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A Fit Person To Be Contained
100 years ago people who entered the New West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum were
certified – they were sent to the asylum as hopeless cases who could expect to stay there until they died. The word
‘asylum’ became looked down upon by the public as did such places and patients.
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| Stainton Formerly Askwith ward, Female Section |
Patients who were fit enough could help with all sorts of jobs on the hospital
site like gardening, farming, delivering coal etc. They were seen as a source of cheap labour and the entire institution functioned
like a self contained village. It was probably better to be engaged in the running of the asylum than be stuck in the
gloomy wards all day.
The wards were dark and all painted the same bottle green or chocolate brown. Comforts
were few and they all had the same hard bare wooden floors. The furniture was dark, heavy and uncomfortable and there were
no curtains at the windows only blinds or shutters. Some patients spent time confined in darkness as a ‘therapy’.
Overall the lighting was very poor and electricity did not come to the hospital until 1930.
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| Stainton Formerly Nesfield Male Ward |
Male patients were permitted to smoke in the day rooms and corridors but female
patients were not allowed. Not many women smoked in those days anyway. For entertainment, every ward had a piano and
a canary to cheer patients up. Male wards also had a billiard table. In 1924 wireless (radio) and silent films arrived for
the patients followed by ‘talkies’ in 1930. It was considered an important staff criteria if they could engage
the patients in a social activity like music or sport.
Male and female patients were totally segregated even to the extent that they had
to sit on opposite sides of the room when attending a dance, play, or church service in the hall. In 1948 with the coming
of the NHS this was relaxed and heralded a much improved approach to the care of the mentally ill. Tin plates and mugs were
replaced by china ones, a full range of cutlery was allowed instead of just spoons and the décor and furniture was updated
and lightened.
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| Autumn 2007 |
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| Looking Towards Stainton |
And like a dying lady, lean and pale,
Who totters forth, wrapp'd in a gauzy veil,
Out of her
chamber, lead by the insane
And feeble wanderings of her fading brain,
The moon arose up in the murky East,
A white
and shapeless mass.
And like a dying lady - a poem by Percy By Shelley
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