Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland

The Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland or Lunacy Commission for Scotland were a public body established by the Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857 to oversee asylums and the welfare of mentally ill people in Scotland.

Previous bodies

The Madhouses (Scotland) Act 1815 established the right of Scottish Sheriffs to order the inspection of madhouses.{{cite journal|title=The 1815 Act to Regulate Madhouses in Scotland: A Reinterpretation|journal=Medical History|date=1 January 2009|pmc=2629162|pmid=19190749|volume=53|issue=1|pages=57–76 | last1 = Barfoot | first1 = M|doi=10.1017/s0025727300003318}}

Establishment

The Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland was established in 1857 by the Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857.{{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1857-06-09/debates/8933a30d-db74-43cf-b93d-3181a03748de/Lunatics(Scotland)—Leave?highlight=lunacy#contribution-e8bb593f-6891-4553-b1d1-53488096c708 |title=Lunatics (Scotland) |publisher=Hansard|date=9 June 1857|accessdate=25 April 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1900/apr/02/lunacy-board-scotland-salaries-etc-bill|title=Lunacy Board (Scotland) (Salaries, etc.) Bill|publisher=Hansard|date=2 April 1900|accessdate=25 April 2019}} There were two Commissioners of Lunacy each paid £1,200 a year and two Deputy Commissioners each paid £600 a year.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1900/mar/22/lunacy-board-scotland-salaries-c|title=Lunacy Board (Scotland) (Salaries, etc.) Bill|publisher=Hansard|date=22 March 1900|accessdate=25 April 2019}}

Chairmen of the board were as follows:

1857-1859 William Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 3rd Earl of Minto{{cite web|url=http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/minto1813.htm|title=William Hugh Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 3rd Earl of Minto, KT|publisher=Cracrofts Peerage|accessdate=25 April 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townhistory754.html|title=Minto|publisher=Scottish Places|accessdate=25 April 2019}}
1859-1863 William Forbes Mackenzie
1863-1893 Sir John Don-Wauchope
1894-1897 Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael
1897-1909 Walter George Hepburne-Scott, 9th Lord Polwarth{{cite web|url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p12424.htm|title=Walter George Hepburne-Scott, 9th Lord Polwarth|publisher=The Peerage|accessdate=25 April 2019}}
1909-1913 Sir Thomas Mason{{cite web|url=http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/edward-walford/the-county-families-of-the-united-kingdom-or-royal-manual-of-the-titled-and-un-fla/page-245-the-county-families-of-the-united-kingdom-or-royal-manual-of-the-titled-and-un-fla.shtml|title=The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland|first=Edward|last=Walford|publisher=Spottiswood, Ballentyne and Co.|year=1919}}

The Commissioners themselves were physicians. Mainly based at 51 Queen Street in Edinburgh.Edinburgh Post Office directories These included:

Dr John Fraser FRSE 1895 - 1910Edinburgh Post Office directory 1905

Asylums commissioned

The legislation created a General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland. It also created district boards with the power to establish and operate publicly funded "district asylums" for patients who could not afford the fees charged by existing private and charitable "Royal Asylums".{{cite web|url=https://asylumgeographer.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/background-to-the-lunacy-scotland-act-1857/#_ftnref1|title=Background to the Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1857|date=13 November 2012|publisher=Asylum Geographies|accessdate=22 April 2019}} These existing "Royal Asylums" (with Royal Charters) were the Aberdeen Royal Lunatic Asylum, the Crichton Royal Institution, the Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum, the Royal Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum, the Glasgow Royal Lunatic Asylum, the Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum and James Murray's Royal Lunatic Asylum.Keane, p. 30 The aim of the legislation was to establish a network of "district asylums" with coverage throughout Scotland.{{cite journal|title=A 'Scottish Poor Law of Lunacy'? Poor Law, Lunacy Law and Scotland's parochial asylums|first=Lauren|last= Farquharson|journal=History of Psychiatry|volume=28|issue=1|pages=15–28|doi=10.1177/0957154X16678123|pmid=27895195|year=2017|s2cid=20353931|url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/132621/1/132621.pdf}}

The following asylums were commissioned under the auspices of the Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland:Keane, p. 399

In addition the Southern Counties Asylum, which was intended to provide facilities for paupers, was erected on the site of the Crichton Royal Institution (which focused on fee paying patients) in 1849 but subsequently amalgamated with the Crichton Royal Institution. Likewise the Dundee District Asylum, which was intended to provide facilities for paupers, was established alongside the Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum (which focused on fee paying patients) in 1903 but subsequently amalgamated with the Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum.

Successors

The Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1913 replaced the Commission with the General Board of Control for Scotland.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1918/jun/13/mental-deficiency-and-lunacy-scotland|title=Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1913|publisher=Hansard|accessdate=25 April 2019}}

References

Sources

{{cite web|url=https://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/6956/1/381871.pdf|title=Mental Health Policy in Scotland, 1908-1960 |first=A. M.|last= Keane |year=1987|publisher=University of Edinburgh|accessdate=22 April 2019}}

Category:Mental health legal history of the United Kingdom

Category:Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom