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DEP/ANO/9

Volume of paintings of patients at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital

Volume with the title 'Bruised Reeds 1882' on the front cover. Contains twelve water colour paintings of patients at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. Each small painting is captioned with the patient's name and details of his case (all are male). There is also a painting on the first page of a pond in moonlight with reeds and a crow in a tree. The original manuscripts catalogue states that this is a copy of a volume held by the Lothian Health Services Archive amongst the Thomas Clouston papers. That volume is by John Myles (also known as Miles).


The additional information provided below about this volume and the portraits it contains was provided by Allan Beveridge in January 2020, based on his research in the Royal Edinburgh Asylum records held by the Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA).


The LHSA has in its collections seven coloured drawings which are signed ‘JM’, and which give the patient’s name, their diagnosis, their patient number and their case book reference. The clinical information is written in pen, most probably by a clinician, and quite possibly by the Medical Superintendent of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, Dr Thomas Clouston.


This volume which the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh holds contains twelve painted portraits, six of the same patients as those in the LHSA series and six further patients. These paintings are unsigned and are much cruder in their execution, suggesting they were done by another artist. They have an accompanying hand-written text, which gives the patient’s name and provides a brief clinical vignette. The hand-writing is different from that of the LHSA series though they may have also been written by a clinician. They would appear to be copies of the original John Miles’s portraits as they are much less detailed and they are less refined in rendering the patient’s facial features and clothing.


John Miles was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on the 21 May 1881. He was 59 years old, married and described as a ‘Portrait Painter’. He was a pauper patient from Saint Cuthbert’s and he had been admitted via the Royal Infirmary. On 16 October 16 he was discharged ‘Recovered’.


The portraits:


Andrew Simpson was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on 5 March, 1880. He was a 55 year-old married baker. He lived at 53 Bristo Street, Edinburgh and was a pauper patient from St Cuthbert’s. He was diagnosed with melancholia. He died in the asylum on 7 July 1883. His cause of death was given as: ‘Phthisis Pulmonalis’, ‘Kidney Disease’ and ‘Brain Disease’.


George Lumsden was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on 22 July 22 1867. He was single and of no occupation. No age was given. His diagnosis was ‘Epileptic Imbecility’. He died in 1893 of ‘Epilepsy – 34 years. Pneumonia 3 days’. The accompanying text appears to be inaccurate, at least in terms of what the case notes state. He is called ‘James’, rather than ‘George’ and is said to have been blind since birth. This was not mentioned in the case notes and surely would have been if true. He was described as playing the violin not particularly well and to have a bad temper, though the case notes described him as good-natured.


George Dickson was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on the 6 May 1870. He was 60 years old, and had been admitted previously in 1852. He was widowed and a joiner. He lived at 3 North Saint James Street, Edinburgh. The existing attack had lasted 6 months. He was not epileptic, suicidal or dangerous.


James Laurie was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on 20 January 1877. He was 13 years old. He had no education and was a pauper patient who was transferred from St Cuthbert’s Poorhouse. The predisposing factor was ‘Congenital’. On physical examination, James was found to be paralysed on the left side and his left foot was clubbed. He was epileptic. The diagnosis was ‘Idiocy’. On 7 November 1884, James died. The Cause of Death was Brain Disease and Phthisis Pulmonalis, duration one year. He was 20 years old.


William Archibald was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on 1 January 1880. He was 28 years old, married and a cook. He lived at 25 East London Street, Edinburgh and was a pauper patient from St Cuthbert’s. The diagnosis was ‘General Paralysis’. On 24 January 1890, he died of Bronchopneumonia. The text says he was about 40 years old, though according to the case notes he was 30.


William Beattie was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on the 17 April 1880. He was 45 years old, single, and a tailor. He was a pauper patient from St Cuthbert’s and had been transferred from Dundee Royal Asylum. His Transfer Certificate recorded: ‘He is deaf, dumb, and in a frail state of bodily health’. The diagnosis was ‘Melancholia’.


William Walls was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on 4 April 1879. He was 48 years old and was described as a married shopkeeper or merchant. He was a private patient and lived at 148 Links, Kirkcaldy. The diagnosis was ‘Melancholia’. In the text that accompanies his portrait, William Walls’s surname is misspelt as ‘Wells’. It also states that he was ‘ill through loose living’, though there is no mention of this in the case notes.


Thomas Shuster was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on 20 September 1878. He was 23 years old, single and described as a labourer. He lived at 5 St John’s Hill, Edinburgh and was a pauper patient from St Cuthbert’s. The diagnosis was ‘Mania’. On 23 October 1878, Shuster was discharged recovered. Between 1879 and 1885 Shuster had four further admissions, all with the diagnosis of ‘Mania’. Shuster was eventually discharged relieved on 20 October 1890. His name is spelt wrongly and he is said to have suffered a shock through disappointment in love, whereas the case notes stated that the cause of insanity was ‘fright’.


David Thomson was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on 1 April 1882. He was 24 years old, single and described as a mason. He was from St Cuthbert’s Parish. He was said to have a hereditary predisposition and was considered to be suicidal and dangerous. In November 1899, he was transferred to Craiglockhart, ‘Not Improved’.


