| AdminHistory | The Mentally Defective Sub-Committee was appointed in March 1914, under the provisions of the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913, and consisted of seven members. Its function was to carry out the Act to provide care, both out-patient and institutional, for the ‘four classes’ of ‘mental deficient’; these were termed idiots, namely those unable to guard themselves against common physical dangers such as fire, water or traffic; imbecile, or those could guard against physical dangers but were incapable of managing themselves or their affairs; the feeble-minded, who needed care or control for protection of self or others; and moral defectives, who had vicious or criminal propensities, which developed to include unmarried women with babies. In response to this Act, the name of the main committee was changed in March 1914 to the Lunatic Asylums Committee and Committee for the Care of the Mentally Defective. This sub-committee became a standing committee in its own right in November 1921 (see BCC/1/BY Mental Deficiency Act Sub-Committee minutes). |