1. OUTSIDE THE ASYLUM - GUEST BLOG BY MADDIE HALE

I am currently in the second year of my PhD in History at the University of Worcester, working on my thesis about the experiences of Japanese American women during the Second World War. I worked with the George Marshall Medical Museum in 2020 as part of a work experience module, during which I researched patients from Powick Lunatic Asylum. This research inspired me to write my undergraduate dissertation on the changing representation of female patients in the case books and patient registers during the latter half of the nineteenth century.

I am delighted to be back at the GMMM again, this time working as a research assistant on the Outside the Asylum project, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. When I completed my work experience project back in 2020, it was during lockdown, and I wasn’t able to come in to the museum, so it’s really lovely to be here in person. As part of the project, I am researching the lives of patients outside of the asylum, which involves looking at censuses, birth and death registers, marriage records, and much, much more! I will also be looking through the museum collection to find items related to mental health, and how they were used at the asylum.

Unfortunately, a lot of the case notes are very impersonal and don’t give a lot of background to the patients, and so the aim of this project is to find out more about their lives before and after their time at Powick. A number of patients have been researched already (as well as a few members of staff) and are available to view on the George Marshall Medical Museum website. In the last few weeks, I have been focusing on researching the patients, and I have found it incredibly rewarding. I feel very lucky to be able to return to this research; I loved doing it for my dissertation, and I’m very glad that the museum has been given funding to carry out this research and make it available to museum visitors, whether in person, or online.

I have already found lots of fascinating things, and will be sharing some fun finds in further blog posts!

Maddie Hale, 2025

Summary of patients at the City and County of Worcester Pauper Lunatic Asylum: Guest blog by Dr. Frank Crompton

Powick Mental Hospital opened on 12th August 1852, as the City and County of Worcester Pauper Lunatic Asylum. It changed its name to Powick Mental Hospital in 1890, following the Mental Health Act of that year (4 & 5 Wil. IV. c. 76). It existed for the next 68 years, until 1920 when Dr. Henry Felix Fenton became Medical Superintendent. He altered the approach to the treatment of Mental Illness and we have little information on the period from 1920 to 1948. 

Between 1852 and 1920 the asylum treated 9,015 patients, 46.8% of them female. 2,054 patients, 56.9% of the males were treated for Dementia. 140 males were treated for what was then called Idiocy, and 124 for Imbecility, the number of women treated for these conditions was 79 and 95 respectively. 2,495 males and 1,126 females were treated for Mania. 649 males were treated for Melancholia, and 841 females for the same condition. There were 112 males and 83 females treated for Monomania, and 73 males and 102 females were treated for other causes.

By Dr. Frank Crompton

Recurring male admissions to Powick asylum between 1852-1920 - Guest Blog by Dr. Frank Crompton

An effort was made to identify how many male patients had entered the Powick Asylum* between 1 and 8 times between 1852 to 1920. Dr. Henry Felix Fenton had worked at the asylum from 1908 and became its Medical Superintendent in 1920. According to Ronald Sandison (Assistant Medical Superintendent in the 1950s), this period was under the ‘Dead Hand of Fentonism’, and Fenton destroyed what had been a highly successful mental institution for almost 70 years. Between 1920 and 1949 there are no records available in the archive so research the author of this Blog conducts is impossible to recreate after 1920.

Between 1852 and 1920 there had been 4797 male patients at the Powick Asylum. Of these patients 1880 had been in the institution on two occasions. There were then 90 other patients who had been in between 3 and 8 occasions. In these cases:

• 57 were there on 3 occasions

• 15 were there on 4 occasions

• 8 were there on 5 occasions

• 5 were there on 6 occasions

• 4 were there on 7 occasions, and

• 1 was there on 8 occasion.

There were thus 2827 male patients who made solitary visits to the asylum

*The institution had been the Worcester City and County Pauper Lunatic Asylum until 1890, and became Powick Mental Hospital from 1920.                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

PPE Reimagined at the Three Counties Medical School

The Three Counties Medical School will be displaying a showcase of AHRC-funded research into the development of a sustainable uniform for nurses and surgeons. Designed to benefit medical staff, patients and the environment, this PPE has been designed within a circular system involving the repurposing of used garments within healthcare, and the fashion and textile industry.

The free exhibition will be on display from April 28th to 13th June 2025 in the atrium of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson building.