one found lunatic by inquisition.
    1867: "Hendon House continues to be kept in the best order. Only ladies are received and every attention appears to be given to them by Miss Dence. Mr Prance (Robert R. Prance?) is the medical attendant";
    Hendon House; Dence Miss
    1.1.1874: T. Dence and Miss Rosser Seven female private patients, two found lunatic by inquisition. [Possible that Miss Rosser moved her ladies to The Shrubbery, Southall before 1881]

    British History Online: There was a private lunatic asylum for ladies run by Miss Dence at Hendon House, Brent Street, in 1861. Dr Henry Hicks had an asylum at Grove House in the Burroughs from 1879 to 1899 (1881 he is at Heriot House, which is just a family home). The new Hendon isolation hospital in Goldsmith Avenue... by 1970... had become a geriatric hospital. Its grounds contained the Northgate clinic, opened in 1968 by the North West Metropolitan regional hospital board for the treatment of 25 psychopaths.

    51 Priory Road, Kilburn "This house is the residence of Mr Moseley, who only receives 2 female patients. The ladies who reside with him are sisters";

    Great House Leyton Leyton Great House; Woods Mrs "the Leyton Great House demolished in 1905". 536-542 High Road Leyton E10 - "The site of the Great House erected by Sir Fischer Tench. Bart. Circa 1700. Thomas Oliver lived there 1750-1803" Plaque erected by Leyton Urban District Residents Association 1909.

    Halliford House
    Sunbury of Thames
    1.1.1849: 7 patients, 3 male, 4 female, 1 female found lunatic by inquisition.
    1859 Licensed to Dr Seaton with 14 patients, 5 male, 9 female, 1 male and 2 females found lunatic by inquisition.
    Sunbury Halliford House; Seaton Dr
    1.1.1874: Licensed to Dr Seaton, Mr E.W.A. Seaton and Mr D.R.? Edwards with 24 patients, 10 male, 16 female, 2 females found lunatic by inquisition.
    In 1920 a Dr. W. Handfield Haslett of Halliford House, Sunbury-on- Thames is mentioned in a will.


    3.8.TA3 NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF LICENSED HOUSES IN 1844
    Clicking on a County name takes you to the relevant part of the asylums index. There is also a map of England and Wales with English county names indexed at the bottom and Welsh at the top-right
    Counties with a lemon background had a county asylum in 1844
    Figures on a grey background relate to houses receiving paupers and the number of pauper patients

    County Population
    estimate 1851
    Houses Patients
    London 2,460,000 39 3 1,827 854 35.84% 31.58%
    Wiltshire 250,000 7 6 722 519 14.17% 19.19%
    Durham 390,000 5 5 329 270 6.45% 9.99%
    Somerset 440,000 4 2 246 72 4.83% 2.60%
    Gloucestershire 450,000 7 2 237 120 4.65% 4.44%
    Hampshire 400,000 5 4 232 193 4.55% 7.13%
    East Riding
    Yorkshire
    220,000 6 4 159 124 3.12% 4.59%
    Warwickshire 470,000 5 2 123 61 2.41% 2.26%
    Lancashire 2,030,000 7 1 113   2.22%  
    Devon 560,000 3 2 108 89 2.12% 3.29%
    Shropshire 220,000 2 2 105 92 2.06% 3.40%
    West Riding
    Yorkshire
    1,320,000 7 3 97 33 1.90% 1.22%
    Northumberland 300,000 2 1 95 59 1.86% 2.18%
    Worcestershire 280,000 1 1 80 54 1.75% 2%
    North Riding
    Yorkshire
    220,000 1 1 71 41 1.39% 1.52%
    Staffordshire 610,000 3 1 67 32 1.31% 1.18%
    Sussex 340,000 3   62   1.22%  
    Essex 370,000 2 1 58   1.14%  
    Hereford 120,000 2 2 53 37 1.04% 1.37%
    Kent 480,000 3 1 51 13 1% 0.48%
    Norfolk 440,000 4   40   0.78%  
    Suffolk 340,000 3 1 36 20 0.71% 0.74%
    York City 40,000 4   33   0.65%  
    Derbyshire 300,000 1 1 28 19 0.55% 0.70%
    Bedfordshire 120,000 1   25   0.49%  
    Surrey 200,000 2   22   0.43%  
    Buckinghamshire 160,000 1   17   0.33%  
    Dorset 180,000 2   16   0.31%  
    Hertfordshire 170,000 1   13   0.26%  
    Oxfordshire 170,000 3 1 12   0.24%  
    Lincolnshire 400,000 1   11   0.22%  
    Leicestershire 230,000 1   6   0.12%  
    Glamorganshire 230,000 1 1 3 2 0.6% 0.7%


    3.9 CLAIMS FOR THE COMMISSION'S EFFECTIVENESS

    The commission's evaluation

    The Metropolitan Commission made great claims for itself. In 1841 Ashley told the House of Commons that they:

    "had, he would venture to say, brought the asylums into a most complete state of order",

    whereas,

    "the provincial asylums had no visitation whatsoever that was worthy of the name".

