Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland

The Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland or Lunacy Commission for Scotland were a public body established by the Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857 to oversee asylums and the welfare of mentally ill people in Scotland.

Previous bodies

The Madhouses (Scotland) Act 1815 established the right of Scottish Sheriffs to order the inspection of madhouses.[1]

Establishment

The Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland was established in 1857 by the Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857.[2][3] There were two Commissioners of Lunacy each paid £1,200 a year and two Deputy Commissioners each paid £600 a year.[4]

Chairmen of the board were as follows:

The Commissioners themselves were physicians. Mainly based at 51 Queen Street in Edinburgh.[9] These included:

Asylums commissioned

The legislation created a General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland. It also created district boards with the power to establish and operate publicly funded "district asylums" for patients who could not afford the fees charged by existing private and charitable "Royal Asylums".[11] These existing "Royal Asylums" (with Royal Charters) were the Aberdeen Royal Lunatic Asylum, the Crichton Royal Institution, the Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum, the Royal Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum, the Glasgow Royal Lunatic Asylum, the Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum and James Murray's Royal Lunatic Asylum.[12] The aim of the legislation was to establish a network of "district asylums" with coverage throughout Scotland.[13]

The following asylums were commissioned under the auspices of the Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland:[14]

In addition the Southern Counties Asylum, which was intended to provide facilities for paupers, was erected on the site of the Crichton Royal Institution (which focused on fee paying patients) in 1849 but subsequently amalgamated with the Crichton Royal Institution.[14] Likewise the Dundee District Asylum, which was intended to provide facilities for paupers, was established alongside the Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum (which focused on fee paying patients) in 1903 but subsequently amalgamated with the Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum.[14]

Successors

The Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1913 replaced the Commission with the General Board of Control for Scotland.[15]

See also

References
  1. Barfoot, M (1 January 2009). "The 1815 Act to Regulate Madhouses in Scotland: A Reinterpretation". Medical History. 53 (1): 57–76. doi:10.1017/s0025727300003318. PMC 2629162. PMID 19190749.
  2. "Lunatics (Scotland)". Hansard. 9 June 1857. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  3. "Lunacy Board (Scotland) (Salaries, etc.) Bill". Hansard. 2 April 1900. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  4. "Lunacy Board (Scotland) (Salaries, etc.) Bill". Hansard. 22 March 1900. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  5. "William Hugh Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 3rd Earl of Minto, KT". Cracrofts Peerage. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  6. "Minto". Scottish Places. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  7. "Walter George Hepburne-Scott, 9th Lord Polwarth". The Peerage. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  8. Walford, Edward (1919). "The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland". Spottiswood, Ballentyne and Co.
  9. Edinburgh Post Office directories
  10. Edinburgh Post Office directory 1905
  11. "Background to the Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1857". Asylum Geographies. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  12. Keane, p. 30
  13. Farquharson, Lauren (2017). "A 'Scottish Poor Law of Lunacy'? Poor Law, Lunacy Law and Scotland's parochial asylums" (PDF). History of Psychiatry. 28 (1): 15–28. doi:10.1177/0957154X16678123. PMID 27895195.
  14. Keane, p. 399
  15. "Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1913". Hansard. Retrieved 25 April 2019.

Sources
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