The past and present provision for the insane poor in Yorkshire : with suggestions for the future provision for this class (Read at the Leeds meeting of the British medical association) / By D. Hack Tuke.

  • Tuke, Daniel Hack, 1827-1895.
Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The past and present provision for the insane poor in Yorkshire : with suggestions for the future provision for this class (Read at the Leeds meeting of the British medical association) / By D. Hack Tuke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    be proud of the share it has taken in the provision for the education and training of idiots and imbeciles, although it does not possess an establishment for this purpose in the county itself. The Royal Albert Asylum at Lancaster may be regarded as largely Yorkshire in relation to its origin and the support which it has received, as in the instances of Sir Titus Salt, who gave 5,000 guineas, and the Rev. R. and Mrs. Brooke, of Selby, whose munificent donation amounted to £30,000. During last year the contributions to the Maintenance Fund from Yorkshire amounted to £1,606, in the form of annual subscriptions and donations, being only about £300 less than the contributions received for the same account from Lancashire. It is to be hoped that a still larger amount will in future be raised in response to the appeal made in the last annual report. It should be remembered that, of 553 patients in that asylum, about 180 belong to Yorkshire. About one-fourth of the 120 pauper patients in the establishment are paid for by their unions in Yorkshire. Forty-two inmates were from Leeds. It is, however, thought by the authorities, including Dr. Shuttleworth, that York- shire, like Lancashire, ought to have its own pauper idiot institution, as there are in the union houses of' the county numbers of young imbeciles who are wasting their lives for lack of training. In the last Report of the asylum, signed by Lord Winmarleigh, the opinion is expressed, The time has arrived when separate provision for the care and training of pauper imbeciles should be made by the County Councils or some other local authorities, in the same way as obtains in the Metropolitan District under the Metropolitan Poor Act, 1867. It may be stated that, according to the census of 1881, there were in Yorkshire 2,903 idiots and imbeciles, whether paupers or not, being at the rate of 1 in 997 of the popula- tion. The proportion in England and Wales was higher, namely, 1 in 794. It should here be noted that a considerable number of pauper patients in Yorkshire were admitted into private asylums in addition to those under care in public institu- tions. Unfortunately there is nothing to boast of in regard to the way in which these patients were treated in these private houses. The numbers rapidly diminished after the opening of the North and East Riding Asylum. In 1847 there were 232 insane paupers in the Yorkshire private