Mental health and legal landscapes

When it was established early in the twentieth century, Tokanui became part of a network of mental hospitals that were responsible for the care and confinement of the insane and the mentally deficient. At the time of its construction Tokanui was the first new mental hospital commissioned in over 20 years and the first to be built in the central North Island. Of those mental hospitals operating in 1912 all, except Ashburn Hall (the country's only private institution), were government controlled and funded. State dominance in the management of mental abnormality was the result of an unofficial policy which followed English precedent, favouring government intervention in the belief that it produced beneficial results and which endorsed the conviction that government responsibility for such matters could not be divested to a third party. This position was strengthened by the paucity of a prosperous philanthropic class who would otherwise have bridged the gulf between demand and supply under the auspices of charity. The essence of this philosophy was reflected in the early nineteenth and twentieth-century legislation which governed the development and management of New Zealand's mental hospitals

Crime in nineteenth-century Ireland: Grangegorman female penitentiary and Richmond male penitentiary, with reference to juveniles and women, 1836-60

This thesis examines crime in nineteenth-century Ireland, with particular focus on female inmates and juveniles. Grangegorman female penitentiary and Richmond male penitentiary are the case studies utilised to carry out this research. Grangegorman penitentiary was the first ever exclusively female prison in the British Isles. This study starts in 1836, with the opening of Grangegorman female penitentiary, and ends in 1860. This enables a pre-Famine, Famine and post Famine analysis of prisons and prisoners in Ireland. The nineteenth century was an era of significant penal reform and the 1826 Irish Prisons Act was a landmark legislation that attempted to regulate prisons. This act advocated "moral reform" as a means of diminishing crime. The prisons in Ireland during the period 1836-60, were predominately filled with the lower classess and thus "moral reform" was a failure as poverty and not immorality was the prevailing cause of crime at this time. The "separate system" was only introduced to a limited degree in Grangegorman penitentiary during this era, and it failed to deter inmates sufficiently from re-offending as there was a high rate of recidivism among inmates there. there was a high number of mentally ill inmates, juvenile offenders, as well as non-criminal children who were received into prison with their mothers, in Grangegoram and throughout the Irish prison between 1836 and 1860. These groups cannot be overlooked. Juveniles gradually became a distinct social group during this time. It was slowly accepted by the authorities that juveniles did not belong in an adult penitentiary, and a different discipline system had be developed for them. Destitute children were seen as predisposed to crime and thus concern with their conduct developed also. This research also offers a comparative analysis of female and male prisoners by comparing the treatment of male inmates in Richmond penitentiary with afforded female inmates in Grangegorman penitentiary. Overall this thesis offers a comprehensive insight into prisons and prisoners in nineteenth-century Ireland

Lunacy, leprosy and legislation: medical practice and colonial control at the Cape, c. 1820-1831

This paper examines a series of medical related topics within the context of the Cape Colony in the 1820s. The focus on these specific healthcare issues highlights broader themes in terms of authority, control and power in the governance of the Cape during this period. In addition, the thesis explores the interconnected nature of the Colony within the British Empire and assesses how this position affected standards of treatment and the regulation of the medical profession. The thesis is not intended to be an all-encompassing examination of Cape based health care during the 1820s, however it seeks to highlight a series of interesting cases and their connections to wider trends and notions of authority. The thesis begins by situating the Cape Colony within the wider framework of the Empire during this period. This involves examining characteristics of governance and networks of information that epitomised the era. Having established this broad context, the paper narrows its focus to the specifics of the Cape medical system and how it was supposed to be functioning. Throughout this process a variety of different roles and structures are explored before an in-depth examination of the Cape's place in a medical network is undertaken. How such a structure was utilised is then discussed by looking at specific cases of medical malpractice and negligence. Thereafter, the thesis moves on to look at the Colony's treatment and response to the conditions of 'lunacy' and leprosy within the 1820s. This final chapter uses the focus on these illnesses to act as case studies which underline a number of the themes and factors highlighted in the preceding chapters. As the paper progresses, the inability of both local and metropole officials to exercise influence over the different structures and practitioners of the Cape becomes more and more apparent. This process relies heavily on records from the Cape Town Archive which serve as the cornerstone of the research used in this paper. These are accompanied by contemporary newspaper articles and reports from Commissions' of Enquiry add to this context. From these records a number of interesting micro-historical examples are utilised to speak to general trends, but also indicate spaces in our understanding. The thesis concludes by pointing out the unique nature of medical care and regulation in the Cape context, but also the space for future research

Family influence and psychiatric care: physical treatments in Devon mental hospitals, c. 1920 to the 1970s

‘What is it that appears to make the mentally ill so vulnerable to therapeutic experimentation?’1 One commentator wrote in the 1990s, regarding mental hospitals as repressive, coercive and custodial institutions where medical staff subjected patients to orgies of experimentation. A careful study of surviving documents of the Devon County Lunatic Asylum (DCLA), however, paints a different picture. Rather than medical staff, patients’ relatives and the wider community exercised a considerable influence over a patient's hospital admission and discharge, rendering the therapeutic regime in the middle of the 20th century the result of intense negotiations between the hospital and third parties

Psychiatry and Colonialism: The Treatment of European Lunatics in British India, 1800-1858.

This is a study of the transfer of European concepts of mental illness to India and of the concomitant transplantation of specialized institutions for the confinement and treatment of the mentally ill to a colonial society. Government policies will be analysed in relation to British attempts to control the deviant behaviour of Europeans in India and to guarantee the maintenance of the imperial power structure by keeping social distance between the various classes and races of Anglo-Indian and Indian society. The emergence of psychiatry as a medical discipline, the humanitarian campaigns and subsequent legislation for reformed asylum management and the establishment of large-scale public institutions for the insane in Britain will be set against developments in the presidencies in Bengal, Madras and Bombay. The specific history of the 'Lunatic Asylums for the European Insane' in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay respectively will be analysed in relation to the various presidencies' social conditions and politico-ideological orientations. The involvement of medical experts, private madhouse-owners and public boards of inspection in the management of the three main institutions will be evaluated and compared. An attempt will be made to assess the condition of asylum inmates of different social and racial backgrounds and to reconstruct the diagnostic and therapeutic concepts and methods used by various asylum superintendents. Asylum statistics will be compiled for the Calcutta Asylum and reference to specific cases and to details of institutional arrangements for patients will be made for the Bombay Asylum