Royal Albert Asylum for the education and training of idiots & imbeciles belonging to Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland : sixteenth annual report.

  • Royal Albert Asylum (Lancaster, England)
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Royal Albert Asylum for the education and training of idiots & imbeciles belonging to Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmorland, Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland : sixteenth annual report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    3 7 It is obvious that in the fierce competition of modern life the weakest must go to the wall,” and without a helping hand even the trained imbecile will not make his own way in an over-stocked labour-market. How best to meet the difficulty has engaged attention in connection with other Training Schools. At Earlswood and Col¬ chester re-election of a certain number of patients tends to diminish it; and in the London district, the Pauper Schools for Imbecile Children have lately been supplemented by the establishment of an adjoining Custodial Asylum, to which are drafted the pupils of the former who have arrived at adult age, with the view of employ¬ ing them as profitably as may be in the occupations they have learned. In the state of New York a simple Custodial Establish¬ ment for Adult Female Imbeciles, has been recently established in connection with the State Training School at Syracuse. In the acase of a Charitable Institution like the Royal Albert Asylum, ]such extensions cannot perhaps be looked for; but the fact that 5good reasons exist (social, sanitary, and economical) for the ^exercise of a continued kindly supervision even over improved < cases should not be lost sight of. In making the above remarks, I must apologise for having travelled somewhat beyond the proper province of my Report, but must plead as my excuse the deep interest which, as Medical (Superintendent, I cannot but feel in the ultimate results of the training of the inmates. In this matter I rely on the kind con¬ sideration which I have always experienced at the hands of the Committee. I cannot close this Report without making brief acknowledg¬ ment of the cordial co-operation for the benefit of the patients of Imy fellow-workers in the Institution. Some changes have, as you are aware, taken place in the personnel of the staff; and recently we have had to deplore the partial loss, through sickness, of the valu¬ able services of Miss Bryan, who has been Matron since the •opening of the Institution. But I feel assured that in the future, as in the past, willing and zealous officers will feel it their privilege to do all that lies in their power to conduce to the progress and )prosperity of the Royal Albert Asylum. I am, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, , G. E. SHUTTLEWORTH, [Royal Albert Asylum, Medical Superintendent. September ioth, 1880. II Experience of other Institutions. Conclusion.