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Archiver > ENG-SURREY > 1999-08 > 0935161518


From: "Marg Cambridge" <>
Subject: 2000 in ASYLUM
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 08:05:18 -0700


Hello Listers:

I accidently came upon something today on the 1881 Census CD that brought
tears to my eyes. The METROPOLITAN DISTRICT ASYLUM FOR IMBECILES,
Caterham, Surrey. There were 921 men and 1100 women, ranging in age from 18
to 86, all diagnosed as lunatic or imbecile. Many of them listed as
Lunatic, deaf and dumb. Hundreds of them between the ages of 24 and 40. As
a retired Registered Nurse it made me think of the treatment and facilities
available today for family members with brain syndromes or children born
deaf, and how lucky we are to not have lived in those days. This facility
is only one of the many thousands throughout the world that thought there
was no hope for these people. Thank goodness we have come a long way since
then.

A question though.........would some of these people have been from other
parts of England, or would they have been residents of the immediate
surrounding area?

This is going to be a blue day just thinking about those poor people, the
conditions of that time period, and the heartbreak it must have caused.

Marg
Mission, B.C., Canada

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