|
| |
Bethel Hospital
Occupies a commodious building in Bethel St, was erected in 1713, by Mrs
Mary Chapman, agreeably to the request of her late husband, the Rev S Chapman,
rector of Thorpe next Norwich, for the habitation of poor lunatics, & not
for natural born fools or idiots. For its endowment, she settled, by will dated
1717, all her personal estate on 7 trustees, giving to them the sole power &
management of this asylum for as many distressed lunatics as the revenues will
afford, the city of Norwich always to have the preference. Considerable
additions having been made to the hospital in 1807, & subsequent years, it
has now accommodations for 70 patients, of whom about 35 are free, & small
weekly sums, varying from 3s. to 8s. are paid for each of the others by their
friends or parishes.
The 7 trustees are, A Hudson, W Foster, J J Gurney, T Hudson, S Martin, C Weston
& W Unthank esqs. Dr Wright is physician; Mr W P Nichols, the surgeon; &
Mr S King, the master. [for details of endowments etc see White's 1845 Directory
of Norfolk]
Source: White Directory P 131:
Submitted by Betty Longbottom
I The Retrospective Address delivered at the 11th Anniversary Meeting of the Association at Leeds by Thomas Shapter M.D. Physician to the Dispensary, Exeter. pp 012-144
p 136 Dr John Webster has contributed a paper on the statistics
of insanity, compiled from the registers of Bethlehem Hospital for
the last 20 years, showing admissions of 47% more women than men,
Cures were 55.14% of Females and 46.20% of Males
Deaths were 4.25% of Females and 6.25% of Males.
During the 3 years ending 1752 the proportion of patients who were
discharged cured was only 31.25% with deaths as high as 25.5%
Whilst for the 3 years ending 31st December 1842 the cures were
nearly 55%. Deaths were 5 and 5/8th%
The author remarks on the diminished number of suicides in the
insane patients admitted into Bethlehem, observing at the same time
their greater frequency among females than among males.
Source:
Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical
Association Volume XII 1844
Submitted by Alan Longbottom
Page updated August 06, 2007
by Rossbret
|
Bethlehem Asylum