Chapters in the History of the Insane in the British IslesTuke, Daniel Hack
History
Chapters in the History of the Insane in the British Isles
Tuke, Daniel Hack
Mental health laws -- Great Britain; Mental illness -- Great Britain; Mentally ill -- Care; Psychiatric hospitals -- Great Britain
[141] The "Private Mad-house Bill" of 1814 was introduced, April 5th,
"to repeal and render more effectual the provisions of the Act of the
14th of the King." Mr. Rose said there were actually cases in which it
was found that the medical certificate was signed by the keeper of the
house. His Bill provided for the periodical visitation of private
mad-houses by magistrates. The Bill passed the Commons July 11, 1814.
Its author stated that it had been introduced the year before and amply
considered by a Committee of the House, who were unanimous for its
adoption, but I find no reference whatever in Hansard in 1813 to any
Bill or Committee (see Hansard, vol. xxvii.).
[142] The chief members of the Committee were Lord R. Seymour, Lord
Binning, the Right Hon. G. Rose, the Hon. H. G. Bennet, Mr. Western, Mr.
W. Smith, and the Hon. W. H. Lyttleton.
[143] Hansard, vol. xxx. p. 954.
[144] _Edinburgh Review_, vol. xxviii. p. 435.
[145] _Op. cit._, p. 441. "Even after the publication of the evidence,
it was not until the enormity of retaining the offending parties had
been expressly condemned in Parliament that Mr. Haslam, the apothecary,
was dismissed" (p. 443).
[146] Minutes, Select Committee of the House of Commons, 1815, pp. 43
and 44. See also Mr. J. B. Sharpe's edition of this Report, each subject
arranged under its distinct head, 8vo, pp. 411. London.
[147] _Ibid._, pp. 167, 168. In the Minutes of the Committee of 1816, it
is stated that in the same asylum the inmates were subjected to brutal
cruelties from the attendants; that they suffered very much from cold,
and were infested with vermin (p. 2, _et seq._).
It may be added, as showing the slowness of reform, that even when, in
1828, two medical superintendents were appointed at Bethnal Green, no
less than seventy, out of four hundred patients, were in irons; there
was no bath, no book or newspaper, and little or no employment.
[148] Minutes of Evidence, Select Committee on Mad-houses, 1815, p. 43.
[149] Hansard, vol. xxxi. p. 1146.
[150] Hansard, vol. xxxiv.
[151] Mr. Rose had recently died (1818). Though not immediately
successful, his labours deserve our cordial recognition.
[152] Hansard, vol. xxxix. p. 974.
[153] 59 Geo. III. c. 127.
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