    Robert Inglis

    "trusted the country visitations were not altogether and universally mockeries"

    and Ashley

    "briefly explained, that there were exceptions" (Hansard 21.9.1841 cols 698-9).

    "No one", Ashley said in 1842, "could be properly acquainted with the defects of the provincial system but one who had seen the working of the metropolitan system". (Hansard 17.3.1842 col.806).

    The commission's effectiveness was qualified by the objectives of the Acts, however. Ashley prefaced his 1841 claim by saying that the commissioners:

    "had done all that could be reasonably expected of them ... the Act under which they derived their powers was not an Act directing the methods to be employed in the cure of patients ... it was an Act for the purpose of controlling those enormous abuses which, from time to time, had been laid before Committees of that House - abuses under which persons were very easily confined ... but which rendered it almost impossible for them to obtain their liberty. Such was the state of the law when the present Act was introduced." (Hansard 21.9.1841 col.697)

    This last point was misleading. The 1774 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Madhouses had been the last one centrally concerned about wrongful detention. The 1827 Select Committee on Pauper Lunatics was principally about allegations of ill-treatment.

    3.9.2 Bethnal Green as evidence of the Commission's effectiveness

    The commission claimed, in fact, to have transformed the White House, the asylum criticised in 1827:

      "We have visited few, if any, receptacles for the insane, in which the patients are more kindly or more judiciously treated ... The abuses which existed in this and some other asylums, previously to the year 1828, led to the introduction of the system of visitation by Commissioners in the Metropolitan district. The Houses at Bethnal Green which were amongst the worst now rank with the best." [1844 Report of the Metropolitan Commissioners p.44]

    The statement that the Houses at Bethnal Green were "amongst the worst" before the Metropolitan Commission was founded, does not square with the evidence. In 1827 Thomas Warburton was indignant that his house had been singled out, he admitted some of the defects alleged, but:

      "a more healthy establishment cannot be proved to exist" (1827 SCHC: cited Lancet: 19.9.1840 pp 929-930)

    Dr Alexander Frampton (Physician Commissioner 1804-1805, 1812, 1820 and 1826) attended the Select Committee at Warburton's request. He considered the house "excellently regulated ... a very good house." The absence of glass in the windows was "usual" in institutions of this kind (1827 SCHC p.134 and passages cited Jones, K. 1972 p.105).

    In as far as the evidence of Warburton and Frampton is taken as endorsing the relative superiority of Warburton's pauper houses over other London pauper houses, I see no reason to disagree with Robert Gordon, who told the House of Commons that he:

      "felt it his duty to state, that it appeared by the minutes of evidence of the physicians and others before the committee, that however bad Warburton's house might be, it was good, as compared with others of the same kind, if not much better than many of them. It might at least be taken as a fair sample of what these houses were" (Hansard 19.2.1828 col.578)
    .

    Whatever the relative merits of Warburton's vis-a-vis other houses, however, extensive alterations in it were undoubtedly made after 1827. Ashley claimed that this transformation showed

    "the beneficial effects of continued visitation".
    He predicted that without such
    "constant vigilance"..."these places of confinement ... would again become dens of iniquity and oppression".
    He recalled that the state of the White House had been so bad that a Commission of Inquiry had been instituted:

    "when scenes of the most cruel and disgusting nature were revealed, which made one shudder at the very recital of them. He remembered well the sounds that assailed his ear, and the sights that shocked his eye, when visiting that abode of the most wretched."

