BEEF TEA

‘A good nutritious diet’ was believed to extremely beneficial for asylum patients. Aside from general medicines, treatment for mental illness generally focused on improving physical health. Commonly written in the patient case notes was the prescription of extra diet, which consisted of eggs, milk, and beef tea.

Beef tea was a broth made simply from beef and water, and was commonly taken by people recovering from illness. It was especially helpful for those who struggled to digest solid foods, and was given to patients at Powick who to treat a number of conditions, such as mania, dementia, and melancholia.

Bovril was a branded form of beef tea, first invented in 1871 as a way of feeding Napoleon III’s army. It wasn’t long before it was stocked in chemists, pubs, and shops in Britain, and was renamed ‘Bovril’ in 1886. It was especially popular during the First World War, as it was frequently given to soldiers.