Overview
- Explores the role of local politics in the management of madness at the turn of the nineteenth century
- Provides the first in-depth study of how the newly created County of London impacted mental health services, as mental health came under party political scrutiny for the first time
- Of interest to historians of London and urban historians, as well as historians of mental health
Part of the book series: Mental Health in Historical Perspective (MHHP)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (7 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
“Ellis makes some very interesting observations … . The book is a valuable addition to the historiography of the English asylum system and management of mental illness. The different research approach of melding the evolution of asylumdom with development of local government in Victorian and Edwardian London, results in a thought-provoking work, one that should lead to other research on the topics raised.” (Alison Pedley, Journal of British Studies, Vol. 61 (1), January, 2022)
"This is an important and timely contribution to the politics of mental health. Ellis’s forensic dissection of the politics and finance of asylums in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century London demonstrates the evolution of asylum and mental health care but also provides a nuanced account of local government and welfare activism in this period. This book is highly recommended for those interested not only in the history of mental health care, but also the sometimes internecine conflicts which underpinned urban government in the Victorian and Edwardian eras." (Professor Heather Shore, Director of MCPHH, Department of History, Politics and Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)
"An insightful account of how asylums functioned in fin-de-siècle England and the forces that shaped their everyday operations. Few histories of psychiatry compare in revealing the sheer scale of asylumdom, and the complex practical negotiations involved in building and running these institutions." (Gayle Davis, University of Edinburgh, UK)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: London and its Asylums, 1888-1914
Book Subtitle: Politics and Madness
Authors: Robert Ellis
Series Title: Mental Health in Historical Perspective
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44432-7
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-44431-0Published: 21 May 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-44434-1Published: 22 May 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-44432-7Published: 20 May 2020
Series ISSN: 2634-6036
Series E-ISSN: 2634-6044
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 296
Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations, 6 illustrations in colour
Topics: Social History, Urban History, History of Medicine, History of Britain and Ireland