Glossary

Much of the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century terminology used to diagnose and categorise people who experienced mental illness and/or intellectual disability and/or physical disability is no longer acceptable and nor is it used in the twenty-first century. However, this database has retained such terms, particularly when they appear in legislation and in institutional names and accounts. This has been done in order to demonstrate the marked changes in terminology that have taken place over nearly two centuries. Below terms used in institutional records that may be unfamiliar to some readers are explained.

Asylum - a large residential institution that housed different and segregated populations of women, men and children who were believed to be suffering from a mental illness and/or intellectual disability and/or physical disability. The term 'lunatic asylum' tended to be used in the early nineteenth century, while 'insane asylum' became more common in the late nineteenth century and continued into the early twentieth century.

Biddable insane - those men, women and children who were considered by the authorities to be manageable and able to accept and follow instructions in the asylums.

Cottages - smaller residential buildings, often constructed in the grounds of large insane asylums or mental hospitals from the late nineteenth century onwards, designed to accommodate small groups of either adults or children in a more home-like environment.

Industrial school - from the nineteenth century onwards these institutions were established to accommodate either destitute girls or boys or children who were vision impaired (blind), deaf, or unable to speak (dumb). These schools were not psychiatric institutions, but the trans-institutional nature of patient experiences meant that some people who experienced mental illness or various forms of disability were held in them. They have only been included in this database if the buildings or sites were subsequently transformed into psychiatric facilities.

Mental defective - a person with an intellectual disability.

Mentally handicapped - a person with an intellectual disability.

Mental hospital - this term replaced 'asylum' from the early twentieth century onwards when referring to a large, residential psychiatric institution.