    But in 1844 it was

    "a most consolatory picture of what might be done by vigilant inspection." (Hansard 23.7.1844 col. 1270)

    London houses improving

    The commission reported favourably on the general condition of London houses every year, and claimed most of the credit. In 1841:

    "They see no reason... to alter their opinion, repeatedly expressed in their former reports, that the good order... is mainly attributable to the vigilant supervision exercised by this Commission, and that without some such wholesome control they would in many cases rapidly degenerate, to the serious injury of the patients" (1841 Report)

    Their "constant and vigilant supervision" had brought about "gradual but striking and salutary change". Offenses against "the letter or the spirit" of the Madhouse Act

    "Have become gradually less frequent, and the practical result has been, that at present instances of irregularity and neglect on the part of the superintendents of asylums are comparatively rare, and that cases of great abuse and of wilful misconduct have latterly been almost unknown" (1839 Report)

    Colonel Sykes outlines the commission's functions

    Addressing the Statistical Society of London in June 1840, commissioner Sykes explained the commission's constitution, power and mode of working

    "not only that its utility may be more generally known to the public... but... to call the attention of the county sessions to the advantage of the establishment of a systematic supervision... and to stimulate them to the maintenance of active relations with the Metropolitan Board" (Sykes 1840 p.144)

    He stressed the commission's meticulous, routine observance of the law's provisions:-

    "They are bound to visit every asylum at least once a quarter, and may go as often as they please: and they see and examine every patient, and tick of their names in proper books kept for the purpose... Of course, the owners of the asylums never know on what day they will be visited, so that they are always taken unprepared, and as the commissioners never grant a licence to any house without being in possession of a ground-plan and sections of the buildings, there cannot be any place of concealment in which a member of society might be immured for guilty objects" (Sykes 1840 p.)

    He outlined the commissioners' powers of release, and to visit at night, how they minuted the results of each visit, and inspected "narrowly" the medical journal. He listed the offenses rendering a proprietor subject to the penalty of a misdemeanour.

    "These regulations are sufficiently stringent and minute to insure justice to the patient, order and system in a house, and punishment for neglect; and the precautions taken with respect to the admission of patients are equally characterised by humane considerations for the state of the afflicted and the liberty of the subject... the commissioners are very rigid in exacting the most minute conformity to the regulations respecting the certificates upon which keepers... can receive private patients" (Sykes 1840 p.)

    Paupers could be confined with fewer forms and restrictions:

    "To this unhappy and unprotected portion of society, the commission is of more importance than to any other class of patients whatsoever. When once they get shut up in a madhouse, it is indeed difficult for them to regain their liberty" (Sykes 1840 p.)

    Sykes and Ashley describe the county visitors

    In 1840 Sykes explained that the Madhouses Act applied to "all of England". "Beyond the jurisdiction of the commission": JPs in Quarter Sessions supplied the places of the commissioners, the Clerk of the Peace that of the London Clerk, and the expenses fell on the County rate instead of the Treasury. Finally he pointed out that County Clerks were supposed to send Visitors names to the Commission and a complete annual transcript of visiting minutes. (Sykes 1840 pp 144-147)

    In 1844 Ashley alleged that the County Visitors "shamefully neglected" visiting and that this was shown by the 1844 Report:

      "for if the parties to whom the duty of visitation had been entrusted had discharged their office with but common vigilance, the commissioners would never have been able to have collected such materials for the Report." (Hansard 23.7.1844 cols 1267-1270)

    In 1845 Ashley cited the case of Green Hill, a house in Derby (borough) that the commissioners first visited on 21.10.1842 when they discovered, and released, a lady confined without certificates since May:

      "The straw in the paupers beds was found filthy, and some of the bedding was in disgusting condition from running sores, and was of the worst materials, and insufficient; two cells in which three sick epileptic paupers slept were damp, unhealthy, and unfit for habitation; the beds for private patients were in an equally bad state, nearly all the provisions of the law for the regulation of licensed asylums were violated ... The magistrates of the borough, who are its visiting justices, had not visited the house for space of a year minus eight days." (Section of 1844 Report (pp 56-57) quoted by Ashley Hansard 6.6.1845 col.184)

    There follows in Ashley's speech a passage printed as if from the 1844 Report, but not actually there, and, slightly later, a quote from "the Report" which is also not in the 1844 Report. This material, I assume, comes from a later (unpublished) report or from Ashley's notes.

    The following background information is in the Report, but was not quoted in the speech. The material in the speech, not in the Report, follows that.

