Liberty and the individual: the colony asylum in Scotland and England

Abstract

[HPY28(1)] Article Liberty and the individual: the colony asylum in Scotland and England Gillian AllmondQueen's University Belfast Corresponding author:Gillian Allmond, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK. Email: gallmond01@qub.ac.uk 2 AbstractThis paper analyses the buildings, spaces and interiors of Bangour Village public asylum for the insane, near Edinburgh, and compares these with an English asylum, Whalley, near Preston, of similar early-twentieth-century date. The village asylum, which developed from a European tradition of rendering the poor productive through 'colonisation', was more enthusiastically and completely adopted in Scotland than in England, perhaps due to differences in asylum culture within the two jurisdictions.'Liberty' and 'individuality', in particular, were highly valued within Scottish asylum discourses, arguably shaping material provision for the insane poor from the scale of the buildings to the quality of the furnishings. The English example shows, by contrast, a greater concern with security and hygiene. These two differing interpretations show a degree of flexibility within the internationalized asylum model which is seldom recognized in the literature.

Mortality among those certified under lunacy legislation in Scotland during World War I

“…Especially around staffing, there is an impression of greater flexibility. Allmond (2017) identifies attitudinal differences between asylum care in Scotland and England, with greater emphasis on freedom and individuality within the Scottish system. It is possible that going into the war with this difference in ethos did make a difference to responses to wartime conditions.…”

“…These factors would of course also aid the spread of numerous other infectious diseases. It is of note that Edinburgh District Asylum, though newly opened in 1907 – and with a ‘village’ design that would seem ideal for managing isolation of unwell patients – had the worst differential phthisis mortality of all the institutions surveyed (Allmond, 2017: 39). Poorhouse lunatic wards generally had better phthisis mortality rates than asylums; this was probably due to patient selection, with more physically unwell patients being admitted to asylums.…”

The First Garden City? Environment and utopianism in an Edwardian institution for the insane poor

“…Although the barrack style of asylum was also criticised in England, there appears to have been greater resistance than in Scotland to the 'villa system' as an alternative, because of difficulties with 'administration, supervision and cost of maintenance'. 57 Indeed, after the opening of Kingseat its first medical superintendent concurred with some of these criticisms, saying that a village asylum required a larger staff and was 'perhaps less easy to supervise'. 58 Howard also understood the city as a source of ill health for specific physical reasons, particularly poor ventilation, smoke, dirt and overcrowding.…”

“…61 Individuality was also to be encouraged by variation in building materials, architectural styles and even in the disposition of the buildings within the site, which emphasised irregularity and asymmetry. 62…”

Los cien años del Hospital Víctor Larco Herrera

“…En este contexto, algunas de las alternativas planteadas fueron la villa asilar, la colonia agrícola y el asilo colonia, amalgamas de una semilibertad con disciplina laboral y las bondades de la vida rural bajo la inspiración primigenia de la legendaria comunidad de Gheel ("el pueblo de los locos"), en Bélgica, y las posteriores experiencias de Alt-Scherbitz, en Alemania; Fitz-James, en Francia, y Bangour Village Asylum, en Escocia, entre otras (20 Muñiz, en el Perú de aquel entonces no eran viables "ni la creación de asilos privados, ni la asistencia en familias, ni siquiera las colonias agrícolas", inclinándose a favor de un asilo colonia, cuya "construcción debe obedecer al open-door y no-restraint, debiendo ser apropiado para la organización del trabajo manual y para la colonización agrícola"; de alguna forma, se trataba de "dejar al enajenado la ilusión de la libertad, sin que nada le recuerde su condición de recluido". (1).…”