The Princess Christian Farm Colony and Hospital 1895-1995 : "Just a bit barmy" / Chris Rowley.

"This book tells the happy story of a hundred year experiment. The aim was to help the 'not very mad' - called by locals 'barmy' after the nearby lunatic assylum in Barming, Kent. The project was concieved in 1895 and was support by Princess Christian, the third daughter of Queen Victoria. The aim was to provide a hundred-and-fifty men and women with a useful life on a farm. So it became 'The Princess Christain Farm Colony for the 'Feeble-Minded' - 'feeble-minded' being the medical term for 'barmy.' The Farm Colony was situated in the village of Hildenborough, near Tonbridge in Kent, and this book looks at its first fifty years as a charity and its second fifty years an a small NHS hospital. In both periods, the lives of its residents contrasted dramatically with the treatment in the main lunatic asylums."--Provided by publisher.