    The paupers in Green Hill "having been nearly all sent thither by the Magistrates of the County". The Commission wrote on 10.11.1842 to the Chairman of the Quarter Sessions at Derby and to the Magistrates of the Borough (who licensed the house) - bringing the state of the paupers to their notice. They received an immediate answer (content not stated) from the Borough JPs. Their letter to the Chair of Derby Quarter sessions was acknowledged in a letter received 1.3.1843 - but no further communication followed. [1844 Report of the Metropolitan Commissioners p.57]

      "This Asylum was found in a better state at the second visit, but when visited for a third time, on the 18th October, 1843, it was again in a very bad state. The paupers were still occupying what had been the coach-house and stables. The cells which had been objected to, were not used, but the male paupers (fifteen in number) were sleeping in the upper floor or loft ..." [1844 Report of the Metropolitan Commissioners p.57]

    The passages from Ashley's speech not in the Report are:

    "Now here", Ashley commented "is an excellent sample - though there are exceptions I admit - of the mode and measure of provincial visitation by the ... magistracy". He continued:

      "I am speaking in reference to the visitation of private asylums only: the supervision and care of the county asylums are, on the whole, extremely satisfactory. But look at this: the justices in the preceding year visited the asylum but once; they received a shock, no doubt, by the spectacle they witnessed, and they took a good course to avoid a repetition of it; for, says the Report," [quote I cannot find:] "`during the past year no visiting justices were appointed.'" (Ashley Hansard 6.6.1845 cols 184-185)

    But Derby was neither an "excellent sample", as Ashley said, nor was it a "fair sample" in the sense that Robert Gordon spoke of another house in 1828. Gordon had used one of the best London pauper houses in his efforts to show how bad they all were. Ashley had a different technique. He frequently presented extreme cases from the 1844 Report as representative of the usual state of affairs. This is what he did with Derby. As a sample of County visiting Derby was one of the Report's extreme cases.

    The way that the report represented the general County Visiting was by citing five cases of deficient visiting and then saying that:

      "Having felt it our duty thus plainly to express our opinion of the neglect, in some few instances, of the Visiting Magistrates, we have the satisfaction of stating that, in many instances, the visits of the Magistrates have been regular, and that their inspection of the Asylums, and their investigation as to the comforts and general treatment of the lunatics, have been made with much care." [1844 Report of the Metropolitan Commissioners pp 68-69]

    Derby is not one of the five deficient cases mentioned on page 68 and others could, no doubt have been cited, but the overall impression from the Report is that County visiting was regularly carried out in most areas.

    Derby JPs had particular problems not mentioned by Ashley or the 1844 Report. In November 1841 their clerk was unable to make a return of the lunatics in Green Hill:

    The Derby Visitors may, or they may not, have been as deficient as the Report and Ashley generally indicate. There some items of information, rather hidden in the Report, that could mean they took decisive action. We are told that they responded promptly to the Commission's letter of 10.11.1842 and that the conditions were improved on the second visit. They then deteriorated and the Commission, it appears from Ashley's speech, wrote another letter. The Report tells us, in separate places, that:

    and:

      "It is right to state that the present proprietor of the Derby Asylum, is about to discontinue the Pauper part of his establishment" (1844 Report p.124)

    The general criticism that the 1844 report made of the County Visitors was not they did not visit but that their reports were not as full systematic as the Commission would have liked.

    "In a great proportion of the cases" the minutes were just brief statements that the house was satisfactory. The Report said this might be "less objectionable" with respect to private asylums catering for the "wealthier classes", but in houses taking poorer patients and paupers the minute should note areas where there was room for improvement. [1844 Report of the Metropolitan Commissioners pp 69-70]

    3.10 Reasons for effectiveness

    Although the Commission, and Ashley in particular, exaggerated (grossly in my opinion) both its own effectiveness and the County JPs defects, I think we can accept that the London Commission was more efficient, and ask why? The Counties had the same statutory powers. Were County JPs fired with less enthusiasm? If so one wonders what made the difference when so many of the Commission's unpaid commissioners were themselves County JPs.

    The London commission was described by Sykes as the equivalent of County Quarter Sessions, Visitors and Clerks. Somerset in 1842, however, said that they were, in fact, two "separate and distinct" systems. The commission had seven professional commissioners and

      "it was impossible to suppose that the same regularity of attention...could be derived from...county magistrates with the occasional assistance of medical commissioners".

    The remedy for County deficiencies should not be "left to ... gratuitous exertions". He cast no reflection on the County visitors

      "who if placed in the same position as the metropolitan commissioners, would be just as valuable, it was of the system that he could not approve". 17.3.1842 cols 797- 798

    The commission was professional with honorary (unpaid) elements and paid for from national funds. County regulation was honorary with professional elements, and any expense in excess of licence receipts was a charge on the local rates. Neither the scale nor the structure of County provisions allowed the development of professional 'commissioners' on the model of London.

