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Idiocy, Imbecility and Insanity in Victorian Society

Caterham Asylum, 1867–1911

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  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Stef Eastoe

    1. Independent Scholar, London, UK

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  • 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

Part of the book series: Mental Health in Historical Perspective (MHHP)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction and the Roots of Caterham

    • Stef Eastoe
    Pages 1-26

  3. Creating Caterham

    • Stef Eastoe
    Pages 27-58

  4. Populating Caterham

    • Stef Eastoe
    Pages 59-96

  5. Experiencing Caterham: Work, Occupation and Asylum Life

    • Stef Eastoe
    Pages 97-126

  6. Visualising Idiocy, Visualising Caterham

    • Stef Eastoe
    Pages 127-157

  7. Geographies of Idiocy and Imbecility

    • Stef Eastoe
    Pages 159-190

  8. Conclusion

    • Stef Eastoe
    Pages 191-200

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 201-212
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Keywords

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.

Reviews

“Eastoe has produced a thoughtful, generous, and rich monograph that is well informed and deserves a wide readership beyond the academy. Above all, she raises important questions around how health and welfare systems approach the blurred divisions between acute and long-term care, which are as relevant today as they were in the nineteenth century.” (Louise Hide, Victorian Studies, Vol. 64 (3), 2022)

“Idiocy, Imbecility and Insanity in Victorian Society starts with a stated goal to challenge works that emphasize narratives of repression and violence in the asylum. This is grounded in a both a desire to find the complexity of the patient experience and in the fact that the records do not record much explicit abuse at Caterham.” (Amy Milne-Smith, Journal of British Studies, Vol. 60 (2), April, 2021)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Independent Scholar, London, UK

    Stef Eastoe

About the author

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.  

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

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27335-4

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-27334-7Published: 20 February 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-27337-8Published: 26 August 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-27335-4Published: 19 February 2020

  • Series ISSN: 2634-6036

  • Series E-ISSN: 2634-6044

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVII, 212

  • Number of Illustrations: 15 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Social History, History of Britain and Ireland, History of Medicine, Psychiatry, History of Science, Urban History

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