Life in a Victorian Asylum 1

Following investigation and subsequent reform in the early half of the nineteenth century (1815 and 1852), Bethlem Hospital increasingly became a very domestic environment, as pictured in the Illustrated London News in 1860. The accompanying article attributed the changes in the Hospital entirely to Bethlem’s new “skilful and benevolent” resident-physician, W. Charles Hood, appointed in 1853; however, the published annual reports show that a large number of changes had already been made under the previous charge of Sir Alexander Morison and Edward T. Monro, the visiting physicians. In 1845, they reported that “much attention has been paid to the amusements of the patients during the past year. The library, billiard and bagatelle rooms are very generally occupied on the male side by the better classes, and much interest excited by books, cards and games.”

These additions to activities in the Hospital, and improvements in the therapeutic environment, were continued by Hood, who adhered strongly to the twin ideals of moral treatment (cure through re-education, with a clear emphasis on environmental and occupational, rather than strictly medical, therapies) and non-restraint (complete abandonment of any type of mechanical restraint, including straps, straight-waistcoats etc. Seclusion, however, was permitted).

Chance Encounters in the Museum 2

The Archives and Museum regularly receives visits from psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. This is unsurprising, given that it is itself part of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, with strong links to the Institute of Psychiatry and other partners inthe provision of mental healthcare. Every now and then, however, visitors arrive from further afield, sometimes as part of a pre-arrangedschool or university group visit, at other times entirely unannounced in ones or twos. Recently we hosted a visit from a group from Athens, and we will be welcoming students from a college in Connecticut later this week. In the past fortnight, we have also bumped into visiting psychiatrists from Vienna and Oslo, both with an interest in the history of European psychiatry in general, and the prominent and a typical place occupied within it by Bethlem Hospital in particular.

This puts us in mind of a parallel phenomenon of the nineteenth century: that of the intra-European collegial visits made by doctors intent on discovering what provision other countries had made for the care and treatment of the mentally ill. These visits, and the reports that were made of them, were a means of highlighting ‘best practice’ (as well as worst), and formed part of a drive towards the ‘moral management’ of patients, the construction of more appropriate hospital buildings, and the establishment of psychiatry as a medical discipline.

A few years ago, the Archives & Museum partnered with museums of psychiatry on the continent to produce a electronic resource to makeavailable (at www.europeanjourneys.org) the reports of four of these nineteenth-century journeys, made by Drs Morison of London and Edinburgh, Guislain of Ghent, Everts of Noord-Holland and Hack Tuke of York respectively. As those who browse the site will discover, the honeymoon of one of these doctors effectively doubled as a psychiatric fact-finding mission. We can only guess at what his spouse made of this.

In the Frame for June 2010

Artists – and others – have always learnt and drawn inspiration from the work of others. But restricted display space in the Archives and Museum makes it possible to show only a fraction of our collection at any one time. The rest of the artworks we hold are in store. We are always on the lookout for new ways to make our paintings available to a wider audience.

The Archives and Museum have begun working with Bethlem’s Occupational Therapy Department on a new initiative to use pieces from our collection to inspire creative responses from others. Each month, copies of three chosen paintings will be displayed in the Department’s art studio as a visual starting point for others to create their own pieces. One of these three will be selected by a member of Archives and Museum staff as our ‘picture of the month’ to feature on the Bethlem blog, along with details of what made it catch our eye. This month’s picture is Lynda Bamford’s ‘Mother and Father Reading’.

Bedlam: History Channel Documentary 9 May

There’s another chance to catch the History Channel’s recent documentary “Bedlam – the History of Bethlem Hospital” this week. The show, first aired in March this year, will be repeated on Sunday 9 May at 8pm (repeated Monday 10 May at midnight and 9am) and features interviews with leading historians of psychiatry, as well as exhibits from the Museum and Archives.

Look out for the statues of “Raving and Melancholy Madness” in the background of some of the interviews. These magnificent stone figures, on display in the Museum, were made by sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber and prominently displayed at the gates of seventeenth century Bethlem in Moorfields, where they were much admired in contemporary descriptions. When the Hospital moved to St George’s Fields in 1815, the graphic depictions of madness were moved to the entrance hall, but kept behind a curtain, presumably to avoid disturbing patients and their visitors! In 1858 the statues were moved to the South Kensington Museum (later the V&A), and only returned to Bethlem in 1970.

If you don’t have access to Sky TV, video excerpts from the programme are available on the History Channel website. Or come and see the statues in the Museum in person!

Welcome to the Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum Blog

This blog has been set up by the Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum and will provide regular updates on the Museum Relocation Project and other activities of the Archives and Museum, written by the small staff team, as well as interesting historical notes from the archives – 450 years of mental health history, including personal accounts of mental illness before 1900 – written by staff and researchers.