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Jan 13, 2023 · The photos reveal the faces of the patients who were treated at Bethlem Royal Hospital in London — often considered Britain’s most notorious psychiatric hospital in the 19th century.
The Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St. Mary Bethlehem and Bedlam, is an infamous psychiatric hospital in London. It is Europe’s first and oldest institution to specialize in mental illnesses.
Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St. Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in Bromley, London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films, and TV series, most notably Bedlam , a 1946 film with Boris Karloff .
Dec 15, 2016 · Designed by Robert Hooke, a City Surveyor, natural philosopher and assistant to Christopher Wren, its 540ft-long (165m) façade – complete with Corinthian columns and cupola-topped turret – was...
- The Founding of Bethlem Royal Hospital
- How The Hospital Became Bedlam
- Trying to Turn The Hospital Around
Established in 1247, Bethlem Royal Hospital was the first of its kind in Great Britain. Never before had there been a place for those with mental illness, physical disability, and a criminal history to be adequately locked away from society. The building itself was an architectural marvel at the time. Rebuilt in the 1600s and designed with Louis XI...
By the 1600s, the hospital descended into mismanagement and chaos. As the only mental health facility in Britain up to that time, Bedlam was dependent upon government funding and patient donation. It was poorly funded by the government nonetheless and heavily relied upon the financial support of a patient’s family and private donors, but many of th...
In 1815, the British House of Commons Select Committee on Madhouses examined the conditions under which county asylums, private institutions, and charitable asylums treated their patients. The results were shocking. The current Principal Physician at Bedlam, Thomas Monro, was consequently forced to resign when it was discovered that he was “wanting...
- Leah Silverman
Haunting photographs show people who attended the infamous Bethlem Royal Hospital where patients were 'treated' by being spun round in chairs in front of paying punters. Most of the patients at the London asylum, better known as Bedlam, were diagnosed with acute mania and some arrived after killing.
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May 12, 2022 · Image Credit: William Henry Toms, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. This bold new incarnation of Bethlem as a “palace for lunatics”, as some called it, was conceived as a symbol of civic pride and charity, emblematic of a city that was striving to recreate itself.
