ABSTRACT
The 181 5 House of Commons Select Committee on Madhouses, looking at Bethlem from outside, revealed clearly that the attempts between 1783 and 1814 by the Governors to strengthen Bethlem's organization had proved ineffectual. From the vantage point of Westminster not of the City of London, the Select Committee produced an influential report that was the antithesis of Thomas Bowen's 1783 Historical Account 0/ the Origin, Progress and Present State 0/ Beth/em Hospital l No longer was Bethlem singled out for praise. Now it appeared to represent all that was bad in the management and institutional care of the insane.
