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"Fit objects for an asylum": The Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum and its patients, 1852-1899

"Fit objects for an asylum": The Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum and its patients, 1852-1899
"Fit objects for an asylum": The Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum and its patients, 1852-1899
This research uses the records of the Hampshire County Asylum (HCA) between its
opening in 1852 and the end of the nineteenth century to offer a different perspective
on asylum history. Though it discusses the asylum in legal, medical and social welfare
contexts it focuses on the experience of individuals and their families and the part
played by the HCA in their lives. The perspective and methodology of the research
reflect the recognition of the importance of individual experience in the construction
of historical exposition.

In the course of the research a database of patients' personal information was
constructed from asylum records. The resulting analysis of individual experience of
admission to the HCA suggests that, for many patients, admission was short-term and
temporary, caused by a combination of symptoms and events that erupted into crisis.
For others the HCA provided a level of care that could not be sustained at home and
for some an asylum admission was only part of a wider and continuing strategy of care
which enabled troubled families to continue to function.

The thesis concludes that, although the county asylum was a potent symbol of many
aspects of Victorian society, it should be seen, not as defining those who encountered
it, but as a part, sometimes essential but often small, of their personal and family
narratives.
Burt, Susan Margaret
c1707309-579b-4981-b596-60696e4e5cd6
Burt, Susan Margaret
c1707309-579b-4981-b596-60696e4e5cd6
Hinde, Andrew
0691a8ab-dcdb-4694-93b4-40d5e71f672d
Knowles, Caroline
5ece00d5-4038-4ddf-adad-cff42f072716

Burt, Susan Margaret (2003) "Fit objects for an asylum": The Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum and its patients, 1852-1899. University of Southampton, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This research uses the records of the Hampshire County Asylum (HCA) between its
opening in 1852 and the end of the nineteenth century to offer a different perspective
on asylum history. Though it discusses the asylum in legal, medical and social welfare
contexts it focuses on the experience of individuals and their families and the part
played by the HCA in their lives. The perspective and methodology of the research
reflect the recognition of the importance of individual experience in the construction
of historical exposition.

In the course of the research a database of patients' personal information was
constructed from asylum records. The resulting analysis of individual experience of
admission to the HCA suggests that, for many patients, admission was short-term and
temporary, caused by a combination of symptoms and events that erupted into crisis.
For others the HCA provided a level of care that could not be sustained at home and
for some an asylum admission was only part of a wider and continuing strategy of care
which enabled troubled families to continue to function.

The thesis concludes that, although the county asylum was a potent symbol of many
aspects of Victorian society, it should be seen, not as defining those who encountered
it, but as a part, sometimes essential but often small, of their personal and family
narratives.

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More information

Published date: August 2003
Organisations: University of Southampton

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 194555
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/194555
PURE UUID: 4f7a8581-e013-4cda-835d-53cb2654f5b8
ORCID for Andrew Hinde: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8909-9152

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 29 Jul 2011 15:45
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:45

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Contributors

Author: Susan Margaret Burt
Thesis advisor: Andrew Hinde ORCID iD
Thesis advisor: Caroline Knowles

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