After a revision of the laws relating to lunacy was taken by the Lord Chancellor Sir Edward Sugden in 1845 the Lunatics Act was introduced. This meant that the inspector of lunatic asylums was to have a medical background and that the status of the mentally ill changed from prisoner to patient. This was a major step forward in the care and treatment of the mentally ill and the first inspector to be appointed in Ireland in January 1846 was Francis White.
White had initiated a campaign to secure medical participation in the treatment of the mentally ill years before the 1845 Act. White had been appointed Inspector-General of Prisons in 1841 and he saw this as a step towards a medical professional being appointed to a similar role for asylums. Lunatics were not shown any kindness, they would be chained up, caged, left in cells and neglected. No attempt had been made into understanding what has effecting their minds and what could be done to help these people.
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| Francis White (1787-1859) |
White had initiated a campaign to secure medical participation in the treatment of the mentally ill years before the 1845 Act. White had been appointed Inspector-General of Prisons in 1841 and he saw this as a step towards a medical professional being appointed to a similar role for asylums. Lunatics were not shown any kindness, they would be chained up, caged, left in cells and neglected. No attempt had been made into understanding what has effecting their minds and what could be done to help these people.
White believed that if mentally ill patients were treated with kindness, comfort and understanding it would most likely give good results. Also by looking at patients from a medical point of view the little scientific knowledge of mental illness available at that time could be built upon. In 1847 a second inspector of lunatics, John Nugent, was appointed. These two inspectors began to solidify the medical influence on the development and day-to-day workings of lunatic asylums. The majority of asylums were under the care of lay people with managers referred to as 'moral superintendents'. There main concern was to keep try and maintain order in a place of lunacy.
An example of this was the appointment of Samuel Wrigley to manager of Richmond Asylum in 1832. Wrigley had
'no professional qualifications of any sort nor any experience of dealing with the insane apart from a brief term of instruction in the Dublin House of Industry prior to taking office'.
- Fools & Mad: A history of the insane in Ireland Joseph Robins, 1986 pg.93
White, himself, took over the Richmond Asylum in 1840. By 1853 nine of the fourteen asylums in Ireland were under the management and control of medical professionals.
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| Illustration of Richmond Lunatic Asylum c.1854 |
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| Richmond Lunatic Asylum in 2002 Courtesy of Peter Higginbotham |
Francis White was born in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary in 1787. He was indentured to Abraham Colles in March 1807 and received his licence from the College on 19th January 1813. White became a Member (modern day Fellow) of the College in May 1815. He established a Hospital for Diseases to the Eye on Lower Ormond Quay. In 1836 he became President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
On 19th November 1856 the train that White was travelling on was involved in an accident at Dunkitt, Co. Waterford. A track worker failed to operate the points which lead to the passenger train being misrouted and crashing into a ballast train. Five people were killed and many were injured. It was because of the injuries White sustained from this crash that he died in August 1859.
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy
On 19th November 1856 the train that White was travelling on was involved in an accident at Dunkitt, Co. Waterford. A track worker failed to operate the points which lead to the passenger train being misrouted and crashing into a ballast train. Five people were killed and many were injured. It was because of the injuries White sustained from this crash that he died in August 1859.
- Researched and written by Meadhbh Murphy