The Art of Bedlam:Richard Dadd

I was one of the first day visitors to Bethlem Museum of the Mind which hosts this exhibition from 7 November 2015 until 6 February 2016 (closed 23 December reopens 2 January 2016). During the exhibition two companion talks are to be held and on 7 November Bethlem Archivist Colin Gale  introduced visitors to "A very sensible and agreeable companion: Richard Dadd the Bethlem patient".

The exhibition includes sketches and paintings which form part of the Bethlem archives and other material held in other collections. The substantial Bethlem collection has been on loan to the Watts Gallery Compton and Doctor Nicholas Tromans curates the Bethlem Museum exhibition and will  give a companion talk on Saturday 5 December 2015 about Dadd the artist.
Colin Gale placed Dadd's 20 year detention on the Criminal Lunatic Ward of Bethlem in the historical context of the Hospital of the nineteenth century.
We owe an enormous debt to Patricia Allderidge who was Archivist at Bethlem until retirement in 2003. Her study of the art collection lead to her curating a Tate exhibition in 1974 and writing a book about Dadd.It was her vision which lead to the creation of the 21st century Museum of the Mind and gallery for exhibitions such as this one and Colin  paid tribute to her work,
Dadd was a rising star as a Royal Academy trained artist and the exhibits reflect his great ability, However he came back from a tour of the Middle East and acting under the influence of a compulsion born of a powerful delusion that he was the agent of the Egyptian god Osiris engaged in battle with the Devil who had assumed the appearance of his own father stabbed his father to death in one of the most famous cases of Victorian murder.
Colin detailed the sympathy for Dadd which was evident from the outset drawing upon upon letters from his brother to Royal Academicians and the sympathetic treatment by Hospital staff and by the Victorian press.
His case notes form part of the exhibition and whilst the "Moral Management" of patients detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure offered him every assistance to paint his mental state was always questionable with Hood in 1854 describing his lack of insight into his behaviour but then contrasting that with the "sensible and agreeable companion" which formed this talk's title.
The exhibition attracted many visitors on its opening day and is open Wednesdays to Fridays Museum of the Mind events
I have long appreciated Dadd's art and as a visitor to Bethlem Archive in the 1970's was probably enthused by Patricia Allderidge following her Tate exhibition and book. Dadd is now recognised as a leading British Artist but one wonders if this would have been the case without Patricia's dedication to the material she curated as an archivist.
Currently the Bethlem Gallery has an interesting exhibition Unescorted #6 featuring the work of Interim Secure Unit patients.
The unification of two galleris in the same building together with the permanent Museum exhibits make for a very interesting visit.

Bethlem Museum Keep the Home Fires Burning Exhibition

This exhibition is a Heritage Lottery funded joint venture between Bethlem Museum Bromley Archives and Local Studies and the soon to close Bromley Museum as part of the Caring for the Casualties of the First World War in Bromley series of events. It runs from 29 August-31 October 2015 see Bethlem Museum of the Mind.
Earlier this year Bromley opened a First World War Allotment open day with recipe leaflet. This co curated exhibition by Bethlem Museum registrar Diana Chaccour and Camilla Biggs MSc War and Psyhiatry Kings College London was introduced to visitors in a guided tour of the exhibition on its opening day.
The title chosen is that of the Ivor Novello song and with my familiarity with the Novello family plot in Biggin Hill the exhibition felt rooted in Bromley. This theme is continued in various sections of the displays with items from local Archive and Museum collections woven into the story of war with in a context of mental illness and local efforts to absorb and accommodated belgian refugees. The patient case notes of a mental health institution which was not sequestered for military use (unlike the Maudsley Hospital who treated "shell shock") nevertheless the impact of war on the mental health of those on the Home Front.
The exhibition is organised into 5 sections illustrating "Joining the Army" "Women at the Home Front" "Seeking Shelter" "Patients" and "Recovery". The experience of local people in Bromley and hospital experiences are woven into a narrative which is illustrative of resilience and recovery and therefore especially resonant of people at risk of or affected by mental disorders. It is gratifying to hear of the number of Bromley Schools who will experience the exhibition in a borough whose councillors have from 1 October 2015 removed access to the Museum Service.
I felt very much at home with one section of the exhibition. One of my maternal relatives was Church of England chaplain at Springfield Hospital and his contemporary and colleague at Bethlem Reverend Edward Geoffrey O'Donohue features prominently in two sections of the Exhibition. The Women at the Home Front images of women undertaking a variety of working roles in the absence of males are part of the extensive glass lantern slide collection held at Bethlem Archives (reference LSC) which the chaplain used to illustrate his talks to patients and staff.
The Lantern Slide collection is fascinating since O'Donohue's images are clearly the work of a professional photographer with a commission as they are high quality images and the series focus on Women at work from Land Girls to London Transport lift operators;subjects are far beyond the hospital. This begs the question did the hospital commission the images of non hospital subjects? Bomb damage to the hospital and a crater in the front lawn are also illustrated as well as Firewatchers on the roof with the iconic Bethlem dome in the background.
Victoria Northwood Bethlem Museum director is going to speak of "The Chaplain's Entertainments" on 26 September 2015 see Bethlem Museum of the Mind events
In the future absence of a Museum Service in Bromley it is reassuring that a collaboration can produce a high quality exhibition at one of the few heritage venues in Bromley using material from the Museum collection and two local Archives in the borough which is accessible to schools two days per week in the absence of the general public.

