The Making of a Master of Lunacy

Dr. Frank Crompton, Research Fellow, has worked “obsessively” for almost 20 years to ensure that the Patients’ Notes from the Worcester City and County Pauper Lunatic Asylum are secure for future use by historians.

We are pleased to e-Publish his most recent book: The Making of a Master of Lunacy: The early career of Edward Marriot Cooke at the City and County Pauper Lunatic Asylum 1872 to 1897.

Click the following link to download the book as a .pdf., which Dr. Crompton has also indexed: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55b52e37e4b0addeebb56e63/t/63bbf17078ce8a61e06235c2/1673261427267/Crompton%2C+The+Making+of+a+Master+of+Lunacy.pdf

You can find further resources by Dr. Crompton at the following link on our website:- https://medicalmuseum.org.uk/frank-crompton

Happy Christmas from Worcester's Medical Museums

After returning to GMMM in September from Maternity Leave, Louise has had her work cut out remembering what her job was, but thankfully it all came back fairly quickly (sadly, it did not involve taking the rare book’s pillow to a dark corner of the museum and catching up on her sleep…).

Since September we’ve had just shy of 300 people attending our events (which isn’t bad in a few months) including:

  • Five school workshops

  • Talk to Lyppard Five-0 community group

  • Visit from a Medieval Apothecary and their ‘potions’

  • Happy Café for staff and volunteers at Worcestershire Royal Hospital (WITH THERAPY DOGS!)

  • Arts Workshop with local artists Sarah Millin and Andy Round

  • Poetry workshop with Worcestershire’s poet laureate

  • Lecture with Dr. Frank Crompton on the superintendents at Powick Hospital

  • Living autopsy with Dr Suzy Lishman CBE

After a year without a Curator in-house, people have been keen to donate their items, and we’ve now accepted a number of objects including a beautiful ophthalmic refraction kit from Kidderminster Treatment Centre; objects from the medical career of Lt. Col. G H Goddard DSO KGStJ RAMC; archive material relating to the Covid-19 pandemic; and photographs from the Castle Street Branch of the former Worcester Royal Infirmary, among many others!

It’s wonderful to have a Curator in place at The Infirmary Museum, too, and we have been busy at various volunteer fairs and working together to ensure we can shout loud and proud about the history of medicine in Worcester (and beyond). This, of course, includes a joint Christmas tree at Worcester Cathedral’s Christmas Tree Festival in the cloisters.

If you would like to get involved with the museums, there are a number of ways you can do so including volunteering your time and helping to conserve a rare book. Just get in touch if you’d like to find out more. Speaking of which, Louise P would like to thank Louise, Ken and Muriel for their brilliant work on the Reception desk on Fridays in her absence. What a great thing for our visitors to be greeted with upon arrival.

All that’s left is to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We’re planning another event with Worcestershire’s current poet laureate, more Happy Cafés (happier cafés?), and half-term events for the Spring, so watch this space and we’ll see you soon.

Happy Christmas!


THE MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENTS OF POWICK PAUPER LUNATIC ASYLUM

Evening Lecture with Dr Frank Crompton

Tuesday 6 December, 7:00pm at George Marshall Medical Museum, Lecture Theatre

POWICK PAUPER LUNATIC ASYLUM: SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS A GREAT SUCCESS, BUT THEN ‘THE DEAD HAND OF FENTONISM’

Frank Crompton has been working on the history of the Worcester City and County Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Powick, for more then 20 years. This paper will combine Frank’s interest in the patients of the asylum with an investigation into the first four Medical Superintendents of the institution between 1852 and 1950.

Tickets are free for this historical talk. Please contact us on 01905 760738 or email louise.price10@nhs.net for more information.

Unable to come to us? Join us online via Microsoft Teams

Meeting ID: 372 748 923 121
Passcode: faBeUd

The talk will be recorded for our YouTube channel.

Images (C) Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service.