The bridgnorth infirmary: philanthropy, prejudices & patients 1832—1942

Gillian waugh pead was trained as a nurse, educated in public policy and has a keen interest in bridgnorth’s local history.

Today’s Bridgnorth Hospital has its origins in a pre-Victorian infirmary founded in the ancient market town in 1836. The driving force behind this institution was James Milman Coley - Bridgnorthian, doctor and a man with a vision. That vision was for the establishment of an infirmary that would serve the needs of the town and district’s ‘deserving’ sick poor. But even such noble aims are seldom realised with a struggle, and the founding of the Bridgnorth Infirmary was characterised as much by opposition and controversy, politics and conflicts of personality, as it was by the cooperation and benevolence of the community and those with influence.

Based on detailed, original research, this book tells the fascinating story of the infirmary and the characters involved, from its founding in the nineteenth century up to the advent of the National Health Service in 1948. In so doing it presents a microcosm of the many developments that took place nationally in medicine, nursing, hospital design and public health during this period, as well as providing a unique window onto healthcare in a Shropshire market town in the nineteenth century and beyond - on those who were responsible for that care, and those who received it.

Paperback £12.95

Published September 2018

The museums' Historical Advisor, Dr. Frank Crompton has published a number of History of Medicine volumes. Please email us to purchase your copies. 

PAUPER LUNATICS at Powick Asylum, Worcester 1852 – 1918.

an exploratory monograph By Frank Crompton and Katie Leach.

In 2020 the museum published Dr. Crompton's third paper on the history of patients at Powick Asylum. This is available to purchase for just £6.00.

doctor sherlock's casebook...

In 2016 the museum published Dr. Crompton's second book: Doctor Sherlock's Casebook: Patients admitted to the Worcester City and County Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Powick, August 1854 to March 1881.

Excerpt from Acknowledgements: The prime aim of this book is to demonstrate that patients' notes from a pauper lunatic asylum can be used to create a narrative of an individual's 'asylum career. [...] The book also attempts to provide an understandable overview of the treatments in Powick Lunatic Asylum in the 1800s.

£12.00

lunatics - the mad poor of worcestershire in the long nineteenth century

This is now available as a downloadable pdf file along with a number of other resources. Find them here.

Click for a brief summary of the chapters in this paper to download in a new window.