The commission's powers included the approval of development projects and grants and loans; the promotion, conservation and enhancement of the countryside and the improvement of facilities for recreation and tourism. Council and committee minutes and annual reports, 1920-83 (GNC1-3); registers of nurses and health visitors, 1921-83 (GNC12, GNC14).

The records held by The National Archives relate mainly to the administration of the institutions, though some of these records may include the names of inmates. We also hold some records relating to the administration of the estates of people deemed incapable of managing their own affairs (see section 9). 2. Terminologyhttps://19.bbk.ac.uk/article/id/1661 (The City of Others: Photographs from the City of London Asylum Archive. This photographic essay by Caroline Bressey presents images from the City of London Asylum archive as an example of how the visual can be used to expand our investigations of social histories of Victorian London) However, the scandal did not end with Weir’s case. Truth disclosed that the institution had abused voluntary admission for commercial reasons. Footnote 70 As shown above, the Holloway Sanatorium regarded voluntary admission as attractive for patients who shunned the status of lunatics and of being legally certified. In consideration of this advantage, Truth revealed, the Sanatorium schemed to not only increase voluntary admissions, but also to keep these patients from leaving, especially in the case of high-paying patients. It specifically invented a special technique in management, which changed the legal status of voluntary boarders to that of lunatics without taking consent from patients and their families. Footnote 71 Under the new status, ex-voluntary-boarders could no longer be discharged without the hospital’s consent. Thomas, Kim. Broadmoor Women: Tales from Britain’s First Criminal Lunatic Asylum: Pen and Sword Books, 2022 Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland, (MH1-3), registers, accounts, reports and letter books, including supply of bodies to schools of anatomy, 1842-1949; Scottish child care files, 1954-74 (MH4).

www.highroydshospital.com (High Royds Hospital: Digital archive dedicated to the former Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Menston, Yorkshire) There seemed to be high tides occurring during the night when the sleep duration was short," says Avery. He initially dismissed his hunch as lunacy. Even if the man’s mood cycles were in synch with the Moon, he had no mechanism to explain it, nor any ideas about what to do about it. The patient was prescribed drugs and light therapy to stabilise his mood and sleep, and eventually discharged. Avery slipped the man’s notes into the proverbial file drawer and closed it.For one thing, unlike certain birds, fish and insects, humans aren’t considered to possess a magnetic sense. However, a study published earlier this year challenged that assumption. It found that when people were exposed to magnetic field changes – equivalent to those we experience as we move around our local environment – they experienced strong decreases in brain alpha wave activity. Alpha waves are produced when we are awake but not performing any specific task. The significance of these changes remains unclear – it may be an irrelevant by-product of evolution, or magnetic changes in our environment may be subtly tweaking our brain chemistry in ways we’re unaware of. After the Second World War, the Secretary of State was given additional responsibilities including hydro-electricity, assistance to agriculture, the National Health Service, town and country planning, forestry, civil defence, childcare and various other subjects. He acquired responsibility for roads and bridges from the Minster of Transport. In 1960 to 1962, internal changes in the Scottish Office resulted in the reconstitution of four departments:

Minutes and papers, 1965-91 (HDB1-2); consultative council minutes and papers, 1966-90, (HDB6-7); annual reports, 1965-90 (HDB22). Stubley, Peter. A Pauper’s History of England: 1,000 Years of Peasants, Beggars and Guttersnipes: Pen & Sword Books, 2015Not all of the records in MH 12 have been digitised – see the MH 12 series description. 5. Other records of patients and inmates https://wellcomelibrary.org/collections/subject-guides/biography-and-family-history (Wellcome Library. Biography and family history. The Library has lots of information about the lives of medical and healthcare personnel and patients that family historians and biographers may find useful)

Records such as admission and discharge registers as well as administrative records from institutions established to house the mentally ill. Before the establishment of specialist places, those classified as lunatics were housed in hospitals, jails and workhouses whilst the wealthier used the services of private asylums. The first specialist asylum was called Bethlem Hospital (also known as Bedlam) which began operations in the 13th century. The majority of public or county asylums (sometimes run by Quarter Sessions) were built in the 19th century. This mass building programme began with the 1808 County Asylums Act which saw the building of asylums in many areas but not every county. National coverage was achieved with the passing of the 1845 County Asylum Act which oversaw the compulsory construction of at least one asylum for every county. Although provision now existed for sufferers, many were still sent to the workhouse. Davis, Mark & Kidd, Marina. Voices from the Asylum: West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum: Amberley Publishing, 2013 This was not a mere allegation; Truth had many reliable inside informants. Regarding the admitted doctor, indeed, the Commissioners in Lunacy confirmed in their own investigation that he signed exactly twenty-five medical certificates of lunacy. Footnote 75 They also found that the Holloway admitted a number of voluntary boarders who showed certifiable symptoms but had not yet been certified. Footnote 76 Lappin, James Harold, Central Government and the supervision of the treatment of lunatics 1800-1913: a guide to sources in the Public Record Office (thesis, available in The National Archives library and the Wellcome Trust) However, this flowery logic turned out to be untrue. A public scandal between1894 and 1895, again uncovered by Truth, revealed that the institution developed the voluntary admission system for commercial reasons. Truth commenced its campaign with the story of a male patient named Thomas Weir, who had died at the hospital as the result of lengthy physical restraint. Footnote 68 It accused the hospital of being responsible for Weir’s death, claiming that the hospital cared for him inadequately to cut down expenses. The Lunacy Commissioners found this allegation true in a subsequent official investigation. Footnote 69

New on Lunacy..

The Trustees made grants available for the improvement and encouragement of fishery and manufactures and particularly the linen industry. After the regulation of the linen industry was abolished in 1823, the board turned its funds to other purposes: the decorative arts and the encouragement of education in the fine arts. In 1906 its functions were transferred to the Trustees for the National Galleries under the National Galleries of Scotland Act. The records of the Board (NRS reference NG1) cover the period 1727-1911 and include minutes, letter books, reports, accounts, salaries and cashbooks. Search our catalogue, in record series HO 8 (1862-1875), HO 20 (1820-1843), HO 144 (1869-1941) and HO 145 (1882-1921) for records of criminals who were confined at Broadmoor and Bethlem (Bethlehem) asylums after being certified at court, or after imprisonment, as being insane. Major spoke by phone on 28 May to the US president, Bill Clinton, who pledged that if hostages were harmed by the Serbs, “we gotta load up on them”. Parliament was recalled for an emergency sitting.