The museum originated from humble beginnings, starting out as a collection of intriguing objects and documents gathered on the balcony in the hospital dining room.
The history of commonwealth nurses and their contribution to the NHS is one that is often overlooked. Discover this hidden history at Glenside Hospital through the exhibition ‘Answering the Call’ which showcases the triumphs and challenges faced by these nurses.
Cary Grant was a world famous film actor (born Archibald Leach) and was raised here in Bristol. Read on to discover the uniquely sad link we have with him here at Glenside.
When the word Asylum is mentioned, all sorts of images come to mind. What impression did Glenside have on those who lived and worked there? Hear from those who worked and lived there.
Edible Histories was an arts project that took place part as part of the Bristol 650 celebrations. Five objects that tell the story of Bristol were selected from Aerospace Bristol, Bristol Zoo Project, Tyntesfield, Glenside Hospital Museum and M-shed.
Denis was a talented and ambitious graduate from the Royal College of Art. He was a patient at Glenside Hospital in the 1950’s and suffered from bouts of severe depression.
Five artists display their pictures following ten mornings of exploration in the Museum. Their inspiration has been drawn from the stories and beautiful colours in our stained glass windows as well as the curious objects on display.
The 1918 Education Act made schooling for all disabled children compulsory. It was a very significant piece of legislation. By 1921, there were more than 300 institutions for blind, deaf, 'crippled', tubercular, and epileptic children.
An exciting exhibition of contemporary art exploring mental health care at Glenside Hospital Museum, Bristol. One of three ground-breaking new exhibitions across the UK.
A travelling exhibition previewed at Glenside Hospital Museum. Warm and gentle support for women who want to be heard: voices of the Bristol Crisis Service for Women
Reverend Harold Nelson Burden was an early pioneer of mental healthcare for children and adults. He founded Stoke Park Colony with his first wife Katherine in 1909.
In the ten years I have been researching the patients of the Bristol Lunatic Asylum, the thing that most struck me was the disparity between the popular view of asylums and the results of my studies.
To celebrate World Mental Health Day we join with poet Shagufta K. Iqbal in exploring how we survived lockdown and how communities can come together to support each other.
Stretcher-bearers are the unsung heroes of the First World War. They were often considered to be nothing more than a porter, but they were in fact extremely brave individuals who returned to the battlefield to collect the wounded.
The Red Cross logo that we are so familiar with today, is the same design that has been seen since early 1900s. This white cotton armband was worn to signify neutrality, protection, and caring for the sick in times of war.
When most of us think of soldiers, we are automatically drawn to the image of a typical soldier in uniform with a gun and helmet. But this wasn’t always the case.
The Monkey Brand was first produced in the 1880s by an American firm which was bought by the British company the Lever Brothers in 1899. This soap was used in the First World War
The museum houses the story of the institution opened, in 1861, as Bristol Lunatic Asylum. Before the asylum was built it was derided by the mayor and city councillors as the ‘Lunatic Pauper Palace’. They were adamant that the building was an unnecessary expense and for 16 years the city managed to resist its legal requirement to provide decent accommodation for lunatics.
‘Too Much to Bear’, an interactive audio performance with Leigh Johnstone from Fluid Motion Theatre which uncovered his great grandfather’s experiences as a stretcher-bearer in the trenches during the First World War.
In the 80s and 90s, a very common complaint about psychiatric hospitals was that many patients were admitted numerous times; this was called the ‘revolving door problem’.
This first article will be part of a series considering the continuities and changes to life in the asylum, often focusing on individuals whose stories illustrate facets of the era before the asylum became Beaufort War Hospital in 1915
Over his lifetime Denis Reed painted some 250 oil-paintings as well as watercolours and sketches. In 1934, he studied Drawing and Pictorial Design at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) and went on to study in London at the Royal College of Art in London (RCA) in 1938.
History is often portrayed as a series of narratives in which great men (and they always seem to be men) changed the world with their strength and leadership, intellect or malevolence
alldaybreakfast presents: UNLOCKED. An atmospheric performance inside the museum exploring experiences of people dealing with mental illness in the past and present.
Drawing Classes - An amazing opportunity to put pen to paper in the fascinating museum of the former Bristol Lunatic Asylum, led by a qualified teacher.
Nowadays epilepsy is not seen as a psychiatric condition and a person with epilepsy is unlikely to be treated by a mental health unit. In the nineteenth century it was different as the Lifton family were to discover.
Unlocked is inspired by the archive of Bristol Lunatic Asylum held at Glenside Hospital Museum. Funded by Bristol City Council and the Arts Council England.
When I was a nursing assistant working on an elderly male psychiatric ward in the early 1980s I witnessed patients having grand mal epileptic fits about once a week.
Participants at GHM’s Drawing Classes set about capturing our collection on paper. Using the technique of pencil and ink wash they created strong, powerful images.
Patients Arthur Nichols and John Weston both write about the asylum food. Their experiences can be compared to both the official reports from the Asylum Visitors and Commissioners
The Bristol Lunatic Asylum’s notes on Arthur Nichols include several letters from him to various friends and family, providing us with an insight into him as well as the asylum
In his book Life in a lunatic asylum: an autobiographical sketch, John describes the Airing courts where the patient’s exercised, as he saw them in the 1860’s. These same Airing courts can still be seen today if you visit Glenside Hospital Museum
During the 1890s the asylum began to take photographs of the patients and place them in the case notes. Most have survived and I have now an archive of over 700 of these photographs which have been digitally restored.