Charles Young was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on 8 March 1880. He was 36 years old, single and described as a journeyman and upholsterer. He lived at 204 Rose Street and was a pauper patient from the City Parish. The diagnosis was ‘General Paralysis’ and he died of ‘General Paralysis of the Insane’ on 3 December 1882.


James McNeil was admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on 1 June 1882. He was 66 years old, single and described as a labourer. He was a pauper patient from Inveresk Combination Poorhouse. The diagnosis was ‘Melancholia’. On 12 December, he died of heart disease and softening of the brain.


1882

DEP/ANO/37

Regulations for the Keepers and Servants in the Lunatic Asylum, Edinburgh Charity Workhouse

A list of 14 regulations.

1828

DEP/ANO/45

Blank form of 'Petition to the Sheriff to Grant Order for the Reception of a Patient into an Asylum'

 

1937

DEP/AWP/5/4/4

'Outlines of Pathology and Practice of Medicine' by William Pulteney Alison

Part II pp251-499 of the printed proof volume (Pt 3 on the spine). Heavily annotated. Loose notes had been interleaved in the volume and are stored in a separate folder. The page number at which each insert was located is given on the item. Includes case notes from 1857 and a letter from T Smith Ropwe at the Royal Edinburgh Asylum including a pathology report on Patrick Bannerman dated September 1854.

1843-1857

DEP/AWP/5/4/5

'Outlines of Pathology and Practice of Medicine' by William Pulteney Alison

Part III pp501-736 of the printed proof volume. Heavily annotated. Loose notes had been interleaved in the volume and are stored in a separate folder. The page number at which each insert was located is given on the item. Includes a letter to Alison from James Howden of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, 22 September 1854; and a letter to Alison from Samuel Gaskell of the County Hospital for the Insane, Lancaster, 30 May 1842.

1842-1854

DEP/BAM/1

Transcriptions of talks delivered by Mike Barfoot

The talks are:

Club of Science Studies Unit, Edinburgh (late 1970s), 'Interests and Instincts'

Scottish [Philosophy Seminar], Edinburgh (early 1980s), 'Gregory on Causation Activity and Language'

Wellcome Seminar, Edinburgh (27 March 1985), 'Clinical Medicine at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in the Eighteenth Century'

George Drummond Tercentenary Lecture, Edinburgh City Chambers (1986), 'George Drummond'

The Legacy of Adam Smith Symposium, Vancouver (September 1990), 'Adam Smith and William Cullen: Hypochondriasis and the Pathology of the Imagination'

Wellcome Symposium, London (19 February 1993), 'Desirous of Power Over the Minds of Men: The Early Life of Thomas Laycock, 1812-1876'

Edinburgh History of Medicine Group Seminar (16 March 1994), 'To Ask the Suffrages of the Patrons: Thomas Laycock's Election tot he Edinburgh Practice of Physic Chair, 1855'

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Symposium (27 September 1995), 'The Body Politic: Bennett's Edinburgh Career, 1848-1875'

Symposium in Memory of Professor William Parry-Jones, History of Psychiatry in Scotland (10 October 1998), 'Peribinkles and the Tiger's Head: Making-out as an Asylum Assistant Physician in Nineteenth-Century Scotland'

Wellcome Seminar [early 1990s?], 'Thomas Clouston'

British Society for the History of Medicine, Edinburgh conference (1990s), 'Edinburgh's Infirmary in the 18th century - The Birth of the Clinic?'

Talk from unknown event (12 March 2008), 'Alexander Morison'

Wellcome Trust Regional Forum, University of Glasgow (10 October 2009), 'David Skae's Lectures on Insanity at the Royal Edinburgh Asylum'

'Paper given at Aberdeen and perhaps elsewhere' (early 2000s), 'Love's Labour's Lost: The Work, Exercise and Health of Pauper Inmates of Nineteenth Century Scottish Asylums'

Wellcome History of Psychology Conference, [2000s?], 'A 19th century Lit. and Ill Society: The Royal Edinburgh Asylum Library Club'

[Late 1970s-2000s]

DEP/BAM/2

Manuscripts of unpublished papers written by Mike Barfoot

The manuscripts are:

Review of Edinburgh Science Studies Unit up to 1978 (1978)

Paper criticising David Bloor's use of Mary Douglas Grid Group Theory (late 1970s-early 1980s)

Paper originally prepared for abortive volume to be edited by Malcolm Nicholson, 'Pedagogy, Practice and Politics: the Gregory-Bell Dispute and the Nature of the Early 19th Century Edinburgh Medicine' (1980s)

Suppressed PhD chapter, 'Thomas Reid: The Efficient Theory of Causation, Natural Philosophy and God's Theatre of Nature' (1980s)

PhD content, 'Newton Neutered: Lord Monboddo's Verdict on the Active Powers' (1980s)

Draft PhD chapter, not used in final version, 'Remedies, the Explanation of Nervous Disease and the Practice of Medicine in the Writings of Whytt, Cullen and Gregory' (1981)

