Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
15 July 2011
Abuse of Mental Patients
in Victorian England
In the 1840s, a scandal erupted involving
the highest levels of government over the
treatment of inmates at an insane asylum
Haydock Lodge (below) in Lancashire, England was a venerable old building that had seen better times when a couple of characters turned up with a plan to renovate the building and turn it into an asylum for the mentally insane.
George Coode and Charles Mott
Prime mover in the venture was George Coode, described on his family’s website as a, “Distinguished Barrister of the Inner Temple in London and Assistant Poor Law Commissioner, he is perhaps the principal architect of the 1834 Poor Laws, one of the most influential pieces of social legislation of that century.”
Coode hired one Charles Mott to manage the place. Mott had also been a Poor Law Commissioner until according to Allan Smith writing in the St. Helens Star (December 10, 2009) “he had been forced to resign in disgrace.”
Mott had developed a reputation for housing the poor, destitute, and insane at minimal cost to the parishes who were paying the bills. Cutting the cost of feeding inmates was his particular specialty.
As “Contractor for the Maintenance of the Poor of Lambeth” Mott had been asked by Poor Law Commissioner Edwin Chadwick who was conducting an inquiry in 1834: “You propose then that the diet, beside being uniform in amount, should be uniformly reduced in quantity and quality?”
To which Mott replied succinctly, “I do.”
Meal time for women in a workhouse.
Inmates Begin to Arrive
In February 1844, Coode and Mott began accepting inmates. The plan was to take in private “patients” along with paupers declared insane.
That both men were involved with the authorities that managed the country’s poor
was a clear conflict of interest in that they profited from taking in government-
It was soon clear that those paid for by the public purse vastly outnumbered those whose families could afford the fees.
And, they were crammed in tightly. In a December 4, 1846 report Lunacy Commission inspectors noted that, “We find that there are now 434 patients, but consider that with its present accommodation, it ought not to contain more than 367.”
Mistreatment of Residents
Dr. Owen Owen Roberts had sent several insane patients to the lodge and soon became concerned about their treatment.
In a petition to Parliament in June 1846 he noted that “…several of the patients were not only shamefully neglected, but treated with great cruelty.”
He examined one of his own patients, the Reverend Evan Richards and found his “body was covered by bruises, scars, and discolourations. That one of his toes was severely crushed. That one of his ears was as if it had all been pulled off, and that his clothes were filthy and disgusting in the extreme.”
Conditions at Haydock become a National Scandal
Officials had known about Charles Mott and how his penny-
The allegations of a cover-
But, the publishing of Roberts’ petition in The Times (June 17, 1846) changed all that, and Andrew Roberts, who has chronicled the affair extensively, writes that “something new about Haydock Lodge happened almost daily,” in the newspapers.
Call for Public Inquiry
On August 26, 1846, Member of Parliament Thomas Wakley raised the issue in the House of Commons.
He noted that, in December 1845, inspectors had examined the food given to inmates and quoted from their report that “the dinner of the pauper patients…consists of one quart of rice and half a pint of beer. We saw the rice prepared, which was formed into a kind of soup; and as the dinner of the preceding day is also a liquid dinner, we are of opinion that it would be wise to avoid the occurrence of a soup dinner on two consecutive days; and we submit to the superintendent that it would be wise to change this arrangement.”
Wakley more accurately described the meal as “rice water,” and suggested it played a role in the high mortality rate at Haydock Lodge. Within days, Charles Mott left his post.
An inquiry was set up under the Lunacy Commission. Its report in March 1847 dodged the issue of what caused the high death rate but noted that conditions had improved.
However, later inspections turned up more patient abuse and Haydock Lodge was closed down in 1851.
Sources
“Mr. Mott’s Madhouse.” Chris Coffey, St. Helen’s Star, December 10, 2009.
“Report from Her Majesty’s Commissioners for inquiring into the Administration and Practical Operation of the Poor Laws.” B. Fellowes, 1834.
“England’s Poor Law Commissioners and the Trade in Pauper Lunacy, 1834-
“The Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum.” Proceedings of the House of Commons, August 1846.
© Canada and the World, July 2011
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“I have already stated that 112 persons died in twelve months in an institution (Haydock Lodge) which contained only 400 persons.”
MP Thomas Wakley
1846
“We find that there is still a deficiency in the article of blankets, many beds having
only one. We think that this injunction should be immediately complied with, as this,
in conjunction with the hot-
Report of an inspection of Haydock Lodge to determine how recommended improvements are being dealt with
In 1357, the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London began admitting mental patients.
The word Bethlehem changed into Bedlam in popular speech, and came to be a generic term for all lunatic asylums.
Today, the word bedlam is used to describe a commotion, chaos, and disorder.