The first annual report on madhouses, made in the year 1816 : ordered by the House of Commons to be printed April 26 1816 ... / Made by the noblemen and gentlemen, who were appointed by the House of Commons, as a Select Committee, to enquire and consider of provision being made for the better regulation of public and private madhouses in England ... Consisting of important minutes of evidence ... including two letters.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee on Mad-Houses in England.
Date:
1816
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The first annual report on madhouses, made in the year 1816 : ordered by the House of Commons to be printed April 26 1816 ... / Made by the noblemen and gentlemen, who were appointed by the House of Commons, as a Select Committee, to enquire and consider of provision being made for the better regulation of public and private madhouses in England ... Consisting of important minutes of evidence ... including two letters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The clothes kept in the store-room are those belonging to the patients ?—Yes, the patients and the parishes. [ The Bill was delivered in, and read as follows.'] 16 gowns 6 stuff coats 24 shifts 25 caps ... 5 shirts - II pair worsted stockings 15 pair cotton ditto 18 pocket handkerchiefs 24 flannel coats 17 aprons - 14 shawls - 6 pair shoes - s. at 10 ; 5 5 1 7 2 2 1 4 2 9 d. 0 each - 0 — - 0 — - e — - 0 — - 0 — - 6 per pair 6 each - 0 — - 0 — - 0 — - 0 o u — £. s. d. - 8 0 0 - 1 10 • 0 - 6 0 0 - 1 17 6 - 2 16 0 -12 0 - 1 17 6 - 1 7 0 -4 16 0 - 1 14 0 - 1 8 0 - 1 10 0 S3 18 0 Was it in this house that you saw several wretched fe- males lying together in cribs in the month of November, and in what year ?—It was not in this house, bui in Rhodes's house, in the month of November, 1811. Describe the situation in which those persons lay ?—The crib was close to the door leading into the poor women’s yard, there were three in each crib ; I am not certain whe- ther there were three cribs, but there were two with three patients in each; the cribs were calculated for one person only, there was not the smallest particle of straw in either of them. Did you ask the female-keeper why she kept them in those cribs, and why there was no straw ?—Yes, I did. What was her answer?—That her master informed her there was no straw in the house, and that she must wait for it till it came ; those cribs were their usual sleeping cribs. This was in the day time?—Yes, but the maid informed me they had but one shift each, and that she was obliged to put them to bed to wash their shifts against they got up in the morning ; possibly the other might have been deposited in the store-room. Were those patients pauper patients ?—Yes, they were. What was the general situation, at that time, of the pauper patient# in the house?—1 do not think the pauper patients are well regulated there at all; these people had no covering on them, they were naked in the cribs.