Portraits from an asylum: Harrowing 19th-century photos show patients at notorious institution kept in SHACKLES and visibly distressed
- Photographs were taken at West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum by chief neurologist Sir James Crichton-Browne
- While some pictures may appear barbaric to modern eyes, they asylum actually led the way in ethical treatment
- Each picture is accompanied by detailed medical notes and diagnoses including ‘imbecility,’ and ‘simple mania,’
Forced
into a head brace, bound and held up by police officers, or sitting
down with their eyes rolled back in their heads - these are the
harrowing faces of mental illness in the Victorian era.
Diagnosed
with conditions such as ‘imbecility,’ ‘simple mania,’ and ‘acute
melancholia’, all of them were patients at the West Riding Pauper
Lunatic Asylum, Yorkshire, in 1869.
But
while some of their treatment may appear barbaric by modern standards,
this asylum, its founder William Tuke, and chief neurologist Sir James
Crichton-Browne, actually paved the way for ethical treatment of the
mentally ill.
These
pictures, taken in 1869 at the West Riding Pauper Launatic Asylum near
Wakefield, Yorkshire, show some of the patients interred there. While
some of the treatment looks barbaric to modern eyes, in fact the centre
pioneered the way for ethical treatment of the mentally ill
The
photographs are part of a 5,000-strong collection of detailed documents
on patients taken by Sir James Crichton-Browne, the chief neurologist at
West Riding, who helped lead the way in medical treatment of mental
disorders
A few years after these portraits were
taken at West Riding (pictured in 2011), Crichton-Browne helped Charles
Darwin with his own research into behaviour, collaborating on his book
'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals’
The
West Riding Asylum, based near Wakefield, was the first institution of
its kind in the UK to take those with mental conditions out of the way
of regular society to a place of relative protection.
To
that end, the hospital-come-boarding house was entirely
self-sufficient, housing its own bakery, butchery, dairy, shop and
laundry.
Previously
those with mental disorders were exhibited in bedlams, such as the
famous one in London, imprisoned in cells, or chained to walls in
workhouses.
This
new, relatively compassionate approach was driven by the asylum's
founder, William Turk, a Quaker who believed in the sanctity of life and
of behaving kindly and morally to all of humanity.
Alongside
each of the pictures are detailed notes including height, weight,
religion, and eventual fate of the patient. A diagnosis is also written
on some images. The patient on the left is recorded as suffering
'general paralysis', while the woman on the right has 'acute
melancholia'
West Riding
was one of the first institutions to treat the mentally ill. Previously
those with disorders would have been locked in cells, put on display in
bedlams, or chained up in workhouses (left, a woman suffering from
'senile dementia', right a man with 'mania of suspicion')
While West
Riding started out as a poor-house for the mentally ill, it eventually
became so successful and well-known that it started taking paying
residents (left, a woman with 'simple mania', and right another patient
with 'mono-mania of pride')
Sir
Crichton-Browne also used the security of the asylum to begin his
groundbreaking research into mental illness, investigating whether there
was a biological cause behind the conditions he help to diagnose.
Crichton-Browne (pictured) took over
at West Riding in 1866 when he was just 26 years old, and ran it for the
best part of a decade. He left in 1875 to become the Lord Chancellor's
Visitor in Lunacy
He
helped to take some of these portraits of patients, meticulously
labelled with notes on the patient’s appearance and ailments, and three
years later collaborated with Charles Darwin on his book ‘The Expression
of the Emotions in Man and Animals.’
Crichton-Browne
pioneered a medical approach to the treatment of mental disorders at
West Riding, banning the use of restraints unless necessary, keeping
sedation to a minimum, and allowing patients to indulge in leisure
activities and take up jobs as part of their healing process.
He
also published in-depth journals from his time at West Riding
containing observations from himself and his team on mental illness,
treatments with various drugs known to affect brain function such as
cannabis, nicotine, alcohol, and nitrous oxide.
The
records kept at West Riding were so detailed and extensive that they
are now recognised as being of huge historic and medical importance, and
are protected by UNESCO.
The
collection includes over 5000 photographs of patients from the late
1860s onwards, putting a face to thousands of the patient numbers.
One
patient was Mary Manning, a Bradford domestic servant, who was admitted
in 1880. She claimed to be the 'Queen of heaven, possessed of great
wealth and had been crowned'.
Others
case files show patients were suffering from general health problems
such as symptoms which would be recognised today as post-natal
depression.
Sarah
Drabble of Wortley was admitted in 1832, aged 37 with 18 children. She
was, rather unsurprisingly, 'feeling in a low despondent state ever
since her confinement'.
Other
women were suffering from social problems, including Mary Ellen Yates, a
Leeds housewife, who was admitted in 1887 due to insufficient food and
mistreatment by her husband.
Children
were admitted into the hospital from as early as 1820 and until the
opening of the separate Stanley Hall facility in 1901.
Examples
from the Stanley Hall era include Alfred Todd of Wakefield, West
Yorkshire, who was diagnosed of 'imbecility with epilepsy'.
The
remarks made on his treatment include an answer to questions regarding
name and age, which he replied 'broken window' and on asking him names
of surrounding objects he replies 'Alfey'.
Sir
Crichton-Browne's research helped pave the way of treatment for the
mentally ill, including the theory that some illnesses occurred
naturally, while others were due to outside factors (left, a man with
'organic dementia, and right a woman with 'constructive dementia')
Two men
interred at West Riding Asylum are pictured. While the patients were cut
off from regular society, they were kept out of restraints as much as
possible, allowed to partake in hobbies, and could get jobs at the on
site bakery, butcher, or shop
Another
mother of an 11-year-old Leeds boy in 1911, said: 'I cannot manage him.
He is destructive, breaks and tears everything he can get to lay his
hands on. I am obliged to keep knives out of his way and all windows
closed. Children in the neighbourhood are afraid of him.'
Under
the guidance of Crichton-Browne West Riding Asylum went from being a
centre to house the poor and mentally ill to taking paying patients who
were afraid of being taken elsewhere.
But
while the project initially set out to improve the treatment of those
with disorders, overcrowding and a lack of funding eventually led to
horrible conditions developing, with several patients killed during
disease breakouts inside the facility.
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