Asylum
A selection of Victorian patients at The Lawns Hospital, Lincoln’s lunatic asylum. These photographs were captured by an unknown photographer in 1898-99. Processing these images with modern digital technology to produce accurate colour discombobulates our perception of this historical period, and challenges our preconceptions of what life inside a Victorian asylum was truly like.
Miss Edith Harriet Richards, August 1899
Admitted January 17th 1899, age 21
Diagnosed with delusional mania
Transfrerred to Joshua Counties Asylum June 14th 1918
Mr. Richard Freddy Mason, October 1898
Admitted October 7th 1897, age 65
Diagnosed with “idiocy with excitement - idiot from birth”
Died at Lincoln Asylum May 5th 1901
Mrs. Caroline Eliott Thompson, August 1899
Admitted November 22nd 1898, age 41
Diagnosed with recurrent delusional mania
Discharged to family April 24th 1910
Dr. Graham Philip Godfrey, August 16th 1899
Admitted 5th December 1897, age 36
Surgeon, suffered dementia and partial paralysis due to “life of excess”
Died at Lincoln Asylum February 29th 1901
Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Howard, August 1899
Admitted March 29th 1899, age 40
Assistant matron in House of Deaf and Mute Children
Diagnosed with melancholia and anxiety
Transferred to York Asylum May 28th 1902
Mr. William Charles Dodson, August 17th 1899
Admitted 22nd October 1898, age 27
Schoolmaster and clerk, diagnosed with melancholia due to overwork
Recovered and discharged October 27th 1899
Mrs. Catherine Buxton, August 22nd 1899
Admitted December 14th 1896, age 57
Diagnosed with mania, caused by “ill treatment in married life”
Died at Lincoln Asylum December 9th 1910