Chiswick Asylum was an English asylum established by Edward Francis Tuke and his wife Mary as Manor House Asylum in Chiswick, in about 1837. It was continued by his son, Thomas Harrington Tuke (1826-1888), before moving to Chiswick House in 1892 and becoming the Chiswick House Asylum, where it was run by two of Thomas Tuke's sons.

Chiswick Asylum
Chiswick House with additional wings later used as asylum wards, 1820
Chiswick Asylum is located in London Borough of Hounslow
Chiswick Asylum
Location in Hounslow
Geography
LocationChiswick, London, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates51°29′01″N 0°15′31″W / 51.48361°N 0.25861°W / 51.48361; -0.25861
Organisation
TypeSpecialist
Affiliated universityMental health
Services
Emergency departmentNo Accident & Emergency
History
Opened1837
Closed1940
Demolished1956
Links
ListsHospitals in England

History

edit
 
Floor plan of Chiswick House, showing the wings, now removed

Manor House Asylum was begun by Edward Francis Tuke and his wife Mary in about 1837,[1] who took a lease on Manor Farm House in Chiswick Lane, a late 17th-century building.[2] It was demolished in 1896.[3]

The 9th Duke of Devonshire rented Chiswick House to the brothers Thomas Seymour and Charles Molesworth Tuke (sons of Thomas Harrington Tuke) from 1892 to 1928, when it was home to 30-40 private patients, before he sold it to Middlesex County Council in 1929. The asylum closed in 1940.[4] The two wings that housed the patients were demolished in 1956, as were many of the outbuildings, so little trace of the asylum remains today.[5]

Notable patients

edit
 
Case notes of Robert Wilson, a patient of Manor House Asylum, 1892-1907. Wellcome L0050073

In 1852, the Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor MP was declared insane after a scene in the House of Commons, and confined to Chiswick Asylum, where he remained until 1854, and died in 1855.[2] Harriet Mordaunt spent much of her later life in the asylum.[6]

In 1865, Rev William Cotton spent several weeks in the Manor House Asylum.[7]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Manor House Asylum". Wellcome Library. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  2. ^ a b Poulton, Keith (1980). "The Tuke Family and their Chiswick Asylums". Brentford & Chiswick Local History Journal. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  3. ^ "Chiswick History". doricdesign. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  4. ^ "Chiswick House Asylum, London". National Archives. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  5. ^ "The History of Chiswick House Asylum". Bethlem Museum of the Mind. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  6. ^ H. Marland (29 June 2004). Dangerous Motherhood: Insanity and Childbirth in Victorian Britain. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-230-51186-6.
  7. ^ Smith, Arthur R. (2006), William Charles Cotton MA: Priest, Missionary and Bee Master, Birkenhead: Countyvise, pp. 169–171, ISBN 978-1-901231-81-6