Stanley Royd Hospital

(Redirected from West Riding Asylum)

The Stanley Royd Hospital, earlier named the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, was a mental health facility in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It was managed by the Wakefield and Pontefract Community Health NHS Trust.

Stanley Royd Hospital
Wakefield and Pontefract Community Health NHS Trust
Stanley Royd Hospital (since converted into flats)
Stanley Royd Hospital is located in West Yorkshire
Stanley Royd Hospital
Shown in West Yorkshire
Geography
LocationWakefield, West Yorkshire, England
Coordinates53°41′27″N 1°29′18″W / 53.6909°N 1.4884°W / 53.6909; -1.4884
Organisation
Care systemNHS
TypeSpecialist
Services
Emergency departmentN/A
SpecialityPsychiatric and Learning Disability Hospital
History
Opened1818
Closed1995
Links
ListsHospitals in England

History

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The facility, which was designed by Watson and Pritchett using a corridor plan layout, was opened as the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in 1818.[1] William Ellis, who had a reputation for employing the principles of humane treatment, was appointed the first superintendent of the asylum.[2]

John Davies Cleaton, who had previously held the post of Assistant Medical Officer at the Lancaster Asylum was appointed Medical Director before becoming a Commissioner in Lunacy in 1866.[3]

James Crichton-Browne, who was appointed superintendent at the hospital in 1866, went on to carry out pioneering research on the neuropathology of insanity.[4]

After the facility joined the National Health Service in 1948, it became the Stanley Royd Hospital.[5] In a serious incident at the hospital in August 1984, 355 patients and 106 members of staff were affected by salmonella food poisoning; the outbreak led to 19 patient deaths.[6] After the introduction of Care in the Community, the hospital went into a period of decline and eventually closed in 1995.[1] The hospital has since been converted for residential use and is now known as Parklands Manor.[7]

Mental Health Museum

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The Mental Health Museum (previously known as the Stephen Beaumont Museum of Mental Health), located at Fieldhead Hospital in Wakefield, contains artefacts from and exhibits on the history of the asylum.[8] Artefacts include restraining equipment, a padded cell, photographs, medical and surgical equipment, and documents. There is also a scale model of Stanley Royd Hospital, which was the museum's original location until the hospital closed in 1995.[9]

Influence

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In 1852, plans of the Wakefield Asylum were plagiarised by Francesco Cianciolo who submitted them as his own in a design competition for an Asylum for the Insane in Malta. Cianciolo won the competition and the asylum was constructed between 1853 and 1861; the plagiarism was only found out after construction had commenced. The Malta asylum is still in use as the Mount Carmel Hospital.[10][11]

Notable inmates

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Stanley Royd". County Asylums. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  2. ^ Smith, Leonard D. (2004) "Ellis, Sir William Charles (1780–1839)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53734
  3. ^ Group, British Medical Journal Publishing (7 September 1901). "John Davies Cleaton, M.R.C.S". Br Med J. 2 (2123): 653–653. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.2123.653. ISSN 0007-1447. {{cite journal}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ Compston, A. (2007). "On the weight of the brain and its component parts in the insane. By J. Crichton-Browne, MD, FRSE, Lord Chancellor's Visitor. Brain 1879: 1; 514-518 and 1879: 2; 42-67". Brain. 130 (3): 599–601. doi:10.1093/brain/awm020.
  5. ^ "Stanley Royd Hospital, Wakefield". National Archives. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  6. ^ "Stanley Royd Hospital: Food Poisoning Report". UK Parliament. 21 January 1986. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Three sentenced over apartment brothel". Wakefield Express. 8 November 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  8. ^ "A Glimpse in the Past of a Mental Health Asylum". Tourism Review. 27 December 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  9. ^ "Yorkshire & Cleveland". Medical Heritage of Great Britain. 2007. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  10. ^ Cassar, Paul (January 1994). "Historical perspective of psychiatry in Malta". In Muscat, Peter (ed.). Handbook in Psychiatry, Part II (PDF). Malta: University of Malta, Department of Psychiatry. pp. 1–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2024.
  11. ^ Savona-Ventura, Charles (2004). Mental disease in Malta (PDF). Association for the Study of Maltese Medical History. ISBN 9993266337. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2024.
  12. ^ Sherwood, Harriet (8 November 2020). "Blue plaque to honour Yorkshirewoman who was locked in asylum for calling vicar a liar". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2020.

Further reading

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  • Davis, M. (2013). West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum through time. Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445607504.
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