The sixth annual report of the committee for and Darenth Schools and Asylum for imbeciles, to 31st December, 1880.

  • Metropolitan District School and Asylum for Imbeciles at Darenth.
Date:
1881
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    The deaths of children have been 27, of which 16 were on the female side. The causes of death were diseases of various kinds; 12 fatally affected the lungs, 6 deaths "were due to epilepsy. 8 women have died, all from natural causes ; 11 have been discharged, 9 being unsuit¬ able cases for the Asylum. Enquiries made into the arrangements for Divine Service inform us that the Asylum Chaplain visits live times weekly. There is a service for children and adults on Sundays, and there is another service for the adults on Thursdays. Morning prayers are read daily by the head schoolmistress. The general condition of the old and new buildings, so far as occupied, is good. The bedding examined by us was everywhere sufficient and clean. In regard to structural improvements, we notice that the covered corridors of communication have, pursuant to the Commissioners’ recommendations, been closed in ; the sides of the covered ways leading to the water-closets have also been enclosed, with proper means for ventilation, and hot water pipes have been laid down for warming all the blocks appropriated for the helpless and epileptic. The entertainments for the children are frequent, and varied according to the season of the year, and, weather permitting, walking exercise is frequently given to separate parties in the adjoining woods. The removal from their poverty-stricken homes of such a population as this Asylum holds must indeed be a great boon to many parents and children of the Metropolitan Unions, and the benefits it confers must not be calcu- lated with reference solely to the advantages which result to the idiots themselves. (Signed) CHARLES P. PHILLIPS, W. R. P. WILLIAMS, Commissioners in lunacy* /
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