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
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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![“ pense incurred by supporting their pauper lunatics, chain them “ in the workhouse, or some much, worse place, till the disease “ becomes highly alarming or incurable. Under Mr. Wynn’s Act, “ vagrant lunatics are supported by the county at large; were this the “ case with all pauper lunatics, every parish officer would be anxious “ to obtain early assistance for these unfortunate objects, and would get “ rid of a serious expense to a small par ish, which would be but little “ felt by the county. I think that licences in the country should be 6‘ granted by the magistrates assembled at thd'Quarier Sessions only, “ who should appoint two commissioners, the one a doctor of physic, “ the other a member of the College of Surgeons, to w hom all parish officers should, in the first instance, apply at their own expense ; and ‘‘ upon one of those commissioners certifying that A. B. is a lunatic, ‘‘any one justice should be empowered to send A. B. to a house li- *‘ censed for the reception of lunatics, at a weekly sum fixed by the ‘‘magistrates (Mr. Wynn’s Act says fourteen shillings). Every li« “ censed house should be opened for the inspection of the magistrates “ and the medical commissioners, between the hours of eleven in the “ morning and four in the evening daily. A case book to be kept, to “ enable the commissioners to report on every case what means had “ been employed to restore the patient. It has long been thought by “ some, that every county should be compelled to build houses for their own pauper and criminal lunatics; this would be thought “ oppressive, as 1 think the whole of the lunatics in any one county “ (some few excepted) would be supported at less money annually, “ than the interest of such money which would be expended in build- “ ing. It would be useless for me to repeat to you the cruelty daily “ exercised on lunatics in workhouses. I have inclosed a written “ letter by Mr. Halleu, attorney, of Kidderminster, on the subject. 1 have the honour to remain. Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant, William Ricketts. [ Mr. Hallen’s LETTER was then read as follows.] “ Dear Sir, “ THE case of poor Powel, once under jour care, is as follows: “ —The parish officers of Chesterton, not consenting to try the “ question as to his settlement, without his being actually removed “ to so great a distance in his miserable state, excited the indigna- “ tion of the court of Quarter Sessions here, upon the trial of the “ appeal, that they ordered them to pay the parish of Hartlebury “ the whole of the expence they had been at; and such conduct “ made me suspect the poor creature would not be treated with “ that humanity lie ought to be. Passing through Cambridge last ■ “ year, where I slept, L got up early in the morning and walked to “ Chesterton ; and, on inquiry, found him in a large house, without “ any other person living therein, lying upon the kitchen floor, “ upon straw, chained to the wall, and in an emaciated state ; the “ door not locked, so that any person had free access to him. I “ called upon one of the parish officers, who had lately been elect-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28750792_0084.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
