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Lunacy and the `Islands in the British Seas'

University of Bangor, j.d.hirst{at}bangor.ac.uk

In the mid-nineteenth century the Dependent Territories of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man all had small, relatively stable populations, many of whom did not speak English as their first language. The response of each to the public asylum movement was very different. Guernsey had an asylum by 1852, but Jersey and the Isle of Man opened permanent asylums only in 1868. This comparative study examines the interactions between British government agencies, the Home Office, Commissioners in Lunacy and Lieutenant Governors, and the autonomous insular legislatures. It discusses the reasons why Jersey and the Isle of Man were reluctant to establish publicly funded asylums, the alternatives considered, and the opportunities afforded to private madhouse proprietors by absent or lax supervisory frameworks.

Key Words: asylum • Channel Islands • Commissioners in Lunacy • Dorothea Dix • Guernsey • history • Isle of Man • Jersey • lunatic • 19th century

History of Psychiatry, Vol. 18, No. 4, 411-433 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0957154X06075184


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