Circulars from General Board

Volume presumably compiled by Dr C. C. Easterbrook. The first item included is a letter from the General Board of Lunacy to Dr C.C. Easterbrook responding to his request for a complete set of Circulars applicable to Royal Asylums, dated 1 September 1908. Circulars and letters to all Medical Superintendents of Establishments for the Insane cover 1865-1938, and relate to all aspects of the administration of the hospital. Correspondence to and from Dr C. C. Easterbrook and the General Boards of Lunacy and Control covers 1908-1938 and relates to the interpretation of the Lunacy Acts; questions and clarification as regards instructions and procedures, and issues relating to specific patients. There is considerable material relating to the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1913, and the classification and maintenance of Service Patients from both the General Board of Control and the Ministry of Pensions. At the rear of the volume is a list of stationery and also samples of blank forms and pages from statutory registers. On the inside cover of the volume, a booklet, 'General Medical Council Note, June 1923', regarding Medical Practitioners, is attached, and on the back cover two further booklets, 'General Board of Lunacy Instructions to Inspectors of Poor, 1895' and 'Visiting Book for Aided Defectives in Private Dwellings, 1914' are attached. Loose items include: 1) Circular 145, 26 January 1914 2) Blank application forms (Ma, Mb and Mc) for Mental Defectives 3) Order form for Report relating to Mental Treatment Act, 1930 Volume is indexed at front.

1865-1938

1 volume

A new class of patient, the Service Patient, was established during the First World War after an agreement was made with the War Office to admit these patients at a fixed rate of board into the Third Department of Crichton Royal Institution, with their board being paid by the Ministry of Pensions. These patients were Soldiers and Sailors who had served during the First World War and had been admitted to an asylum due to mental illness caused or aggravated by their period of service. This scheme was later extended to Officers, with the Ministry of Pensions paying a higher fixed rate of board for their admission into the First Department of the Hospital. Patients continued to be classified as Service Patients during the interwar years and the Second World War.

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The papers are available at Dumfries and Galloway Archives subject to conditions of UK Data Protection Act 1998, Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and NHS Records Management Code of Practice 2012. Subject to these restrictions, this material is being digitised by the University of Glasgow as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project. Material that is digitised will be accessed freely online through the Wellcome Library catalogue.