Idiocy, Imbecility and Insanity in Victorian Society
Caterham Asylum, 1867–1911
Authors: Eastoe, Stef
Free Preview- Explores the understudied histories of asylum patients identified as incurably insane and how society, government and the medical profession responded to this group
- Focuses on the history of Caterham, England’s first state imbecile asylum, unlike other lunatic asylums where so-called curable patients were treated
- Challenges the notion of incurability and chronicity as sources of shame and stigma within Victorian and Edwardian economies of welfare
Buy this book
- About this book
-
This book explores the understudied history of the so-called ‘incurables’ in the Victorian period, the people identified as idiots, imbeciles and the weak-minded, as opposed to those thought to have curable conditions. It focuses on Caterham, England’s first state imbecile asylum, and analyses its founding, purpose, character, and most importantly, its residents, innovatively recreating the biographies of these people. Created to relieve pressure on London’s overcrowded workhouses, Caterham opened in September 1870. It was originally intended as a long-stay institution for the chronic and incurable insane paupers of the metropolis, more commonly referred to as idiots and imbeciles. This purpose instantly differentiates Caterham from the more familiar, and more researched, lunatic asylums, which were predicated on the notion of cure and restoration of the senses. Indeed Caterham, built following the welfare and sanitary reforms of the late 1860s, was an important feature of the Victorian institutional landscape, and it represented a shift in social, medical and political responsibility towards the care and management of idiot and imbecile paupers.
- About the authors
-
Stef Eastoe is a social and cultural historian, who has taught courses on the social history of medicine at several British universities. She specializes in the history of idiocy, welfare, and Victorian institutions, and has had work published in Journal of Victorian Culture and Landscape Research.
- Reviews
-
“This is a book for multiple audiences-those interested in social and institution history as well as history of psychiatry and related institutions. But more than anything else, it is a book for practitioners about the institutionalization (or not) of mental conditions-a book for reflection on the care provided to subjects with the great dilemma of the choice between institutionalization or insertion in life.” (Alain Touwaide, Doody’s Book Reviews, August 21, 2020)
- Table of contents (7 chapters)
-
-
Introduction and the Roots of Caterham
Pages 1-26
-
Creating Caterham
Pages 27-58
-
Populating Caterham
Pages 59-96
-
Experiencing Caterham: Work, Occupation and Asylum Life
Pages 97-126
-
Visualising Idiocy, Visualising Caterham
Pages 127-157
-
Table of contents (7 chapters)
Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
-
- Book Title
- Idiocy, Imbecility and Insanity in Victorian Society
- Book Subtitle
- Caterham Asylum, 1867–1911
- Authors
-
- Stef Eastoe
- Series Title
- Mental Health in Historical Perspective
- Copyright
- 2020
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Copyright Holder
- The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
- eBook ISBN
- 978-3-030-27335-4
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-030-27335-4
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-3-030-27334-7
- Series ISSN
- 2634-6036
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XVII, 212
- Number of Illustrations
- 15 b/w illustrations
- Topics