    3.10.2 Excess costs

    All authorities charged licence fees on the same scale (3S.4.1). Salaries were the main expense, so the ratio of licence income to expenses gives a rough index of the extent to which each used paid labour:-

    The commission's cost exceeded licence income by 120% in 1828/1829; rising to 216% in 1840/1841. In 1828/1829 it collected just over £1,000 from licences, but spent £2,246 (£1,154 on commissioners' fees). In 1840/1841 it only collected £889, but spent £2,812 (£1,942 on commissioners' fees). The Treasury, therefore, paid £1,200 in 1828/1829 to £1,923 in 1840/1841 a year on the commission.

    This excess of costs over fees had not always been the case in London. A most important consequence of the 1828 Madhouse Act was that licence fees ceased to be a source of profit in London (and several Counties). Before 1828, Surrey seems to have been the only authority that spent more than it collected. Between 1774 and 1828, the Physician Commission accumulated a credit balance of £854.9/11d and Wiltshire one of £1,113.17/-. (Return 3.4.1828)

    Between 1838 and 1841, at least twenty Counties paid all costs from licence income. Sixteen of these made a profit ranging from a few shillings to twenty, thirty, forty and even (on one occasion) fifty pounds a year. Five of the Counties accounts were too ambiguous for me to determine what they did, and the remaining fifteen made some annual contribution to costs from rates, although this seldom exceed the cost of the cheapest licence (£15).

    The main reason for this difference between London and the Counties appears to have been the lower cost of County visits. After 1832, London visits were probably made by three professional commissioners (3.6.2); and four series a year had to be made (3S.4.2.A). The Acts suggest County visits were to be made by unpaid visitors accompanied by one professional, and this appears to have bee the usual practice (See 3.10.3 for the example of Hampshire). Form 1832 only three series of visits were required (3S.4.2.B).

    If the London commissioners' fees for 1840/1841 had been reduced by two- thirds, and then by a quarter (to bring them in line with the County costs after 1832, outlined above), their total costs would only have exceeded licence income by £466, or 52%.

    The commissioners' fees in 1841/1842 were 218% of licence income. This reduced by two-thirds plus a quarter is 54%, and we can argue that that should have been the proportional amount of licence fees spent on medical fees by the Counties. In fact, half the Counties spent between 33% and 66%. More spent less than 33% than spent over 66%, and only three showed medical fees on their accounts in excess of licence income.

    3.10.3 Hampshire and the commission compared

    General reference: Return 3.2.1842 pp 12-15.

    Hampshire County Quarter Sessions licensed four houses with a total of 232 lunatics (1843/1844), or about 13% of the number in London houses. The four houses were:

      Lainston, near Winchester
      (84 pauper and 10 private patients in 1844);

      Grove Place, near Southampton
      (53 pauper and 19 private patients in 1844);

      Hilsea; near Portsmouth
      (29 pauper and 6 private patients in 1844) and

      Carisbrook on the Isle of Wight (27 pauper patients in 1844).

    [This misses out Westbrook House, Alton (C.M. Barnet. surgeon)
    with 4 private patients in 1844. (1844 Report p. 212)]

    Whilst its two largest houses received almost unqualified censure from the Commissioners in 1844, this was not because of irregular visiting. Lainston had six visits in 1837; six again in 1838; ten in 1839; eight in 1840; ten in 1841. Visiting Commissioners in 1843 found it had been visited "several times" by the local JPs who "in the Visitors Book, condemned in unqualified terms the managements of that large asylum" [1844 Report of the Metropolitan Commissioners pp 58 + 66]

    Why did Quarter Sessions not revoke or refuse to renew the licence? The house contained 84 pauper lunatics and Hampshire had no County Asylum. If the house had been closed Quarter Sessions would have had to find other accommodation for the paupers - many of whom would have been sent there in the first place because they were unmanageable in workhouses.

    Lainston and Grove Place were nine miles apart, the others were up to twenty miles apart. As the crow flies, that is - or perhaps the seagull. Portsmouth harbour, Southampton Water and the Solent intervened between Grove Place, Hilsea and Carisbrook. The London to Southampton Railway, founded in 1836, linked Winchester and Southampton, but this was, I think, the only railway link, and the houses (Lainston and Grove Place?) were all several miles from a station.

