The funeral was a symbolic event in Welsh society, and members of staff and relatives of patients at the Denbigh Asylum shared cultural assumptions about the importance of a final resting place for the body. Formal procedures following the death of a patient were governed by asylum rules and regulations. At Denbigh the asylum chaplain played an important role, both in terms of ministering to the dying and in performing the funeral ceremony. During the late nineteenth century the burial ground became a contested space as nonconformists and Roman Catholics fought against the ascendancy of the Anglican Church in Wales and demanded that patients be buried according to their religious affiliation. The lunatic asylum became a site for advancing the case for Welsh disestablishment. By the twentieth century, infectious diseases had become a serious concern, and the need to carry out screening and conduct post-mortem examinations resulted in the appointment of a pathologist, whose main role was to conduct biological and histological examinations to identify cases of tuberculosis, syphilis, dysentery, typhoid, influenza and other bodily diseases.
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2.
Anonymous (1883) Denbigh. North Wales Chronicle (7Apr.).
3.
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4.
X/LH 71 (1849) Rules for the Government of the North Wales Asylum for the Insane, Denbigh, 1849
5.
X/LH 71 (1850) First Annual Report of the North Wales Lunatic Asylum for the year 1849.
6.
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7.
HD/1/2 (1855) 6th, for the year 1854; HD/1/2 (1857) 8th, for the year 1856; HD/1/2 (1860) 11th, for the year 1859; HD/1/3 (1864) 15th, for the year 1863; HD/1/3 (1865) 16th, for the year 1864; HD/1/3 (1867) 18th, for the year 1866; HD/1/3 (1868) 19th, for the year 1867; HD/1/4 (1872) 23rd, for the year 1871; HD/1/5 (1883) 34th, for the year 1882; HD/1/5 (1885) 36th, for the year 1884; HD/1/5 (1890) 41st, for the year 1889; HD/1/6 (1897) 48th, for the year 1896–7; HD/1/7 (1907) 58th, for the year 1906–7; HD/1/8 (1913) 64th, for the year 1912–13; HD/1/8 (1914) 65th, for the year 1913–14; HD/1/14 (1947) 99th, for the year 1946–47, Table II.
8.
HD/1/70 (1882) Regulations and Orders for the Management and Conduct of the North Wales Counties Lunatic Asylum and for the Guidance and Instruction of the Officers, Attendants, and Servants, Denbigh.
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HD/1/78 (1898) General Rules for the government of the North Wales Counties Lunatic Asylum, pursuant to Section 275 of the Act 53, Vict. C. 5. Denbigh, printed by Gee and Son.
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