VPRS 7488 Asylum Records

This series consists of a collection of records from the Merton Licensed House, Brighton. The following records are included in the series.VOLUMES 1 - 7 CASE BOOKS: 29.3.1906-8.9.1929From at least 1845 and the proclamation of An Act for the Regulation of the Care and Treatment of Lunatics (8 & 9 Vic c.100), each asylum was required to maintain a Casebook of patients. The book was to be kept in such form as the Governor in Council was from time to time to direct. As soon as possible after the admission of any patient and periodically thereafter, the following details were to be entered into the Casebook:The mental state and bodily condition of every patient on admission.The history of his/her case recorded from time to time while he/she continued to be apatient in the asylum.A correct description of the medicine and other remedies prescribed for the treatmentof his/her disorder.In the case of death an exact account of the autopsy (if any) of the patient.Information recorded in the case histories included:Personal Details:Date of admission.Admission number.Name and address of nearest relative.By whom brought to the asylum.Previous residence.Age and sex of patient.Whether married, widowed or single.If any family.Occupation.Habits of life.Medical Details:Form of insanity.Duration of present attack.If disordered before/if disorder hereditary.Specific signs of insanity.If suicidal.If dangerous and destructive.A brief description of bodily condition.The history of his/her case recorded from time to time while he/she continued to be apatient in the asylum.A description of the medicine and other remedies prescribed for the treatment ofhis/her disorder.The casebooks usually record whether a patient was transferred elsewhere, discharged or died in custody. A copy of the post-mortem report was sometimes included in cases of death.These books were to be regularly inspected by an Inspector or other officer appointed under the provisions of the prevailing legislation. It was expected that a full account of the mental and physical condition of the patient would be entered in the casebook on admission of the patient with a further note to be made at the end of each month at least for the first six months and subsequently a full note every six months. However such thorough and accurate notes were not always maintained.In later years the format of the casebooks was altered slightly. Reference was made to the admission number of the patient and a photograph of the patient on admission was often included. Additional information such as extracts from the required medical certificates and a copy of the Medical Superintendent's report on the mental and physical condition of the patient were often incorporated and additional space was provided for recording the history of each patient.In 1912 the format of case histories was changed from bound casebooks to looseleaf folio format. The new format facilitated the transfer of case histories with the patients when they were sent to other institutions.There is an index by patient surname at the front of all the volumes.The date ranges of volumes 3 and 4 overlap. It is possible that volume 4 was used to record the medical history of voluntary boarders.Range of Control Symbols: Volumes - no control symbols apparent except "Voluntary Boarders" marked on volumes 8 and 9.VOLUME 8 REGISTER OF PATIENTS: 29.10.1906-18.9.1954From at least 1845 and the proclamation of An Act for the Regulation of the Care and Treatment of Lunatics (8 & 9 Vic c.100), public asylums and licensed houses were required to maintain a Register of Patients. Initially the register maintained by licensed houses was officially known as the Book of Admissions. In some institutions the Register was also known as an Admissions Register or as an Admission and Discharge Register and these terms were sometimes stamped on the volumes.Immediately upon the admission of a person to an asylum, the clerk of the asylum was required to make an entry in the Register of Patients. Details recorded included:Patient's name.Date of admission.Admission number.Date of last previous admission.Age.Marital status.Occupation.Previous place of abode.Religion.Once examined by a medical officer, the form of mental disorder and state of physicalhealth.Further details were entered in the register on the death, transfer or discharge of a patient. Institutions were also required to maintain a separate Register of Discharges, Removals and Deaths, usually known as a Discharge Register.The format of the Register of Patients which was specified in a schedule to the Lunacy Statute and succeeding legislation, changed little until the proclamation of the Mental Health Act 1959 in 1962.The record then became officially known as the Register of Patients and Discharge Register and included information about the types of admission. The following five types of admission were specified under sections 41 to 49 of the Mental Health Act 1959.Voluntary Boarders (V) were those who entered the hospital at their own request or, ifunder the age of 16 at the request of a parent or guardian and on the opinion of amedical practitioner.Recommended (R) and Approved (A) Patients. A person could be admitted upon