'Causation and Context: Two Responses to Hume in Late 18th Century Scotland' (1981)

'Olson's View of James Gregory' (1983)

'Clinical Medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 1750-1810' (1983-1986)

Review of Gunter Risse's 'Hospital Life in Enlightenment Scotland' (1986)

'Hume and the Culture of Science in Early Eighteenth Century Britain' (1986)

'To Catch a Nightingale: Nursing Reforms at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 1872-1900' (1994)

'The Body Politic: Bennett's Edinburgh Career, 1848-1875' (1997)

'Modernity and Edinburgh Medicine: Postgraduate Education, Scientific Medicine and the Laboratory' (2000)

'The Eighteenth Century Influence of the Edinburgh Medical School on Medical Teaching in Philadelphia, with a Brief Note on Benjamin Franklin's Edinburgh and Scottish Connections' (2000)

'Richard Poole and Institutional Provision for Edinburgh and Midlothian Lunatics During the 1820s and 1830s' (undated)

'Understanding Alexander Morison's Mental Disease Practice in Early Nineteenth Century Scotland, Part 1' (undated)

'Contested Charity: Andrew Duncan and the Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum, 1792-1828' (undated)

'Surgical Education and Practice in Edinburgh During the Early 1730s: An Eye-Witness Account' (undated)

[1978-2000]

DEP/BRC/1

Letter to Sir James [Crichlon] Browne, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, England, from...

Regarding his forwarding of the essay in question.


Letter found with paperback copy of library item 'William Shakespeare: syphilographer', by Augustine O'Downey

9 Mar 1909

DEP/BRC/2

Letter to Sir James [Crichlon] Browne, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, England, from...

Regarding his forwarding of the essay in question.


Letter found with hardback copy of library item 'William Shakespeare: syphilographer', by Augustine O'Downey

13 Mar 1909

DEP/BWA

Collection of William Alexander Francis Browne

 

c1830 - c1860

DEP/BWA/2

'What Asylums Were, Are and Ought To Be Being the Substance of Five Lectures Delivered Before the...

This section contains manuscript versions of Browne's book published in 1837. The volumes are largely fair copies but include some annotations and amendments.

May 1837

DEP/BWA/2/1

'What Asylums Were, Are and Ought To Be Being the Substance of Five Lectures Delivered Before the...

Includes a dedication to Andrew Combe MD and a letter of acknowledgement addressed to the Mangers of Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum. The volume contains lecture I - 'What is Insanity?' and lecture II - 'What are the statistics of insanity?'.

May 1837

DEP/BWA/2/2

'What Asylums Were, Are and Ought To Be Being the Substance of Five Lectures Delivered Before the...

The volume contains lecture III - 'What Asylums Were' and lecture IV - 'What Asylums Are'.

May 1837

DEP/BWA/2/3

'What Asylums Were, Are and Ought To Be Being the Substance of Five Lectures Delivered Before the...

The volume contains lecture V - 'What Asylums Ought To Be'.

May 1837

DEP/CAM

Collection of Margaret Campbell

 

1981-1998

DEP/COJ/5/6

Reports of the Royal Asylum of Montrose

From the collection of John Dixon Comrie.

1916

DEP/DUA

Collection of Andrew Duncan the elder

 

c1774-1826

DEP/HAL/4/37

Letters concerning Pierre Le Sassier's employment at the Manchester Infirmary Lunatic Hospital

From the collection of family papers of Alexander Hamilton. Addressed to Dr Le Sassier. One letter, from J Hilton, offers him the post of physician to the Infirmary Lunatic Hospital and the other, from John Hargreaves of the Manchester Infirmary Dispensary Lunatic Hospital and Asylum Weekly Board, accepts his resignation. Includes a covering note by Le Sassier.

23 Sep 1790 - 19 Jan 1795

DEP/HAL/4/38

Notices of Dr Le Sassier's rotation as in-patient physician

From the collection of family papers of Alexander Hamilton. Issued by Manchester Infirmary Dispensary Lunatic Hospital and Asylum.

14 Jun 1794 - 13 Dec 1794

DEP/KWS/5/14

Newspaper cuttings collected by Samuel Kinnier Wilson

Includes articles on: a speech given by Kinnier Wilson to the Neurology Section of the British Medical Association, 1927; George Watson's School; the unveiling of a memorial window to John and Rachel Wilson of Lettereagh and John's brother James Kinnier Wilson erected by Eliza Russell, Samuel Kinnier Wilson and Edina Paul from 'The Northern Standard', October 1931; a number of articles on Kinnier Wilson from Danish newspapers Nationaltidende, Dagens Nyheder, Politiken, Berlingske Aften and Ekstrabladet, c1931; and an envelope labelled 'War cuttings and others' with articles on the First World War, particularly German atrocities, other articles on medical subjects including Kinnier Wilson's appointment to the Metropolitan Asylums Board even though he was over forty with a letter from Alexander Hunt on the subject, a programme for Sports Day at the Abbey School attended by Kinnier Wilson's son, and an open letter to the medical profession of England signed by eight professors, Hamburg, November 1914.

Mar 1929