St. Lawrence's Mental Asylum
By Kay Broadhurst & Sheri Matthews
Contents
Research Brief
Brief History
Context
Primary Sources
Findings
Outcome
Reflections
Acknowledges
Research Brief
What we decided to do and why.
Our direction?
- The care of patients and changes in the asylum
Our outcome?
- 2000 word article- local magazine
So how did this evolve?
- Looking at class difference
- Restricted time period
Brief History
A little bit more about the hospital.
'An act for the better care and maintenance of lunatics, being paupers or criminals in England.'
- Opened in the summer of 1820.
- 23rd June 1808 County Asylums Act:
- Controlled by local lords and doctors.
- 100s patients, paupers and private.
Context
What did our secondary research tell us?
- Mental Health
- Care of 'lunatics'
- Public opinion of 'lunatics'
- Cornwall in the nineteenth century
- What was happening?
- How this may have affected the asylum?
Primary Sources
Minute books, draft minute books and annual reports
Three most useful sources:
- Visiting Committee Minute Books
- Vast amounts of information
- Limitations
- Draft Visiting Committee Minute Books
- Visitor Inspection Books
Primary Sources
Correspondence, Acts and rule books
- Gave us extra information when used along side minute and inspection books
- Another aspect of the asylum
- Correspondence only show one side of communication
- Missing medical case-books
- Not enough information to include
Findings
Patient life
Patient social life:
- Little mention in the beginning (1840s)
- Time progresses:
- Entertainment
- Sea-side, picnics, parties, magic lantern, music, sports.
- Care
- Ventilation, heating, hot water, baths, food.
- Quality of life:
- Outside spaces, Chapel, paid jobs.
Findings
Running of the Asylum
- Asylum had active relationship with other institutions;
-work-house
-Prison
-diet
-social aspects
-wards
Final Outcome
2000 word article
- Audience?
- School leaving age reading level
- Accessible
- What did we include?
- What did we exclude?
Reflection
Some of our main reflections
- Some aspects we had to exclude because of time and other limitations;
- Gender
- Sampling
- Visiting the site
Acknowledges
Thank you Deborah & The
Cornwall Records Office!
Thank you Anna!
Thank you for listening.