Hands on ....but not at Bromley Museum

This week I spent a thoroughly absorbing morning at Bethlem Museum of the Mind visiting both the Gallery and Museum which had a "hands on" experience with items from the Bethlem  collection. I would describe the many items displayed as relatively easy to work out through to complete mysteries.
It is worth bearing in mind that the the archive is from the oldest psychiatric hospital in the world and therefore objects which remain unclassified and mysterious can come from eighteenth or twentieth century use.
This was also an opportunity for me to meet the wonderful Renia Jenkins who had set visitors the challenges. Some of the items took me back to my childhood early memories. I soon recognised a familiar small object and recalled my grandmother in Staffordshire who cooked on a black lead range with a kettle suspended over the open grate and three ovens;one was a slow oven which cooked rice pudding,another was the bread oven and this is where I learned to bake. The third oven was for roasting etc. Of course the lead range the precursor of the beloved Aga cooker (on which my mother worked as a housekeeper) needed to be black leaded regularly and there at Bethlem was Zebra which my grandmother used! I began to think of the Lambeth site of the hospital and of the kitchen and laundry for the hospital.
As well as some scientific items one a mysterious glass measuring jar marked in both different spoon sizes and liquid measures. The glass was however not open at the top and possessed a shoulder and angled opening. Renia said that this had bemused dispensing chemist historians and the purpose remains a mystery. A fascinating object and I wondered roughly what period the manufactured glass had come from. My memory of Bethlem's apothecary until the Asylum reforms at Lambeth in the 1850's had me wondering who had used the measuring device. An intriguing conundrum and it was a lesson in the challenge of catalogue descriptions for such artefacts.
Renia had another challenge in the shape of a cast iron object with 4 clearly constructed holes for fixing either vertically or horizontally. A plain functional hinged handle opened around three different diameter openings. As I handled the object it felt natural for me for this object to be mounted vertically somewhere as the handles seem inclined to hang and form a closure. The black painted cast iron was decorated with a foliage pattern. A true mystery of the kind that you keep turning over in your mind.
When I returned online I emailed a USA based genealogist who I knew had knowledge of Pennsylvania cast iron manufactured savings boxes and other items and gave a verbal description of the Bethlem object. I was delighted with the response as I was able to pass on to Renia what the mystery item was.