Colonel Robert Jones, CB, promoted the use of the Thomas splint for the initial treatment of femoral fractures and reduced mortality related to compound fractures of the femur from 87% to less than 8% in the period from 1916 to 1918.
Voluntary aid Detachments, VADs, or even Very Adorable Darlings as they were sometimes called, were generally young women with very little work experience. They were trained in First Aid and what was called Home Care, and were often from upper class families
Surviving service records clearly show the journey from the battle field to the hospital. Wounded soldiers were treated in a field hospital and then despatched by hospital train and boat to the Britain.
On the morning of Tuesday, September 7th, it began to be whispered that Royalty would be in Bristol that day, until at last it became pretty generally known throughout the city
At the start of the war those men enlisted as orderlies in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) had often been rejected by the army as physically unfit, prohibited from being a soldier by age, height, and even flat feet. As the war progressed the army became less fussy as the need for more men to fight was so great.
The Glenside Hospital Museum has two original autograph books in their Collection, and scanned copies of two others belonging to staff at the hospital. Soldiers and members of staff contributed comic rhymes and verses, quotes from favourite writers and poets, and also drawings and water colours.
James Vincent Blachford (M.B, B.S. LRCP MCP), was born in Staffordshire in 1866. He went to school at Dulwich College and completed his medical training in Durham.
Sadly there are no lists or hospital archives from The Beaufort War Hospital. Military hospital records were destroyed in the 1920s, viewed by the War Office as of little interest as they concerned the Home Front
The blue uniform worn by soldiers in military hospitals was known as the ‘Convalescent Blues’. The uniforms were made of blue flannel lined with white, worn with a white shirt and red tie
Agnes Mary Witts gave her next of kin as a Mrs W B Taylor from Cheshire. We have searched on Ancestry.com but can no firm evidence of her birth, marriage or death. We do however have her service record from The National Archives.
The War Office supplied the hospital with trained sisters and nurses from Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Staff Reserve. Women enlisted from the UK and from Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Stanley Spencer worked at Beaufort War Hospital as an orderly for ten months during 1915 and 1916. Despite feeling intimidated by the institution, Stanley took to the work and worked hard.
Anne Campbell Gibson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. In 1881 she enrolled at The Nightingale Fund Nurses’ Training School at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
This story was brought to us by Patsie Smith who was researching her grandmother. She discovered that Elsie Withington had been a nurse at The Beaufort and had met her husband there, William Tattersall, who was serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
This is a photograph of resident and visiting doctors and surgeons at the Beaufort War Hospital during the First World War. We have identified some of the people in the photograph but sadly not all of them
The Beaufort was never short of entertainment for the recovering soldiers. There were visits to Bristol Zoo and The Hippodrome, Charabanc rides to the countryside, cricket and football matches
Elizabeth Horridge was born in Sheffield in February 1886. She trained at the North Derbyshire Hospital and worked at Jessop Hospital for Women and the General Infirmary, Stoke on Trent, where she was a Sister of a surgical ward.
The story of Charles Francis Hutchings was brought to us by a museum visitor, Michael Hutchings, who worked at The Glenside Hospital as a carpenter. Michael discovered that his grandfather had died at Beaufort in 1919.
Asylum Lives blog post by Paul Tobia
This blog starts with the lives and experiences of people who suffered from mental health problems from 1861 to 1900 at the Bristol Lunatic Asylum
Sergeant Harry Cator was born in Drayton, Norfolk to a railway worker. He joined the British Army in September 1914 and arrived on the Western Front in June 1915 as a Sergeant in The East Surrey Regiment
At the beginning of our project, while assessing the Beaufort Archive at The Glenside Hospital Museum, we found a copy of John Mulholland’s Medical Report. He was at Beaufort in 1917. We have matched this report with his Service Record.
James Gaskell was born in Chorley, Lancashire. He enlisted in The East Lancashire Regiment (The Chorley Pals) on the 15th September 1914, giving his age as 19 years 8 months, and his occupation as weaver.
Harry Cogswell was born in Box, Wiltshire, the second of four children. He suffered from poor health throughout his childhood, but he loved singing and was a chorister at his local church.
William Kench was the Head Male Nurse at the asylum. He was appointed the Regimental Sergeant Major when the asylum became Beaufort War Hospital (1915-1919).
Mildred Roberts was an Anzac Nurse, she left Perth in 1915, enlisted in the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service and was posted to Beaufort on the 2nd June
Kate Underwood was one of thirteen children from an Oxfordshire family. She was adopted by the Underwood family when she was six years old. During the First World War she worked in a field hospital before becoming matron of The Beaufort War Hospital from 1916-1918.
Marion Dunn was used to life in an institution. The 1881 census records her parents as attendants at Exeter Asylum, and by 1878 Marion was working there too
Arthur Wilson, a railway porter, was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He enlisted in The New Zealand Expeditionary Force on the 11th August 1914, aged 20.
Carleton Blakeney was a school teacher born in New Brunswick, Western Canada, in 1895. He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at the end of 1915.
Royal Edward Penna’s family were from Cornwall. His grandfather emigrated to Australia in about 1860. Penna was a shoesmith by trade, and he joined The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 5th August 1915, at the age of 21.
We have a special exhibition about Glenside Hospital’s First World War History as part of Bristol Cathedral’s First World War centenary commemoration ‘We Have Our Lives’.
This week, two visitors arrived at Glenside Hospital Museum bearing gifts. The items relate to Phyllis Davis, who had trained and worked at Glenside Hospital between 1931 and 1938.
When I was a nursing assistant working on an elderly male psychiatric ward in the early 1980s I witnessed patients having grand mal epileptic fits about once a week.