To cure those afflicted with the disease of insanity: Thomas Bakewell and Spring Vale Asylum

Abstract

Thomas Bakewell was a prominent, and rather colourful, lay proprietor of a private lunatic asylum in the early nineteenth century. He has perhaps been rather overlooked in the developing history of psychiatry and of the asylum. He wrote quite widely on mental disorder. His first book appeared in 1805. He later produced another, followed by numerous articles in popular literary journals. In the 1820s he became something of a 'popular psychiatrist'. Bakewell believed that insanity was curable, if treated properly and early enough. The treatment system he developed combined a medical approach, which was directed mainly at the bowels, with a fairly sophisticated 'moral treatment'. Spring Vale was opened in 1808, and was designed to enshrine Bakewell's treatment system. After some years of difficulty, it became a commercially successful venture. Despite his achievements at Spring Vale and his extensive writings, however, Bakewell never really succeeded in his goal of convincing public opinion and the legislature that his 'system' ought to be adopted as the model of good practice.