 This item is more elaborate than the simpler Bethlem version whose handle was plain cast iron. The catalogue description of the cast iron Crimpier was as follows
American, 19th century figural crimpier or flutter in the form of three footed foliage base with hinged top, upon which is winding snake with head raised and acting as handle; opens to reveal 4 graduated vertically fluted cylinders, in old, if not original black paint; cast intaglio mark on base J. Monis Co./Phil.; 10" long x 5.4" wide x 3.25" high.
The Bethlem item is therefore from the laundry of the hospital and was designed to hold 3 sizes of cast iron rollers for use in ironing collars. It's date and manufacture are not known. What was not present at Bethlem was the other parts of the equipment which would have been heated in a fire and then the roller would have gained heat from the roller base. The roller would be tested on paper for sufficient heat to perform the ironing function.
Renia has contacted me since my visit and found herself "grateful cross and delighted" at my finding what this mystery object was for. My first point in this blog is to emphasise that I was a member of the public offered a hands on experience by Bethlem Museum and that this is the very essence of museum collections that something historical which is not recognised or understood by the present generation has value in describing the social history of earlier generations. In over 6 decades of life I am still learning about my forebears through the opportunites to handle and visit artefacts in collections and what a collection Bethlem possesses!
Which brings me to a second point the sad subject of Bromley Museum. Prolific blogger and museum volunteer Tincture of Museum has described the decision of councillors on the Executive this month to close Bromley Museum from 1 October 2015 see Bromley Museum Lost
The Bromley Museum service has offered artefacts to 60 schools in the large London borough who are required within the National Curriculum to study various periods of history. The strength of Bromley Museum has been the work of its Education officer (soon to be redundant) in providing museum based activities during school holidays and hands on experience in schools and Museum. Those elected councillors who have ended the Museum have denied access to the collections by learners of all ages but have certainly disadvantaged the rising generation of Bromley Residents.
Bromley proposes to offer two display spaces in the Central Libray although there will be no curator. Bromley Central Library is a building which has been underfunded for decades. It's external cladding of small tiles tinkles down due to weather erosion onto the Neuwied way entrance to Libray and Churchill Theatre as well as flat roofs. The fourth floor toilets have an airlock that is audible throughout all public floors of the building but councillors who demonstrably cannot distinguish between the disciplines of Archival collection and storage and curation of artefects are offering a "new and exciting" display of museum artefacts in the Library on two different floors.
As a daily researcher in the Archival material it does appear that this display is a cosmetic attempt at hiding a dogma of cutting jobs and services. Housing the John Lubbock Collection on the second floor of the building displaces other services offered and is not the most frequented area of the Library building so footfall is likely to be diminished. The Archives and Local Studies staff are committed to providing an excellent service to researchers in maps and document collections. They do not have the time or experience to answer visitors questions about The Lubbock commissioned paintings about the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods and artefacts. Staff cannot at present keep pace with tasks involved in acquisitions so the notion of dealing with museum artefacts is unreal. They do help many to locate council minutes electoral registrations at addresses, house histories, legal searches of archival material and image collections as well as service the large family history research and local history projects.
This blog has been long enough but to hear an elected councillor express that the nationally and internationally significant John Lubbock Collection including the Ernest Griset paintings commissioned by Sir John Lubbock are of little local interest (or apparent value) is lamentable. Lubbock was born and lived  at High Elms in Downe and the collection was at High Elms until surviving the fire which destroyed the house. It is subject to a deed of Covenant loaned to the public of Bromley for public display. It remains to be seen how dogma from local councillors pursuing an austerity programme will deprive local people of the collection. It is ignorance and inability to master a brief that leads a member of a council executive to voice the opinion that Sir John Lubbock 1st Lord Avebury 1834-1913 did not live at High Elms for long. There can be no dialogue with such councillors on the value of history in educating all. I would suggest that a visit to the National School at Downe (now Downe Village Hall) might be a starting point in the reeducation of Bromley Councillors.
I am grateful for the volunteers at Bromley Museum like Tincture of Museum for their contributions to the service.
 © Henry Mantell Downe Online Parish Clerk 2015

