VPRS 18804 Portraits of Medical Superintendents

This series comprises formal photographs used for exhibition purposes of the medical superintendents of the Kew Asylum. The facility was also known at various times as Kew Mental Hospital and Willsmere Hospital, and was run by these superintendents from 1872-1988. Each photograph is framed with a white mount on which the name of the superintendent and his term of employment is recorded. The exception is the photograph of Dr Frederick Stamp, whose name is recorded on the back. The photographs were evidently prepared for exhibition purposes, though the specifics are not clear from the records themselves. While the date range of tenure is present, there is no creation date on the records, and so it is not clear whether they were created at one time for a specific event or purpose, or created over time with each new superintendent. The series may have been originally assembled for the centenary celebrations at Kew in 1972, and then added to until the facility closed, although this is subject to further research. There is a gap in the photographs, with the superintendent serving between 1977-1981 missing. The whereabouts of this photograph is unknown. Before being transferred to PROV, these records were held at the Kew Historical Society and were part of the Dr Fred Stamp collection. They had been donated to KHS by the family of the late Dr Stamp.