'A ticklish sort of affair': Charles Mott, Haydock Lodge and the economics of asylumdom.
In June 1846 complaints about the treatment of a Welsh clergyman at the privately run Haydock Lodge Asylum in England heralded a series of allegations about maltreatment of pauper patients at the institution. These prompted a number of Parliamentary reports on the institution. Allegations were also made about connections between the asylum and officials at the Poor Law Commission. This article demonstrates that many of the problems at Haydock Lodge relate to the character and personal circumstances of its first Superintendent, Charles Mott, a former Assistant Poor Law Commissioner. Despite this specific causation, the Haydock Lodge affair had a more general influence in raising once again questions about the propriety of entrusting the care of publicly funded patients to private institutions.
Hirst
David
D
School of Social Sciences, University of Wales Bangor.
D004739:England; D049672:History, 19th Century; D016304:Hospitals, Private / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history*; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000191:economics / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history / Q000628:therapy; D011203:Poverty / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013800:Theft / Q000266:history*; D014754:Violence / Q000266:history