Information

Whittingham Hospital Reception Orders: A New Volunteer Project by Lancashire Records Office.

A new volunteer project at Lancashire Record Office will improve access to the patient records of Whittingham Asylum, near Preston. Work started in June 2009 on listing the 33.000 reception and transfer orders (HRW 12) which exist for almost every patient who went there - whether for a few days or for a lifetime. The list will provide an index to the patient records, which are already in demand as people discover, from census returns or death certificates, that an ancestor or family member spent time in the instituition.

As soon as the first ten boxes are completed (up to patient number 3299) the list will be put on LANCAT (Lancashire on-line catalogue which is available via www.archive.lancashire.give.uk) - probably around Christmas 2009. However, please note that, because of the sensitive nature of the information contained in the records, reception orders less than 100 years old will not be fully open to public inspection.

The reception orders for Whittingham not only provide a valuable index of patients and a great deal of information about their background but also evidence contempory attitudes to mental illness. Whittingham was built to relieve overcrowding in the existing county asylums at Prestwich, Lancaster and Rainhill. When the hospital opened in 1873 most of the patients for the first few years were transferred from other Lancashire and North West asylums or from local workhouses.

Most patients at Whittingham were "paupers", or chargeable to a Poor Law Union, and were admitted by 'summary reception order'. They were taken before a Justice of the Peace by one of the Relieving Officers of the Poor Law Union - often at a workhouse where they had spent the last few days under observation - or by the Police. Following verbal examination of the patient and consideration of observations provided by a medical practitioner, the JP would issue the order for admission.

Each order encapsulates part of a life story. Not only does it record basic biographical details but it also gives us a glimpse of the persoanl and family circumstances of each person and allows us to consider and imagine the tragedy and suffering arising from mental health issues in the lives of the Victorian poor.

For further information about this project, please contact the Lancashire Record Office, Bow Lane, Preston on 01772 533039 or via email at record.office@lancashire.gov.uk.

Contact

A number of ex-staff members have contacted us through the web site in the hope of contacting lost friends and colleagues. Some of these people have been re-introduced to each other after the passing of many years and have had the opportunity to renew old friendships. Below, is a list of names of ex-staff members who have contacted the site; if you would like to contact them in return, simply send us your email address and we will forward it on to them with your name and then it will be up to you to make your own re-introductions.

Paul Nuthall; Ken Kirby (Aus); Anna Rigby nee Fiordiponti; John Regan; Michael J McGivern (NZ); Robert (Bob) Blackburn; Bernard Pennington in Germany; Catherine M MacKenzie; Michael Holmes; John Beard; Maria Ferguson; Paul Baines; Lawrence Butterfield; Bob Mirfin; Sue Park (Aus); Tom Webb in the Phillipines; Steven Lyon; Christiane Legrand in Switzerland; Gerry McCormack; Maurice Lavery; Kevin Brennan; Harry E Taylor; Paul Sheridan (NZ); Angela Knowles (NZ); Max Stephens (NZ); Stuart Inches (Aus); Gail Farrington (Aus); Mr J O'Donnell; John Giddins; Ken Cookson; Gary Ryan; Keith Markillie (CAN); Richard Crookes; Glyn "Taffy" Hughes; Graham Bird.

LOOKING FOR: Would Tricia Dickinson please contact us and confirm that she has the information to contact Trevor Jones, thanks. Also, would Lionel (Les) Tobias contact as Michael Harper urgently needs to contact him.