Mental health registers shed light on Victorian patients (UK)

A series of mental health registers reveal the stark reality of how the mentally ill were treated in Yorkshire over 130 years ago. As part of the Archive Awareness Campaign, East Riding of Yorkshire Archives has catalogued the registers - the Men's and Women's Case Books - from the Broadgate Hospital archive. Comprised of case records of individuals admitted to Broadgate between 1871 and 1906, the registers paint a harrowing picture of life for those deemed mentally ill over a century ago. Ian Mason, Archives and Local Studies Manager at East Riding of Yorkshire Archives, said: 'Sadly, despite our modern preconceptions of mental hospitals, some of the patients admitted to Broadgate in its early days would not be diagnosed insane today. Cases such as epilepsy and depression, which we can treat relatively easily today, were not as well understood and were considered a form of "idiocy" or "stupidity".' - UK National Archives