Powick Hospital was a mental institution which was closed in 1989. The institution was known as Worcester City and County Pauper Lunatic Asylum when first built in 1852 and after the Second World War changed to Powick Mental Hospital. It was built as a response to the Lunatic Asylums Act of 1845 to house patients from Worcestershire with mental illness. Corridors were designed to be 12 feet wide and some were 686 feet long so patients could exercise in them. There was an asylum chapel for Anglican services to be held, (the only time patients were in mixed-sex groups).
Architecture plans, 1848. Copyright Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service
Architects planned to accommodate 200 patients and by the time it was closed they had treated over 25,000 people from the Worcestershire area. Patients were diagnosed with dementia, idiocy, mania, melancholia or a combination of these with general awareness of mental health issues being at the early stages of knowledge.
More recent memories of working there can be found here through George Marshall Medical Museum's videos online.
An historian working with the medical museums has written a short booklet about the hospital during the First World War. Click here for more details.
Click here to listen to a brand new podcast recorded with Sarah Dentith and History West Midlands’ Mike Gibbs about Powick Hospital and patients during the First World War.
outside the asylum
Can you help George Marshall Medical Museum with a spot of family history research to find out about some people who were admitted to the Worcester City and County Lunatic Asylum in the 19th century? Get in touch if you’d like to help.
Our aim is to share more patients’ stories, and to find out about their lives before admission and (where possible) after discharge.
Click on one of the patients at the following page to find out what we know so far about six selected patients: https://medicalmuseum.org.uk/outside-the-asylum
online database of patients
You can now search an online database of patients by name, age, condition, or admission or discharge date. Click on the button below to be taken to the database. Please bear with us if the database pulls up an incorrect image or no image at all. With over 9000 records, we are still working through some technical issues. If something goes wrong, email us at gmmedicalmuseum@gmail.com. We will do our best to find you the correct patient information.
Please note we do not hold any physical records for patients. These are all held at Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service.
Dr. FRank Crompton
Research Fellow Dr. Crompton has spent over a decade working with the archives of patients admitted to the Worcestershire asylum. He was instrumental in transcribing case notes to ensure the database could become a reality, and has written a number of books and articles about specific conditions, patients and staff.
Click here to be taken to a page of resources compiled by Dr. Crompton.