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