Dear List, Someone mentioned Bethnal House Asylum. Does anyone know if records exist for the 1860-70s? If so where would I find them? What would be the criteria for someone to be put in an asylum at that time? Thanks Bev

Hi Bev Bethnal House was a licensed asylum which took both private patients and patients paid for by their local board of guardians. So far as I am aware, no patient records survive. If your ancestor is likely to have been a pauper inmate, your best bet is to try and seek out records of his/her referral to Bethnal House from the relevant poor law union. To have required admission to an asylum, your ancestor would probably have been insane (i.e. suffering from a serious mental illness) or been an imbecile (what we would now call having a learning disability), either to the extent that they were regarded as a danger to themselves or others, or because their family were unable to care for them (or there was no family). A private patient might have been sent there for lesser reasons. To read more about Bethnal House, go to http://studymore.org.uk/3_06.htm#Bethnal Green. Hope this helps Caroline > > Dear List, > Someone mentioned Bethnal House Asylum. Does anyone know > if records exist for the 1860-70s? If so where would I find them? What > would be the criteria for someone to be put in an asylum at that time? > > Thanks > Bev