therecommendation set out in a prescribed form, of a medical practitioner who hadexamined the person. As soon as possible after admission the superintendent of thehospital was required to examine the patient and either approve the recommendedadmission or discharge the patient.Judicial Admissions (J). Upon information provided on oath before a justice that amentally ill person was not receiving proper care, or could not support himself/herselfor had committed an offence, and after examination by two medical practitioners, anorder could be made for the person to be admitted to or detained in a mental hospital.Security Patients (S) were those who had been detained in a gaol but were transferredto a mental hospital upon being determined to be mentally ill.VOLUME 9 DISCHARGE REGISTER: 29.10.1906 - 38.9.1954Within twenty-four hours after the discharge, removal or escape of any patient the clerk of the asylum was to make and sign an entry to record this occurrence in the Discharge Register also known as the Register of Discharges, Removals and Deaths. This was required under the provisions of section 23 of the Lunacy Statute 1867. Subsequent legislation included similar provisions. An entry was also to be made in the Register of Patients and a written notice was to be sent to the Chief Secretary.The format of the Discharge Register was specified in the seventeenth schedule of the 1867 Act and in schedules to subsequent legislation. Details recorded included date of death, discharge or removal, date of last admission, number in Register of Patients, name at length, name of hospital to which patient removed (if applicable), condition on discharge, cause of death (if applicable) and age at death. The entries are arranged chronologically by date of discharge.VOLUME 10 STAFF REGISTER AND ANNUAL EXAMINATION OF PATIENTS' REGISTER: Staff 29.3.1906 - 4.8.1923; Patient 29.3.1906 - 9.6.1954, 1 - 543This volume has a copy of the Licence at the front of the volume.This volume was used to record:A. Register of nurses and attendants employed at Merton which in part indicates theirdate of employment.B. A register of patients which records the date of annual examination of patients heldbetween 1906 and 1954. This examination, which was required annually for the first 3years that patients were in residence in an asylum or licensed house, andsubsequently once every five years under section 88 of the Lunacy Act 1903, wasundertaken by the Government Medical Officer. A report was then to be made to theInspector-General of the Lunacy Department.Entries are listed in chronological order by date of admission. Details recorded include date of admission, admission number, name of patient, date of examinations, when discharged, and date when the next examination is due.The patient register has also been used to record the date when the admission papers relating to the patient were received, date when patient was allowed out on trial leave, and date when patient was discharged. Each entry is allocated a sequential admission number. A statistical account of the number of patients on the books of the licensed house is recorded annually.VOLUME 11 & 12 REGISTER OF VOLUNTARY BOARDERS: 25.9.1917 - 3.1.1942These volumes record the admission of all patients who were voluntary boarders. "Voluntary Boarders" were those persons who made and signed a request to be cared for as a patient in a hospital for the insane or a licensed house. Voluntary boarders were not to be deemed a "lunatic" or a "lunatic patient" within the meaning of the Lunacy Acts. Voluntary boarders could be discharged on their own application.The details this register records include:Date of reception.Name.Sex.Marital state.Age.Occupation.Address.Form of mental disorder.Causation.Physical condition.Period of residence agreed.Discharged (method).Any other remarks.These registers were regularly signed by the Inspector-General of the Insane. Entries are arranged chronologically by date of admission.Legislation: Lunacy Acts Amendment Act 1914VOLUME 13 INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S AND VISITOR'S BOOK: 26.4.1906 - 19.8.1954Under the provisions of the Lunacy Act 1903 the Governor-in-Council was to appoint not less than two Justices to be official visitors to visit the metropolitan hospitals and not less than two Justices to be official visitors for each of the country hospitals. The Official Visitors were to be accompanied by the Inspector-General of the Insane. A visit was to be made at least once every three months. The Official Visitors were to inspect every part of the building and grounds, every patient, and to inquire whether any patient was under restraint or in seclusion, and if so why, the registers of patients, and the order and certificates for the reception of every patient who had been admitted since the last visit. On inspection, they were to enter in the "Inspector-General's and Visitors' Book" a memo of the condition of the hospital and patients, the number of patients under restraint or seclusion and the reasons for that treatment, and to specify any irregularities in any order or certificates.A copy of the relevant legislation is placed at the front of the volume. The Reports are arranged chronologically.