Stanley Royd Hospital

History

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. William Ellis, who had a reputation for employing the principles of humane treatment, was appointed the first superintendent of the asylum.

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.

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

After the facility joined the National Health Service in 1948, it became the Stanley Royd Hospital. 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. After the introduction of Care in the Community, the hospital went into a period of decline and eventually closed in 1995.

Mental Health Museum

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. 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.

Influence

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.

Notable inmates

• Mary Frances Heaton (1801–1878), who was convicted of insulting an Anglican vicar in 1837 and never released

References

References

1. "Stanley Royd". County Asylums.
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. (7 September 1901). "John Davies Cleaton, M.R.C.S". British Medical Journal.
4. (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.
5. "Stanley Royd Hospital, Wakefield". National Archives.
6. (21 January 1986). "Stanley Royd Hospital: Food Poisoning Report". UK Parliament.
7. (8 November 2007). "Three sentenced over apartment brothel". Wakefield Express.
8. (27 December 2013). "A Glimpse in the Past of a Mental Health Asylum". Tourism Review.
9. (2007). "Yorkshire & Cleveland". Medical Heritage of Great Britain.
10. (January 1994). "Handbook in Psychiatry, Part II". [[University of Malta]], Department of Psychiatry.
11. (2004). "Mental disease in Malta". Association for the Study of Maltese Medical History.
12. Sherwood, Harriet. (8 November 2020). "Blue plaque to honour Yorkshirewoman who was locked in asylum for calling vicar a liar". [[The Guardian]].