Superintendent's report of the County of Lancaster Lunatic Asylum, Prestwich : January 1st, 1852.

  • Lancaster County Lunatic Asylum at Prestwich.
Date:
[1852]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Superintendent's report of the County of Lancaster Lunatic Asylum, Prestwich : January 1st, 1852. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    dining rooms, galleries, &c., and in flagging the connecting corridors and other places, whilst many more have worked at their respective trades of ! shoemakers, tailors, upholsterers, carpenters, and mechanics, Neither have ii the women been idle, but, on the contrary, equally diligent in their avoca- tions. The laundry, wash-house, work-room, and kitchen have afforded [ them constant occupation, and the improvement in their demeanour is, consequently, very remarkable ;—the riotous, disorderly, and offensive ; conduct and language of many of them have given way, with few exceptions, ii to comparative quiet and decent behaviour. Notwithstanding the great liberty enjoyed by nearly all the patients, (fifty of whom, on their arrival, were reported as suicidally disposed,) and ; the trust placed in them in the use of tools, &c., nothing untoward—accidental or intentional—has happened to either attendants or patients since the (j opening of the establishment. Cricket, bagatelle, cards, draughts, and I dominoes have been their chief games, whilst a sufficient supply of suit- i able books and periodicals has been afforded them for their amusement E and instruction. I need not dwell upon the hackneyed subject of restraint; suffice it to | say that mechanical restraint (with the solitary exception alluded to in the Commissioners’ Reports) has not been required, nor has it often been found necessary to confine any of the patients to their bed-rooms during the day : time. The system of employing the tradesmen and mechanics as attendants answers well both with regard to economy and utility. I ought not to conclude my report without bringing under your notice the efficient and harmonious manner in which the officers, attendants, and ; servants have performed their difficult tasks in their several departments; for when it is considered that during eleven months out of the year work- { people in great numbers have been constantly employed in completing the asylum, and that the majority of persons engaged as attendants, &c., were strangers to their duties, the increased difficulties and anxieties of organizing and conducting a new Institution will immediately present themselves. The Commissioners in Lunacy have twice visited the asylum in the course of the year, and left the following Reports upon the condition and progress of the Establishment, “ April 7th, 1851. “We have this day visited and inspected the County Lunatic Asylum, at Prestwich, and have seen all the patients under care and treatment in the establishment. There are now in the asylum 194 patients, 85 men and 109 women. At the time of our visit they were, with one or two exceptions, remarkably tranquil and orderly. No one was placed under any description