MIDDLEWOOD: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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This Hospital opened in August 1872. These new buildings were vastly superior to any asylum that had previously been built. Unlike now, recreation facilities for patients and staff were very much in evidence. This asylum was described in the press as one of the most imposing structures near Sheffield.
The hospital in late 1920's. Photo supplied by Jim Machin
who worked here in early 1960's
It was constructed with considerable improvements in its design and facilities. Middlewood was then little more than a country village beyond Hillsborough. Visiting patients was not easy, the local railway station was some distance away, an alternative was horsedrawn omnibus to Owlerton, and then pony and trap. Patients could only be visited once a month.
First admissions in this 750 beds institution were patients diagnosed as suffering mainly from mania, melancholia and dementia. The rest were admitted with general paralysis of insane, dementia senile, imbecility and idiocy (Some of these words were commonly acceptable then. Today they have no place in modern Psychiatric)
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Mr W. Crapper in uniforms
of 1916 and 1927
»
Throughout the 19th century there was little curative treatment available. Asylums were organised for the care, protection and control of the mentally disordered until a possible natural recovery or remission occurred.
A distinctly pessimistic outlook on the possibilities for cure of mental illness was commonly held at this time, possibly as a consequence of the disappointing search for the causes of insanity in terms of brain pathology. It was noted that mechanical restrain and wetpacks had to be used on a few occasions to control violent patient. It was not until 1882 that the drug Paraldehyde was developed as a safe and reliable sedative for excited patients.
The close association of recreation and work was characteristic of asylum life for patients and staff, leading to a closely knit happy community living together in semi-isolation and showing little change over years until the care in the community act was introduced.
In the last century. Locked doors restrain and heavy sedation was used on disturbed patients, followed by work and recreational therapy. Former drastic methods of restrain such as the use of leg and arm irons had been abolished, but a thick linen jacket buttoned at the back with a long outside sleeves were in use, as were of a padded or protected room.
Please note this photo may not be Middlewood. Do you recognise
the building behind?
The main drug to sedate some patients was Opium. Antimony salt was also used to calm patients. Other forms of treatment included Turkish or hot baths and some brief electronic stimulation were also applied.
Most asylums obtained a discharge rate of 50% of their recent and acute cases, though with a high relapse rate. In 1876 the number of patients rapidly increased to a total of over 1,000 and overcrowding undoubtedly contributed to widespread diarrhoea.
Keeping nursing staff was becoming a problem, female staff stayed only a short time despite a rise in salary from £ 15 to £ 18 p.a. plus allowances. There was little training for nursing applications in those days.
Homicidal patients were also a grave responsibility requiring much care and supervision. Night nurses had strict instructions not to visit such patients alone.
Due to an increased demand for beds, this asylum was enlarged in 1876 with two additional blocks later known as Kingswood and Queenswood. The material used was red pressed brick made on site with the help of patients. Patients also help with the labouring and discovered the roots of several fossilised trees.
Before Middlewood Hospital, it was not uncommon for patients to refuse all food, either due to apathy or suicidal intent. Forcible feeding was then necessary, which became a more successful procedure with the invention of tube feeding, introduced in 1845.
In the 1930's, a new era in the mental hospital legislation began. It was recommended that the term "Asylum" to be replaced by "Hospital", and "Lunatic" by "Person of unsound mind". It was also recommended the development of outpatient's clinic to detect and treat early cases of mental health disorder.
« Laboratory
staff in 1964 » 
In 1964 Middlewood Hospital laboratory was staffed by four people. It played a vital part in all diagnoses and treatment and apart from routine laboratory processes and some bio-chemistry. It did a great deal of work in connection with blood transfusion and haematology.
This
is the medical superintendent Dr Frederick Thomas Thorpe and wife, he worked
at the hospital for over 37 years, and retired in 1964. Mr Thorpe was also the
person who commemorated the centenary of Middlewood Hospital by preparing a
small book called 'The Middlewood Hospital Sheffield. One Hundred Years 1872-
1972.'
A big thank you to all those people who made the great effort in contributing to this project. Keep your images coming please. All above images are fully credited with a short summary. Placing your mouth over the image will reveal your acknowledgement. Many thanks again.
MIDDLEWOOD: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z