Our Family History

Josiah Thomas was born on 29th August 1869 in Hornsey, London and was baptised on 4th December 1870 at the Holy Trinity Church, Haverstock Hill. He grew up in Islington with his family living first in George Mews and then at 5 Mitford Road.

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On 18th August 1879 9 year old Josiah began attending the newly built Grafton Road School in Holloway.

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In 1891 Josiah had left home and was lodging at 30 Hornsey Rise, Upper Holloway with Mr William Archer and his family. 22 year old Josiah, just like his father before him, had become employed as a coachman and Groom. Mr Archer and fellow lodger George Watts were also employed in the same occupation. Mr Archer lived with his wife Anne, and 4 children aged between 4 and 13 besides his two paying lodgers so conditions must have been quite cramped for everyone, considering the property only had 4 rooms.

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What happened to Josiah in the early 1890’s we really do not know, but his fortunes and his mental health had certainly taken a turn for the worst. On the 3rd June 1896 27 year old Josiah Thomas was admitted to the Ishmael Ward of the workhouse in Islington. His address was listed as 3 Kelvin Mews & his mother’s name of Sarah was also recorded.

 

Although described as “clean” Josiah was made to bathe upon entry to the workhouse. He was not allowed to wear his own clothes, nor was he allowed any of his own possessions – these had to be given to the matron. He was not allowed to use any cutlery or shaving materials either and at 4.15pm the following day he had to be physically restrained by staff. 2 days later on 6th June Josiah was seen by a magistrate and was then discharged from the workhouse and detained at St Bernard's Hospital, which was also known as The Hanwell Insane Asylum or Lunatic Asylum.  

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Hanwell was the first pauper lunatic asylum for the county of Middlesex. It opened in June 1831, originally to take 500 patients, but the building was enlarged in 1831, 1837, 1857 and 1879 to cope with the increasing demand for beds.

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Hanwell achieved great prominence in the field of psychiatric nursing due to the work of two of its first Medical Superintendents. Sir William Ellis, the first Medical Superintendent at Hanwell (1831-1838) introduced his idea of "Therapy of Employment", which encouraged patients to use the skills and trades which they had acquired before entering the Asylum, to occupy themselves, for the benefit of the Asylum and as an aid in their treatment by restoring their self-respect and by reviving an aspect of their lives from before their illness.

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Dr John Conolly, the third Medical Superintendent at Hanwell and later its Visiting Physician (1839-1852) abolished all use of mechanical restraints to control patients at the Asylum. Although he was not the first to use more humane methods of treating the insane, the abolition of mechanical restraints at Hanwell was the first time that the idea had been applied on such a large scale and on so many different types of patients. It was a huge success and attracted visitors from all over England and encouraged the abolition of mechanical restraints in other Asylums. By using Ellis's system of employment for therapy, and with padded rooms and periods of seclusion or solitary confinement, and some sedatives, Conolly was able to control even the most violent patients without resorting to mechanical restraints. Protective clothing was sometimes used to prevent patients tearing their clothing or breaking crockery but these never restricted their movements. No mechanical restraints were used at Hanwell between 1840 and 1890.

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Hanwell's full title was the Middlesex County Asylum at Hanwell. In 1889 the Asylum was taken over by the newly formed London County Council and became the London County Asylum, Hanwell.

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Hanwell’s design consisted of a central octagonal 'panopticon' tower with a basement and two other floors. The windows were tall with semicircular bonded gauge brick arches at the top. There were two wings of one basement and just one other floor in the form of a west-east corridor.  Both wings turn north, and each terminates at its own panopticon tower, which again has a basement and two floors; the overall building forms three sides of a square. The east side of the central tower was intended for the male patients and the west for the females. With germ theory beginning to be developed around this time, spreading the wards out in this manner was thought to help reduce the spread of infections.

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The design also reduced the need to build corridors and saved money. The wards themselves were long and thin with a corridor from one part of the asylum to another running through the ward itself. From the air the design is roughly symmetrical with services: kitchens; laundry; management; chapel and hall (used for parties, theatre and dances) all located in the middle with wards laid out to each side, male to the left of the entrance and female to the right.

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As Hanwell was the first purpose-built asylum in England and Wales, this became a model for future hospitals and was copied and modified by the designers of countless other asylums across England and Wales (for example Horton, Colney Hatch, Claybury, or Springfield.)

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It was found essential for recovery that the patients should get out into full daylight for fresh air and exercise, so the ground floor wards had 'airing courts' which were shared by the other wards upstairs. These were pleasantly laid out areas with seating and bounded by walls or railings. Some patients, well into their recovery, were allowed to walk and work in the surrounding fields. The asylum had its own carpentry, bakery and brewery along with many other services and was as self-sufficient as possible. The asylum paid the canal company for taking water from the canal and had its own dock to receive barges. This was very convenient for receiving coal deliveries, which was used not only for heating but for producing gas for lighting.

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I have found no further records pertaining to Josiah Thomas after his detention in Hanwell, so I suspect that he may have remained there for the rest of his natural life.

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BELOW IS A GALLERY OF IMAGES SHOWING HANWELL ASYLUM IN THE LATE 19th & EARLY 20th CENTURY WHEN JOSIAH WOULD HAVE BEEN A PATIENT / INMATE