ABSTRACT
after 1832, there were still five separate ways in which insane people might be confined, and it may be useful at this point to recapitulate them:
In private madhouses under Gordon’s Act and the Act of 1832. The departmental authority was the Lord Chancellor’s Office.
In county asylums under the second of Gordon’s Acts, the ultimate control being that of the Home Department.
In workhouses, controlled until 1834 by the local authorities, and after that date by the Poor Law Commissioners.
In Bethlem, which was still exempt from all legal supervision.
As single lunatics. The Madhouse Act of 1828 contained provision for the compilation of a list of single lunatics, but this clause was so hedged about with precautions and restrictions to ensure secrecy that it remained virtually a dead letter.