Bethlem Museum:held by Jane Fradgley

From 30 May-21 August 2015 Bethlem Museum of the Mind and Bethlem Gallery hosts an exhibition of the photography of the "strong" clothing used as restraints. This work has been exhibited before in a variety of locations,
Jane Fradgley visited the small old Bethlem Archives in 2010 and was able to handle the clothing and then photograph in various lighting techniques.
I loved Jane's photographs some items appear with dark backgrounds and the clothing takes on an almost ghostly quality evoking imagination of the occupant. The texture of the clothing is immediate and I felt offered a feeling of safety.
I can recommend a visit to the exhibition as the photography is evocative and enhances the permanent exhibit in the Museum which was itself the subject of a symposium on displaying the subject in the Museum.
One of the rooms at Bethlem Museum of the Mind focuses on restraint and examples of strong clothing. The subject of physical restraint in psychiatry had been controversial and the abandonment of restraints in psychiatric hospitals lead some to claim that it may ironically cause harm to patients.
The Bethlem Royal Hospital officially abandoned restraint in 1851 and the Museum exhibits include items predating this.In the late nineteenth century non-restraint was reassessed and some garments began to reappear and the Bethlem Archive reflects these and the Restraint register displayed illustrates why certain items were in use.
George Savage Bethlem's Superintendent (see George Savage The Lancet 1888 "The Mechanical Restraint of the Insane") described "strong clothing" as garments made of stout linen or woolen material and lined throughout with flannel. The limbs are all free to move but the hands are enclosed in the extremities of the dress, which are padded". He therefore saw slight restraint as liberating people from the mindset of straitwaistcoats handcuffs and padded rooms.
However the 16-20 people per annum restrained by Savage in the Bethlem register was criticised in letters to the Times with eminent psychiatrists on both sides of the debate. In 1890 the Lunacy Act was introduced and was explicit in regulating restraint for the first time and set guidelines. After the introduction of the Act there is an argument that asylums largely adopted the same types of restraint as Savage at Bethlem.
There is scope for failures to record all instances of restraint and physical restraint remained in use into the twentieth century.
I have an immediate interest in physical restraint as later this year I will begin to transcribe the Lunacy Registers of Bromley Poor Law Union Workhouse at Locksbottom as part of the Kent Online Parish Clerks and Bromley Archives Indexing agreement. The Workhouse has a Physical Restraint Register which is not open to the public for another 15 years as entries continued until 1930.

Find My Past and Bethlem Museum of the Mind records online

I was pleased to hear that the Bethlem record series went online on Thursday 19 March 2015 as this nationally important archive of the oldest psychiatric hospital in the world contained people from many locations in the country.
I first used the Find My Past search engine to explore local parishes in Kent and each time on a residence search drew a blank. However using Beckenham,Kent I located a number of entries relating to residents in the Bromley District. Examining the digitised image of one admission and discharge entry I found that the transcriber had rendered an address in Bickley as Buckley and duly entered corrections of the errors. I realised that the search engine was not searching residence of the admitted patient but was yielding results for the addresses of their surety or relatives and could not see a way in which the search could be amended to narrow results.
On Friday I transcribed a funeral account which recorded an 1875 collection of a body from Bethlehem Hospital in London for burial at Bromley. The funeral account refers to Harriet Matilda Batten wife of a coachman to Mister Alston of Fairfield Bickley being buried at Holy Trinity Bromley Common and my transcript of the Holy Trinity burial register Kent Online Parish Clerks Bromley Holy Trinity Burials gives Page Heath as the family residence.
I happened to know that Harriet Matilda Batten was a mother of eight children by this time (at the age of 34) as I had dealt with a request for information about her from a descendant. The admission to Bethlem was therefore of interest as I have long tried to establish whether people in Bromley were sent to Barming in case of mental health problems requiring detention or whether they may have been transferred to Bethlem in London.
Mrs Batten appears to be exceptional in transferring to Bethlem as inmates of the Bromley Poor Law Union seem generally to be taken to Barming as the County Asylum and one might expect that relatives and local medical practioners to take that route. Also by this date medical Practitioners in the town were able to admit women with difficult problems during or after childbirth to Bromley Cottage Hospital. From the account later found at Bethlem it appears that the journey to Barming was too arduous and the Cottage Hospital could not manage her behaviour and the shorter journey to London and Bethlem was chosen. Mrs Batten proved to have a different and sad end and the case notes are useful in recording her illness and death.
I went to Find My Past and entered Bromley,Kent and Bickley,Kent as search terms with the surname only since a married woman with two given names may have been recorded in a number of ways. My search failed until I removed a residence field from the search and used the year of death year of birth fields. I then located the hospital admission and discharge entry for Matilda Batten and also located her case notes.
Following the birth of her eighth child her health had declined and she entered Bethlem in November 1875 in a very weak state. She had "been confined with childbirth on 9-10 November 1875 and there had been difficulty with after birth with considerable bleeding". At the same time her manner and mood had altered and her case notes record her refusing food and "saying and shouting for hours together" that she had seen Jesus and he was going to work a great miracle. She had never asked to see her new born child. With little food or sleep over 3 or 4 days a fever and deluded a decision was taken to take her to Bethlem in London. On 1 December she was taken to bed at Bethlem and took a liquid diet. The case notes on 2 December express the view that she would not recover. She died at 8-45 pm on 10 December 1875 and the death notice in the case notes includes that she was continually visited by friends. The notice records how weak she was on admission and unable to get out of bed and that death was of natural causes. She had been constantly attended at Bethlem and two Attendants were present when she died.Her hospital number was 5776 and the causes of death were congestion of the lungs and exhaustion after acute mania.
Joseph Dunn in his funeral account refers to the removal of a child burial to permit her stout elm coffin to be interred and her infant child re-interred above her as was commonplace at the time.
Whilst I appreciate the online availability of the Bethlem records it does feel that the Find My Past search engine and indeed the transcription quality leave a little to be desired. I am quite concerned that the data fields for a person's residence cannot reflect local places in the largest geographical London Borough and hope that further work can be undertaken to improve searches in this collection.

