Engraving by A. Soly of Bedlam
• Also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam.
• The word "bedlam", meaning uproar and confusion, is derived from the hospital's nickname. Although the hospital became a modern psychiatric facility, historically it was representative of the worst excesses of asylums in the era of lunacy reform.
• In 1247 the Priory of St Mary of Bethlehem was founded, devoted to healing sick paupers. The small establishment became known as Bethlehem Hospital. Londoners later abbreviated this to 'Bethlem' and often pronounced it 'Bedlam'.
• Its patients also included people with learning disabilities, 'falling sickness' (epilepsy) and dementia.
• The hospital regime was a mixture of punishment and religious devotion - chains, manacles, locks and stocks appear in the hospital inventory from this time.
• The shock of corporal punishment was believed to cure some conditions.
• Bethlem has long been associated with scandal and abuse in the public mind.
• The hospital has relocated three times, first to Moorfields in 1676, then to St George’s Fields in 1815, and finally to Beckenham, Kent in 1930.
• In 1999, Bethlem and Maudsley were merged with other South London mental health services to form the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.
• On the website, there's an events page, archive and online gallery of patients' work which I will look more into!
• Exhibition: Landscapes of the Mind Thomas Hennell (1903-1945)
coincides with the publication of a book on the artist by Jessica Kilburn, titled Thomas Hennell: The Land and the Mind.
• "Spending time outside and in nature has long been understood to improve people’s physical and mental health, and these benefits have been brought into sharp focus for everyone during the COVID-19 pandemic. The parks and streets we use to exercise and the houses we live, work, homeschool and play in, have taken on new significance over the past year."
• Hennell was a successful professional artist, but also painted scenes that recorded his personal experience, including the time he spent as a patient at Claybury and the Maudsley Hospitals, the landscapes near his home, as well as the places he visited to paint and rest. This exhibition traces the artist’s life through these places and explores their significance and their impact on the artist’s own wellbeing.
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