ABSTRACT
The number of in-patients in 1930 were estimated to be 142,000, in a population of 39 millions. The rate of admissions and discharges was very stable: 22,000 were admitted, 10,000 discharged and 9 ,000 died in hospital every year between 1921-29. The atmosphere of most mental hospitals could not have been pleasant as they were located in huge, dark Victorian buildings, suffering from chronic overcrowding and severe shortage of staff. Mental hospitals were perceived as frightening places in which people were locked in for good and being hospitalised implied being removed from ordinary life. Though less interested in the mentally distressed person whose illness was not doubted, the extension in principle of basic civil rights to this category was revolutionary. The three political parties of the time – the Liberals, the Conservatives and Labour – did not pay direct attention to the mentally ill or mental illness in their manifestos.