Bethlem Museum of the Mind and Gallery

19 February saw the opening of the former admin building at Bethlem Hospital in Beckenham as home to both the Museum of the Mind and Bethlem Gallery. I value the archive of the oldest psychiatric hospital in the world being within a simple public transport ride from my home. A previous life working at the hospital and my long link to the archive have kept me in touch with the planning of the new museum. I first visited the archive here in 1973 and was surprised at how little space was available to display or research. In those days the museum was only open by prior written appointment and it was usually necessary to give 7 days notice of intention to visit. I recall the old admin building entrance being carpeted so the modern entrance came as a surprise!
The entrance to the upper floor museum and gallery housing temporary or visiting exhibitions is the art deco stairway or by the new lift. The building is wheelchair accessible and is also friendly to other disabilities including deaf or hard of hearing.

The marbled entrance presents the Museums two largest sculptures appropriately welcoming visitors as centuries before they had been on top of the entrance gates to the old Bethlem Hospital in London. "Raving" and" Melancholy" madness the former chained were the work of Danish sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber and from 1676 to 1815 were London landmarks. They are displayed now in ligt and blend well in my opinion with the art deco stairs to the upper floor. Their previous home is well captured in the BBC image of former museum
At the head of the stairs a timeline history of Bethlem Hospital and it's four sites guides the visitor through to the Museum entrance.
Here a floor to ceiling display with sound has an 18 minute film which describes the history of visitors to the hospital inmates of the 18th century mingled with contemporary staff patients relatives and visitors. I was able to contribute to this display in evoking Ned Ward's "confinement" in the early years of the eighteenth century and give him voice. The museum has made excellent use of space and I particularly like the glass wall to the area devoted to the use of physical restraint which contrasts the "padded cell" with the large estate outside which is home to the hospital buildings.

 For details of the Museum and Gallery see Visit london Guide.
The Gallery has space on both floors; the lower floor is home to contemporary art installations and has an artist at work. There is also a room to accommodate speakers and presentations. The gallery is a multi media experience and includes performance art by Liz Atkin and reflects the use of art therapy in the history of the hospital. The upper floor houses temporary exhibitions and the inaugural collection on display features the late Bryan Charnley entitled the Art of Scizophrenia. I have now viewed this exhibition twice and each time found that I gained insight into the paintings. Again the exhibits include not only the artist's work but his link to the collection;an invoice for the hospital purchase of several works alongside palette. This exhibition runs from 16 February-22 May 2015 and further planned exhibits will attract visitors to the Gallery.
I have one minor criticism of the new Museum which is that although highly attended the local road signage to a heritage site which has achieved international recognition in it's opening week on social media and in print is non-existent at present. The site signage has also not been updated. Fortunately the Museum and Gallery is facing the vehicle and pedestrian entrance in Monks Orchard Road but as a heritage site I do hope that the London Boroughs of bromley and Croydon will install brown road signage to guide visitors.
I mentioned that Ned Ward now has a voice in welcoming visitors here in floor to ceilinh multi media is his confinement.

Bethlem Museum of the Mind and relocated blog

The Bethlem Heritage blog has moved and is now part of the new website for the Museum of the Mind see Bethlem Museum of the Mind
Asbestos removal has delayed buidling work on the Museum which is now planned to open in December.
My evocation of a 19th century inmate of Bethlem for "the noble sin of drinking" was filmed some time ago and once it has emerged from  digital post production editing in East London will hopefully take up residence at the Museum to greet visitors.