A History of Powick Pauper Lunatic Asylum 1852 to 1978. Guest Blog by Dr Frank Crompton

Dr Frank Crompton, Ken Crump and Dr Harcup RIP unveiling a plaque for Powick Hospital on The Crown, Powick

I have been encouraged to write a BLOG in an attempt to explain me, and my purpose, in organising an Event on 17th July at the George Marshall Medical Museum. This event will be about the History of Powick Pauper Lunatic Asylum (Powick Mental Hospital)  1852 to 1978.

The intention of the event on 17th July is for Dr. Mark Gallagher,  Ken Crump and myself, to present material relating to the History of the Powick Asylum/Mental Hospital between 1852 and 1978. It is my opinion that individuals with mental health problems often need treatment in mental hospitals, and their condition is sometimes such that they do not improve, which is both unfortunate, but probably unavoidable. On two occasions in the recent past I have been accused of having an interest in a place that tortured people. I have seen absolutely no evidence that this was the case, and I feel that the staff of Powick Mental Hospital have a right to demonstrate that they worked extremely hard in difficult circumstances, and that public opinion is unfair to them. Hopefully the session on 17th July will do something to redress this situation.

I am in my 58th Year of Historical Research. In 1965 I completed a Teacher Training Course in Science, by producing a Historical Study of the Landscaping, in the 1790s, of the Bulmershe Estate, that belonged to the then Speaker of the House of Commons, Henry Addington, who later became Prime Minister (1801-1804). He was created Viscount Sidmouth in 1805. He lived at Bulmershe Court, in what is now the Reading suburb of Woodley. The grounds of the Bulmershe Estate were landscaped by John Claudius Loudon, a Scottish botanist and garden designer, who amongst other things planted the first Bhutan pine tree in England in Bulmershe Court’s woodland.

For 13 years from 1967 to 1979, I taught Chemistry in Secondary Schools. I gained a B.A. (Hons.), in History and Social Science from the Open University, in 1975. I completed an M.Ed. degree at Birmingham University, in 1978, when my Historical Research Project won the Faculty Prize for Research – it was then published. I was appointed at Worcester College of Higher Education, in 1979, to train Physical Science Graduates to teach. However, I also taught History in the Education Department. I gained an M.A. in Historical Computations, from Hull University,  in 1987, and  my Ph.D. in 1988. again from Birmingham University. My Ph.D. was published as a book. In 1989 I was appointed as Director of Academic Research, at Worcester College of Higher Education, and I initiated the Doctoral Programme of Studies, when the College accepted its first funded full-time Ph.D. Students. I resigned from my post, as Director of Research, in 1995, and in 1996 I was appointed as Co-Director of a funded Department of Education Project, to encourage the use of micro-computers in Higher Education  History Departments. I was then Principal Lecturer in British Social History. I was also a Ph.D. Supervisor. I was offered, and took, early retirement in 2001, when I joined a Committee to set up the Medical Museum, in the new Medical Education Centre at the new Worcestershire Royal Hospital and helped to found the George Marshall Medical Museum there. I continued to supervise Ph.D. students in retirement. Twenty-one of my students successfully completed their Doctoral Studies. I later helped to found The Infirmary Museum in the old Royal Infirmary site, now the City Campus of the University of Worcester.

Since 2001 I have become preoccupied with the History of Powick Asylum (Mental Hospital) and, as a 19th Century Historian I have concentrated on the period from 1845 to 1919. I have a very personal reason for this, and indeed for my interest in workhouses, and Lunatic Asylums, in the 19th. Century. My grandmother, who was born in 1872, had opinions, and attitudes, about mental hospitals that related to the period before 1845. She had left school, aged 10 years old, in 1882, when she started work. Her opinions were created then, and were based on prejudiced information.  She married in 1895, and lived in Balsall Heath, in Kings Norton Poor Law Union, that sent people to Powick Asylum, if they were declared insane. There were about 100 people, within walking distance of her home, who were treated at Powick Asylum, and many of them died there.  She then convinced the whole of my family, including me, that Powick Asylum was a dreadful place. She was also petrified of workhouses, which was no surprise, as people of my grandmother’s social status, (my grandfather was a barrow-boy on Birmingham Market) were regularly in such institutions, which were abolished 15 years before I was born.

Dr. Frank Crompton - 15th April 2023.

The George Marshall Medical Museum will share the link to the event, soon.