The Royal Earlswood Hospital or The Royal Earlswood Asylum for 'Idiots'. in Redhill, Surrey was the first establishment to cater specifically for people with learning disabilities.[1] Previously they had been housed either in asylums for the mentally ill or in workhouses.
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Around 1847 Ann Serena Plumbe took an interest in the plight of the learning disabled, or "idiots" as they were unflinchingly termed at the time, and began to discuss what could be done to assist them. In discussion with Dr John Conolly (of the Hanwell Asylum) and Rev Dr Andrew Reed (a philanthropist and founder of several orphanages) they determined to educate such people.
In the spring of 1847 Reed toured Europe to gather information on institutions serving the purpose, and in October the project to found "The Asylum for Idiots" began. Lord Palmerston, Baron Rothschild and Lord Ashley became officers of the charity.
In 1848 a building was purchased and the first patients admitted. This building, Park House at Highgate, quickly proved to be small and a new building was commissioned. Several designs were submitted in competition and a Mr. Moffat's was chosen. The builder was John Jay of London Wall, whose varied work included substantial railway construction contracts, rebuilding the Houses of Parliament after the 1833 fire, and smaller architect-designed projects such as the Abney Park Chapel and Trinity Independent Chapel. The building was entirely financed by public subscription and Queen Victoria subscribed 250 guineas in the name of Edward Prince of Wales, who became a life member. Prince Albert took a special interest from the beginning. He laid the foundation stone in June 1853 and opened the Asylum in June 1855. In 1862 Queen Victoria conferred a Royal Charter on the asylum.
John Langdon-Down (after whom Down syndrome was named) was medical superintendent of the hospital from 1855 to 1868. At this time patients slept in fifteen-bed dormitories and there was one member of staff to each seven patients. Tuberculosis accounted for the majority of deaths in the institution.[2]
Patients were taught various manual trades such as carpentry, printing and brush-making, as well as domestic, garden and farm duties.
On 5 July 1958 the hospital ceased to be a charitable trust and was absorbed into the National Health Service.
A notable inmate was James Henry Pullen who carved wonderful works of art and built detailed models, including one of Brunel's Great Eastern.
For several decades two of HRH Queen Elizabeth II's cousins on her mother's side,the Queen Mother Elizabeth, Katherine Bowes-Lyon and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, were kept at the hospital, without visits from their family, the Bowes-Lyons, and were declared dead by the Bowes-Lyons in the 1963 publication of Burkes Peerage, possibly to prevent unwanted media attention. when this declaration was found to be false after a secret investigation in 1987, the royal earlswood became the centre of a media frenzy. the Bowes-Lyon's family were confronted and put it down to a family error. Buckingham palace later made a public statement confirming they were alive, however saying it was a "matter for the Bowes-Lyons family and not the Queen". The Bowes-Lyon family annouced that it would be to "Distressing" for them to vistit, on both the other patients and Katherine and Nerissa. In November 2011, a Channel 4 documentary profiled the sisters stating they were diagnosed as imbecilic but were both pleasant and had relatively happy lives, so ex-nurses recalled.
The hospital closed in 1997 as part of the Government's long-term plan to transfer the care of people with learning disabilities into the community, and is now the site of the recent Royal Earlswood Park residential development.
A number of the buildings are listed buildings: the main building,[1] the workshop[3] and the gate lodges[4]
This is housed in the Belfry Shopping Centre nearby in Redhill. It illustrates the history and development of the ayslum and contains works of James Henry Pullen (1835–1916). See links below.
David Wright, Mental Disability in Victorian England: The Earlswood Asylum, 1847-1901 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001)