ABSTRACT
In 1872 Lancashire opened its fourth pauper lunatic asylum at Whittingham, approximately four miles from the centre of the town of Preston County of Lancashire was at the forefront of the Asylum Reform Movement of the 1800s and Whittingham added to the provision which already existed at Lancaster Moor Prestwich and Rainhill. Lancashire had in its magisterial ranks one particular individual who devoted his life and considerable energies to the building of an asylum network for the pauper lunatics of the county: the Reverend John Shepherd Birley. In order to identify some of the key issues discussed at the time regarding the establishment of Whittingham Asylum the minutes of the Annual General Sessions have been examined along with the minutes of the Committee of Visitors for the Proposed New County Asylum. By 1871 the debate regarding cost moved on to discussion regarding the consumption of beer within the asylums.