    In these circumstances, Quarter Sessions appointed four separate groups of visitors - one group for each house. Each consisted of JPs and Drs who lived near one of the houses. Thirteen JPs and Dr Phillips, a physician, were the visitors to Lainston. Thirty JPs of the Southampton Division and W.S.M. Oakes M.D. were visitors to Grove Place. Three JPs and Mr George Martell, a surgeon, were visitors to Hilsea. Eighteen JPs and Mr Keele, a physician, [why "Mr"?] were visitors to Carisbrook.

    So, including Quarter Sessions, there were five groups concerned in controlling four houses. The link between them was Thomas Woodham, Deputy Clerk of the Peace and Visitors Clerk. His office was at Winchester, the county town. He would have attended Winchester Quarter Sessions to lay before the Licensing JPs: licence applications, any plans submitted, the Licences he had prepared and copies of the Visitors minutes (see law).

    The Visitors "meetings" were their visits. Woodham attended Lainston visitors first visit on 10.12.1840 to take his oath. Generally, however, he and the visiting groups appear to have communicated by post. In his detailed and meticulous accounts £14..13/6d of the total of £44..17/2d charged for his services in 1840/1841 was for letters to individual visitors summonsing them to attend visits at the times appointed by Quarter sessions (see law) and enclosing a "fair copy" of the order of the Court making the appointments.

    The medical visitors appear to have been paid two guineas plus expenses for each visit attended. As a rule they attended every visit although some irregularities between visits recorded and sums paid to visitors may have been due to the doctor missing a visit (or making it alone).

    I would infer from the number of JPs appointed that individually they were irregular visitors, so several were required to ensure one or more attended.

    Although the doctors were the regular visitors, they could not (unless also JPs) take part in licensing. Their visiting minutes were laid before Quarter sessions by Woodham, but they had no means of ensuring the minutes were effectively acted upon, and could play no part in the development of an integrated system of control.

    The integration and development of the system depended on Woodham (who took no part in visiting) and such JPs who had sufficient enthusiasm to visit and serve as licensing JPs.

    The knowledge of the visitors as limited to one house, and there was no occasion for the medical visitors to meet, exchange experiences, or evaluate their visiting procedure. Visiting licensed houses was, in any case, only a minor part of their professional lives. In 1840/1841, Phillips made ten visits, Oakes five visits, Keele three visits and Martell only two.

    The professional part of the London Commission was (by 1841): the clerk, his assistant, five medical and two legal commissioners. Six of the professional commissioners each spent fifty days a year on the work (see table).

    Legally the professionals were competent to handle all aspects of the commission's work (including licensing) and, in practice, only had honorary assistance regularly from the chairman and occasionally from other commissioners (see above). Not only was the commission predominantly professional, but the professional staff were very experienced. Turner and Bright could date their experience in the control of madhouses from 1811 and 1820 respectively; Hume and Southey from 1828; Procter, Mylne and Dubois from 1832

    If the commission was not many times more systematic than Hampshire it ought to have been. The Metropolitan system cost 15 times as much per patient as the County system cost Hampshire. Over and above licence income Hampshire paid an average of 1/3d per year per patient for its system. On the same basis, the Metropolitan Commission cost the Treasury nearly 19/- a patient in 1841.

    3.11 Limitations of effectiveness

    The Commission's Reports and Ashley's speeches were partizan accounts devoid of any self criticism. We have to look very closely at the small print of the evidence to find the limitations to its effectiveness the commission perceived. And there was a considerable gap between the commission's self-image and how it was perceived by others. First I will look at the limitations others perceived (3.11.2), then (3.11.4) at the limitations the Commission saw to its own effectiveness.




    © Andrew Roberts 1981-

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    known Warburton relatives:

    Sarah Marsh, Thomas Warburton's niece, lived at 2 York Street, Kingsland with Ann Benfield. In Thomas Warburton's will, an annuity paid to Ann Benfield and Sarah Marsh was to be paid out of the messuages and lands called Exmouth Place, Mare Street, St John Hackney.

    Have not been able to find out where or when Thomas Warburton was born, or who he married. Thorby Walker believes he had six children, two girls and four boys. The two eldest boys may have died young. One daughter married John Dunstan, and another married Dr William Dansey.

    Thomas Dunston (died 1830) and Mrs Dunston (died 1816) were Master and Matron in charge of St Luke's Hospital. John Dunston, who married a daughter of Thomas Warburton, was their son.

    John Abernethy (1764-1831). Surgeon at St Bartholomews Hospital. A daughter married John Warburton.




































    The survey of London madhouses in
this chapter
is based on the research of Valerie Argent
    The survey of London madhouses in this chapter is based on the research of Valerie Argent