"Voices from the Asylum: West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum" (2013) authored by British historians Mark Davis and Marina Kidd is an excellent addition and pictorial to historical asylum studies. There is a renewed interest in old historical asylums, as families trace their heritage, local history in combination with the study of mental healthcare. This amazing book outlines the case studies of 37 patients, the authors point out that the patients spent a combination of 680 years between them hospitalized in care and treatment, many were elderly living long lives. This book is a notable memorial tribute to these forgotten lives. Every patient was laid to rest in the hospital cemetery located on the south side grounds at Buckle Lane.
The patients' voices and personalities are indirectly represented by doctors' records, reports, certification. There are notes of speech from patients, relatives, assorted family and friends that provide an additional insight to the times culture outside the hospital of the 19th and early 20th century. Each photo and life is unique giving a portrait of individual mental and emotional illness. The Lunacy Act of 1845 decreed that a patient had to be certified by two doctors regardless of their physical/mental history. If admitted to an asylum, their medical history, treatments, (sometimes photos) etc. were tracked in a casebook. The majority of patients were poor, regarded as insane by authorities, transferring from "the Bastille" a union workhouse. It was unfortunate the majority of these individuals were abandoned and forgotten by their families, perhaps due to poverty, or the stigma of having a relative in the asylum. The 50% discharge rate was unhelpful, if the patient would be homeless.
The West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Menston opened in 1888. In the 1920's the asylum was renamed Menston Mental Hospital and finally, in 1963 it was called High Royds Psychiatric Hospital. The hospital closed in 2003, and was known for its grand Edwardian architecture, a sprawling facility that featured many modern amenities. There are 2,861 patient graves in the hospital cemetery in operation from 1890-1963. In 2008 Friends of the High Royds Memorial Garden was formed, and the former asylum cemetery and mortuary chapel were beautifully restored using funds from individuals and various organizations.
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Top reviews from other countries
Mrs S E Lock
Very interesting history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2023
Interesting to hear the history of treatment for mental illness but awful to hear how many women were considered mentally I’ll because of human reactions to situations whic were seen to be from illness and not human emotions. The overall picture of women as lesser beings and their incarceration for years or even the rest of their lives was shocking. For some women sad to say incarceration was preferable to life of poverty outside.
The struggle to live happily as a woman
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2024