The registers to the patient files survive in MH 94 for various categories of inmates from 1846 to 1960. Please note, some of the early admission registers are available online – please see above.
#Lunacy define series#
This series also contains diaries which contain further details on patients. Search, by date, MH 94 for admission registers of asylums and psychiatric hospitals. See section 9 for court records regarding lunatics and idiots. Some of the files are closed for 75 years, although under the Freedom of Information Act 2001, a request can be made via email, or in writing, for a review of closed files – see our Freedom of Information pages for more information. Other records of patients and inmatesĪ very few patient records survive in MH 85, MH 86 and MH 51/27-77. Not all of the records in MH 12 have been digitised – see the MH 12 series description. Search by county and poor law union within the returns of insane inmates in workhouses and asylums from 1834 to 1909 in MH 12. The records provide: 4.4 Correspondence with Poor Law Unions and other local authorities (1834-1900) These include Bethlem Hospital registers 1823-1843 and registers from county and metropolitan lunatic asylums 1800-1839 ( HO 20). Search criminal lunatic asylum registers by name at .uk ( £). 4.3 Criminal lunatic asylum registers (1800-1843) These cover criminals who were confined at asylums after being certified at court, or after imprisonment, as being insane ( HO 145/1-9). Search the criminal lunacy warrant and entry books by name at .uk ( £). 4.2 Criminal lunacy warrant and entry books (1882-1898) These are records that were maintained by the Lunacy Commission and Board of Control ( MH 94/1-47). Search asylum and psychiatric hospital admission registers by name at .uk ( £). Online records of patients and inmatesĤ.1 Patients’ admission registers (1846-1912) The 1890 Lunacy Act gave asylums a wider role, and wealthier patients began to be admitted. Under the Lunacy Act 1845 and the County Asylums Act of the same year, county lunatic asylums became compulsory and the Lunacy Commission was established to take responsibility, among other things, to regulate them. However, the response was slow and many patients continued to end up in prisons and workhouses. The County Asylums Act of 1808 encouraged justices of the peace to build county lunatic asylums to house any pauper lunatics in their county. Private ‘madhouses’ were licensed by the justices of the peace, and were examined by several series of government commissioners. Wealthier people had to make private arrangements for the care of family members with a mental illness. They were therefore likely to end up in workhouses, houses of correction or prisons. Before the establishment of lunatic asylums in the mid-19th century, pauper lunatics were dealt with locally under poor law, vagrancy law or criminal law. Until the 19th century the custody of ‘idiots’ and ‘lunatics’, as well as the ownership of their land and property, fell to the Crown. ‘Idiot’ described ‘natural fools from birth’. ‘Lunatic’ was used to describe a person who was ‘sometimes of good and sound memory and understanding and sometimes not’. These terms reflect the attitudes and language of the historical period in which the records were created and some would now be considered derogatory or offensive. In this guide we have used the terms used to refer to people with mental health problems that you will find in the records themselves. We also hold some records relating to the administration of the estates of people deemed incapable of managing their own affairs (see section 9). The records held by The National Archives relate mainly to the administration of the institutions, though some of these records may include the names of inmates. However, most patient files have been destroyed. Records of lunatic asylums are not held in any one place and often not all their records have survived. Many records of asylums, prisons and houses of correction are kept in local archives and especially those of the patients and inmates. Lunatic asylums were first established in Britain in the mid-19th century. This is a guide to records of lunatic asylums, their inmates and other records relating to mental health, primarily from the 19th century, held at The National Archives. Chancery records: determining lunacy and administering the property of lunatics and idiots
Records of private and county lunatic asylums Records of the Ministry of Health and related organisations (1798-2001)
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