Replica of a nineteenth century restraint collar.

Replica of a nineteenth century restraint collar, England, c. 1930. Replica of a wide-brimmed ('Elizabethan' style) leather restraint collar. This would have been used in conjunction with manacles or a straightjacket in order to prevent an insane inmate from biting his/her own body. The original, probably from the late 19th or early 20th century, was found around 1930 in a chest in the cellar at Hanwell Asylum, the asylum on the outskirts of London whose superintendant, John Conolly (1794-1866), famously renounced all instruments of mechanical restraint in favor of 'moral treatment,' that is, regular labour under constant close surveillance. Date made: 1850-1920.