One of the biggest impacts on mental health for the people of Sheffield was the implementation of an Act of Parliament dated 1845. This stipulated that each county in Britain now had to each have their own asylum to cater for those people who were diagnosed to be insane. For Sheffield this was the South Yorkshire Asylum (later renamed the West Riding Asylum at Wadsley) built in August of 1872. These buildings were large, airy places, purposely designed so that fresh air and exercise were part of the patients regime which, it was hoped would aid to restoring them back to full health. Under this Act, these asylums were now visited and inspected on a regular basis by Inspectors or Commissioners of Lunacy.

However there was no improvement to the method of diagnosing a patients mental illness in the first place. The normal practise was usually brought to the attention of the authorities when a family member displayed any unusual symptoms. Concerned relatives would then appeal to the workhouse guardians, who requested one of their medical officer’s to assess that person. However the assessment process was very lax and informal, and usually consisted of just an observation of that individual, sometimes this was completed in the street. In many cases after such an assessment, nothing more was done for the patient as he/she was left with their family, until he/she showed more excessive traits.

The next step in the diagnosis process was that all cases of lunacy had to be reported to the local magistrates, and if they thought there was a case to answer, the patient would be referred to the workhouse officials. Those who were reported as violent, were immediately removed to the workhouse ‘lunatic’ ward, often in restraints. Sadly, despite the fact that the same Poor Law Act of 1834 clearly stated ‘no dangerous lunatic, insane person or imbecile was to be detained in workhouses for more than 14 days’ this was often ignored. As a result this gave carte blanch to workhouse masters, guardians or medical officers to detain the patient in these wards indefinitely.

They did this because the problem was, that it was cheaper for workhouse guardians to keep the person so afflicted in the workhouse ward, rather than have to pay for their support in the county asylums. To make the issue more complex, once at the workhouse, segregation from other inmates was difficult to maintain. It was a frequent complaint listed in the Guardian minute books that the people they labelled as ‘lunatics’ were kept in the same ward as twenty to thirty poor, aged people. As a result the elderly paupers were unable to sleep for the dreadful noises, ramblings or raucous singing that would often continue all night long.

This was further made problematic by the lack of paid staff, which often resulted in such afflicted persons being kept in open wards. In many cases other inmates were made to be responsible for them, sometimes with disastrous results. Sadly the treatment of lunatic patients who did enter the county asylums, were not made to be any better than that which they received in local workhouses. In August 1879 an account was published in a Sheffield newspaper giving an account of what it was like inside Wadsley Asylum. In an ‘Interesting Narrative by a Cured Patient’, the unnamed reporter describes the asylum attendant as ‘one who bids us to cease in a loud tone.

He states that if not obeyed at once, you are handled very rudely, pushed backwards and forwards and on one occasion, punched in the ribs’. The report describes an incident where the reporter threw an object at an abusive attendant:

‘I was laid hold of by two or three men and banged first against a wall and then a floor. If you make your mind up to report the attendants to the doctors, the attendant will not give you a chance to speak. You are then locked up in a dark room for as much as 12 hours. Patients who are recovering tend to be used as servants’.

Given the lack of understanding of what treatment could be metered out, it appears that the only attitude towards all lunatic patients during the Victorian period was to just keep them calm and occupied as much as possible. When it was needed, restraints or padded cells were used on the more violent patients to stop them harming themselves or others. Strict routines and diets were followed. Despite the ignorance around mental health issues, it was found to be true that many patients responded well to this type of regular regime.

Gradually, by the turn of the century however, new methods were being tried such as electric convulsive therapy and lobotomy operations. However, given the ignorance around such conditions archaic methods still continued. Cold baths were advocated for women who were described as ‘hysterical’ and scalps were shaved from both sexes in order promote a ‘cooling of the brain.’ All outdated practises which gave no long term relief to patients of either sex. Eventually there was a growth towards more moral treatment, where routine and regular prayers were found to be effective, and thankfully harsh treatment, brutal behaviour and restraints were gradually abandoned.