Reports for 1859, and rules of the asylum : printed by order of the Court of Quarter Sessions Asylum opened March 16, 1859 / Pauper Lunatic Asylum for the County of Northumberland.

  • Northumberland County Asylum (Cottingwood, England)
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports for 1859, and rules of the asylum : printed by order of the Court of Quarter Sessions Asylum opened March 16, 1859 / Pauper Lunatic Asylum for the County of Northumberland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    NORTHUMBERLAND. To Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, in Quarter Sessions assembled, at the Moothall, on Wednesday, the 4th day of January, 1860. The Committee of Visitors of the Northumberland Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Cottingwood, near Morpeth, have in obedience and pursuant to the statute 16th and 17th Viet. c. 97, s. 62, to make their Report to the Bench at these Sessions upon the following points, viz. :— Your Committee are required by law [16 and 17 Viet. c. 97, sec. 62] to do this at these Sessions, upon the following points :— 1. The state and condition of the Asylum. 2. As to its sufficiency for the proper accommodation of the number of Lunatics for whom it may be requisite to provide accommodation. 3. As to the mangement of the Asylum. 4. The conduct of the Officers and Servants thereof. 5. And the care of the Patients therein. First, with respect to the State and Condition of the Asylum. Your Committee beg to state that as they have not yet completed the Asylum in all its parts, and have not yet settled with the Contractors for erecting the buildings, they do not propose in this Report to enter into the question of the cost to the County for providing the Asylum. Subject to this inconvenience, the Committee entered upon the establishment, and opened the same for the recep¬ tion of 20 male and 20 female patients, on the 16tli March last, and they have continued increasing the number of patients until they now amount to 132 in all. Your Committee appointed a Medical Superintendent, a Chaplain, a Clerk, and Steward, and other attendants, who have conducted the Asylum to our satisfaction to the present time, and also to the satisfaction of the Commissioners in Lunacy at their visit to this Institution on the 19th day of April last. Second, as to its Sufficiency for the proper Accommodation of the Number of Lunatics for whom it may be requisite to provide Accommodation. This Asylum was erected for 100 male and 100 female patients, and it is amply sufficient for this purpose— indeed, a greater number than that can be taken in without inconvenience, and we consider that it is sufficient for the proper accommodation of this number of patients in every respect. Third, as to the Management of the Asylum. This Asylum has been managed by Mr. Richard Wilson, the medical superintendent, and the officers under him, and we have every reason to be satisfied with their services.