ABSTRACT
The reform movement began imperceptibly, through a series of apparently disconnected events, each of which aroused the public interest in some aspect of the treatment of the insane. In 1744, dangerous lunatics were specially considered in a revision of the vagrancy laws; in 1763, the general public was alarmed by revelations concerning the conditions in private madhouses, and a movement to obtain statutory control was initiated; in 1789, the nature of the King’s illness became generally known, and the topic of madness was widely discussed in a context which excluded the attitude of moral condemnation. A parliamentary committee was set up in 1742 to consider the treatment of ‘rogues and vagabonds’ and the revision of the vagrancy laws. It was nineteen years before the question of the insane was again raised in parliament, and then in connection with the private mad-houses.
