Dear papa and mama,

This is my first letter to you from the Asylum near Morpeth, where, as you know I started work six weeks ago. It is unlike anything I have ever done before. The Asylum is divided into male and female sides and apart from main meals, church services and an occasional social events, there is no contact with the other sex. While male attendants look after male inmates, only female staff can look after female imates.

It has been said that the female side is identical to that of the male side but as I have never been on the female side, I cannot say that with any certainty. The only people that can move between the male and female sides are the Medical Superintendent, a Doctor called McDowell, more of him later, his assistant, a doctor Finnegan and the Chaplain called the Rev Slacke.

We are expected to start in the morning at six sharp when we take over from the Night Attendant, we then check on the inmates.  As the new starter I set the breakfast tables, every knife, fork and spoon is counted as I place them on the table.  At the end of meals these are counted again and no one can leave until they are all accounted for.  Breakfast for the inmates usually consist of porridge, bread and jam and a pint of tea or coffee.

Staff breakfasts are split into two sittings; generally the more senior staff go first but leave an experienced member of staff with the remainder.  All male staff from all the wards come together in a small room not far from the main kitchen, I as the junior member of staff go to the second sitting.  Our breakfasts tend to be slightly better than the lunatics, we often have some bacon or an egg.  Mind you, I had never had coffee before, it tastes OK, but I still prefer tea.  The Medical Superintendent, Matron, Chaplain and the Engineer all have their meals served separately by maids.

While the first staff breakfasts are being served, I ,with other attendants, help to get those who cannot help themselves to get ready for the day.  Inmates get two issues of clean linen a week, but often I have replace soiled linen on some beds, a duty I do not like.

On one ward we have a strange group of inmates we have lunatics, imbeciles and idiots ranging from 9 years of age to 83 years of age.  Looking after them is difficult but we try our best.  Some of them of them have been here since it was opened in 1859!  They have been admitted for all sorts of reasons.

Quite a few suffer from an illness known as General Paralysis, which sadly is a fatal condition.  Those with this condition will lose their memory often becoming aggressive, developing poor habits and eventually die, there is no cure.  The Medical Superintendent says that a significant proportion of those that die in hospital die from this disease.

The inmates have a range of treatments when they are very excited and difficult to manage, the doctor will give them a potion called Laudanum which settles them, my mate William says that this potion contains alcohol and an opiate which sedates them.

Sometimes the patient becomes so difficult that the medical staff will place the individual into a room which is then locked. This is known as seclusion, some rooms are padded to stop the lunatics hurting themselves this does not happen that often. I heard that a female patient would not stop scratching her scabs so they had mechanical gloves put on her hands and locked.

We had a tragedy this week, a lunatic by the name of Henry Wood, fell headlong down some stairs and died as a result of his injuries. There was an inquest and considered to be an accident.

After breakfasts we begin a range of tasks, those that can’t leave the ward are set to work cleaning the wards. Sometimes we place the fitter patients into the airing courts, here they just wander in circles, they get exercise but I don’t see the point. I find this task boring as we are not allowed to talk to any other staff while on duty.

 Mind you, we have to watch the lunatics closely; if they escape the attendants responsible will have to pay the cost of returning them back to the asylum. This would cause me all sorts of trouble as we only get paid once every three months, my friend says it the ruling class making sure we stay as many find working here too difficult and leave, some had even run away!

One could thing about working here is that if your work is considered satisfactory then when we retire we can get up to two thirds of our pay as a pension.  I mean that’s not to bad, just look at granddad’s brother, when he became too old to work he ended up in the workhouse!

We have a farm in the asylum with cows, pigs, sheep and they grow vegetables, it trades just like an ordinary farm, making money to help pay for the asylum in that it keeps the cost per week down for the Board of Guardians.  These Guardians according to William are always trying to transfer the people they are responsible for to the workhouses to save money, but William says that the Magistrates, chaired by John Cookson, will not hear of it and usually refuse.  These magistrates are a mightily powerful group as they come from the most powerful families in Northumberland; no wonder the Guardians are wary of them.

Anyway, as I have a lot of experience working on a farm, I tend to be asked to look after those lunatics working on the farm.  Other lunatics are employed carrying coals from the bunker to the boiler house or work with what we call artisans/attendants these are trades-men such as the plumber, the baker and the shoemaker.  Female lunatics tend to work in the kitchen or in the laundry.  They don’t get paid for doing this work but receive additional rations such as bread, butter and cheese, with tobacco and beer.

Yes beer! We have our own brewery in the grounds and as a member of staff I receive an allowance of a quart a beer a day. William is not a drinker so I get his.

Dr McDowell is the Medical Superintendent and is in charge of everything in the asylum.  If we should pass him we are expected to tip our cap and look down and of course we call him Sir.  Along with his deputy, he visits the all the wards everyday and sees every patient and inspects the ward.  If something is not satisfactory as they say, they don’t say anything to us, they report the problem to the Clerk and Steward who is responsible for all the attendants, who in turn summons the head attendant who then sees the senior attendant on the ward and usually we lose our half day off a week to undertake additional cleaning duties. 

Yes, if we are lucky, we have a half day off a week and a full day off every three weeks.  They call it a privilege, so if there are problems with many people ill or causing problems, then we lose our time off.  Mind you, I am not that bothered as I have yet to get paid.  When I do, I am hoping to visit Morpeth, walk a long the river and perhaps have drink in one of the local pubs.  I have heard a rumour that smallpox is in the neighbourhood and leaving the asylum may be stopped. I do get tired at times; we work on average over a hundred hours a week.

In the evening at 6 pm we put the patients to bed after their supper. This supper is not bad at all, meat pie, or Irish stew, etc. with boiled potatoes veg and a pint of tea or coffee and then we also go for supper and some beer! Then get things ready for the following day, we are expected to be a bed for 10 in the evening.

The asylum is overcrowded and according to the gossip there are proposals to enlarge it.  Dr McDowell has reportedly said that “patients are like children they can scarcely have too much elbow room, when they are crowded together they become fretful, mischievous and difficult of management”.  At the moment there are 234 men and 198 women, I have been told that it was built originally for 200 inmates.  We have more than double that now, we know that 15 male patients are being boarded out at 15 shillings a week.  There are rumours that we may be facing an influx of patients as the Government is debating the proposal to close down all privately owned licensed houses and asylums.  Staffing at the moment is 24 male staff and 25 female staff.

Did I tell you that I have taken up dancing?  Every week we have a dance approximately 90 patients attend also in attendance are the senior staff, visitors from Morpeth and there is a rumour going around that there are proposals to built a bigger entertainment room.

Any how that’s all I have to say for now, please write soon and tell me how you all are.

Your loving son

Thomas