Genealogy Forum UK

In a census search I came across an 1881 census for an asylum. It seems that most of the women were servants with proffession down as nurse, and while there were some men down as servants the majority were down as pauper patients. The institution in question is in Ecclesfield, Yorkshire.

My question is twofold: were there really nearly one nurse per patient, maybe there were really inmates too; and was it a mental hospital or could it have been a workhouse? Some of the men are down as lunatics (as well as their trade), but most just have a trade recorded. The age range is from child to late 70's, but most are between 30 and 50.
Were there seperate institutions for men and women?

Lunatic asylums had a mixture of both male and female sharing the same wards until late in the 19th century.

Some workhouses also housed lunatics in a seperate wing/building than the normal inmates.

The ratio of nurses to lunatics was pretty high as their care was very much hands on.

Inmates was a reference to anybody living in an institution such a workhouse, reformatory, prison, school etc. Peole who lived in inns/pubs were also called inmates.

On the census entry I saw, there didn't appear to be female inmates - only a mix of staff and male inmates of varying ages.

On another genealogy hunt I found a member of my family had died in a mental hospital (it wasn't called an asylum, but a bit of research led me to the type of patients who were admitted). I later found out that senile people or just elderly people who couldn't cope on their own could end up in such an institution.

snoopysue wrote:On the census entry I saw, there didn't appear to be female inmates - only a mix of staff and male inmates of varying ages.

On another genealogy hunt I found a member of my family had died in a mental hospital (it wasn't called an asylum, but a bit of research led me to the type of patients who were admitted). I later found out that senile people or just elderly people who couldn't cope on their own could end up in such an institution.

And so could unmarried mothers!

Maths girl wrote:

snoopysue wrote:On the census entry I saw, there didn't appear to be female inmates - only a mix of staff and male inmates of varying ages.

On another genealogy hunt I found a member of my family had died in a mental hospital (it wasn't called an asylum, but a bit of research led me to the type of patients who were admitted). I later found out that senile people or just elderly people who couldn't cope on their own could end up in such an institution.

And so could unmarried mothers!

I'd forgotten about those