Graphical version

Royal College of Surgeons of England

Fountain Mental Hosptial


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0114 MS0242

Held at: Royal College of Surgeons of England

Title: Fountain Mental Hosptial

Date(s): 1914-1927

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 17 boxes

Name of creator(s): Fountain Mental Hospital | 1912-1948
Brushfield | Thomas | fl 1886-1937 | surgeon

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

A new hospital was built in Tooting by the Metropolitan Asylums Board after a resurgence of Scarlet Fever in 1893. This was the 400 bed Fountain Fever Hospital, designed by Thomas W Aldwinckle, and built in nine weeks.

Most of the buildings were single-storey structures with timber frames, covered with boarding, felt and corrugated iron. On the inside, the walls were lined with boarding and asbestos on plaster. A porter's lodge stood at the west of the site at the entrance on Tooting Grove. It contained a gate office, waiting room, and lavatory, with discharging rooms and bathrooms to the rear. There were separate entrances at each side - the 'infected' one leading to the receiving wards, and the 'non-infected' one leading to the administration buildings and stores.

There were 8 ward blocks, arranged in two rows of 4, and all linked by a central covered way. Each block contained 24 beds, plus a scullery, attendant's bedroom and staff WC, linen room, and patients' bathroom. Two further isolation blocks were situated at the north-west edge of the site. The 'temporary' ward blocks were still in use in 1930. There was also accommodation for nursing staff, domestic staff and male servants, as well as workshops and a mortuary.

In 1911-1912, the hospital was redesignated as a mental hospital and became used for the accommodation of the lowest grade of severely subnormal children, becoming the Fountain Mental Hospital. In 1930, the administration of the hospital passed to the London County Council who retained it as a hospital for mentally defective children. From 1948 the hospital was known as the Fountain Hospital. It was demolished in 1963 and the site is now occupied by St George's Hospital.

Thomas Brushfield was a surgeon, and formerly the Senior Medical Officer at the Fountain Mental Hospital. This collection was compiled during his work there between 1914-1927, and is also known as the Brushfield Amentia Collection.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of the Founatin Mental Hospital, 1914-1927, comprising case notes; photograph albums and glass slides; and donation information, excerpts and reprints.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

As outlined in Scope and Content.

Conditions governing access:

By written appointment only.

Conditions governing reproduction:

No photocopying permitted.

Finding aids:

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated by Thomas Brushfield in 1931.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

The main administrative records are held at the London Metropolitan Archives.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Compiled by Anya Turner.
Source: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/?source=ddmenu_search2 and http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/MAB-Fountain/MAB-Fountain.shtml

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Sep 2008


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Medical records | Documents | Information sources
Photograph albums | Albums (documents) | Books | Publications | Communications media | Information sciences
Psychiatric hospitals | Hospitals | Health services
Medical institutions
Primary documents

Personal names
Brushfield | Thomas | fl 1886-1937 | surgeon

Corporate names
Fountain Mental Hospital

Places
Wandsworth | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe