Reports of the superintendent and chaplain of Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum for the year 1864.

  • Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports of the superintendent and chaplain of Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum for the year 1864. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/26 (page 7)
    CHAPLAIN’S KEPOKT. Gentlemen, January 20, 1865. The admission of male patients, since my last report was presented to you, has caused some changes in the religious services at this Asylum. On Sundays, Divine service has still been performed in the principal chapel, both in the morning and in the afternoon, and these services have been attended by a selected number of both male and female patients, by the convicts who are sta¬ tioned at this Asylum, by the officers and servants of the Institution, and by members of their families. The de¬ meanour of the congregation has on all occasions been unexceptionable, and on the part of many it has been marked by devout attention. The administration of baptism and the churching of women in the chapel having been sanctioned by the bishop of the diocese, these services have been performed with much ad¬ vantage to the families residing within the precincts of the Asylum. In addition to these services, short prayers have been said^ and a passage of Holy Scripture has been read and expounded on Sunday evenings in different parts of the building for the benefit of a few patients w'ho are not trusted to join the general congregation. At these services, the Scripture lesson has usually been read by the patients, each patient reading a verse in turn. On other days of the week, prayers have been said twice every morning; once in the principal chapel, which is at¬ tended by the men; and once in the chapel, separately pro¬ vided for the women. At these daily services the Holy Scriptures are read and expounded. Classes have recently been commenced on two evenings of the week, at which some book of a secular character is read by me. The recent nomination of a schoolmaster holds out hope of organizing classes for the more general instruction of the patients. The appointment of this officer, however, at present awaits confirmation by the Civil Service Commission. The provision which has been made by your Council for for supplying books to the patients has been amply sufficient. These books are of great moral value ; they afford mental