| AdminHistory | In 1913, the 'Mental Deficiency Act' established four classes of mental illness; 'idiot', for those unable to guard themselves against common physical dangers such as fire, water or traffic; 'imbecile', for those who could guard against physical dangers but were incapable of managing themselves or their affairs; 'feeble-minded', for those needed care or control for protection of themselves or others; and 'moral defectives', namely who had vicious, or what were deemed as criminal, propensities (use of this category developed to include unmarried women with babies). The Act made Local Government responsible for the supervision and protection of the mentally ill, both within and outside of institutions. In response to this, the name of 'Lunatic Asylums Committee' was changed in March 1914 to the 'Lunatic Asylums Committee and Committee for the Care of the Mentally Defective', with responsibility for administering the Act being delegated to its own sub-committee (see BCC 1/AF 'Mental Defectives Sub-Committee'). In November 1921, the two functions were split into the 'Asylums Committee' and the 'Mental Deficiency Act Committee', the latter consisting of twelve members including the Lord Mayor.
The function of the committee was to certify institutions and patient, then administer care to patients, under the terms of the Act. The committee could refer patients to asylums, or institutions it certified, which could be run by the Local Authority, private bodies, another Authority or the Guardians of the Poor Law. Where the patient was referred to depended on the level of illness assessed in the patient and the level of care provided for by the institution. Patients could be sent to ‘colonies’, such as at Monyhull and Great Barr, or homes, such as the Agatha Stacey Home at Rednal, but the committee did refer patients much further afield, including Rampton. The committee also dealt with more general staffing and financial issues with regard to mental health care.
In 1925, the Corporation took over Coleshill Hall and Park, for the eventual residency of around 300 patients, to replace the Agatha Stacey Home. The institution did not open until September 1929. With the Local Government Act, 1929, the Corporation took over the old Poor Union institutions, so responsibility for Moneyhull came to the Public Assistance Committee, and was then transferred to the Mental Deficiency Committee.
The Mental Treatment Act, 1930, saw both a change in the way mental illness was described (the word ‘asylum’ had now become unfashionable) and allowed voluntary treatment for the first time. By the early 1930s, the Corporation allowed patients to undertake occupational work at Moneyhull, such as basket making and tailoring. Entertainments were also supplied; the Colony had its own band, visited the cinema and held sports days. The farm grew crops and nurtured cattle and pigs. The committee also took over the Marston Green Cottage Homes, for poor children and turned them into another part of 'Coleshill Mental Hospital', doubling its capacity to around 800 patients. The committee folded in June 1948, after the National Health Service Act came into force and the function was transferred to the new National Health Service, with the few remaining Local Authority obligations being transferred to the Health Committee’s Mental Health Sub-Committee (see BCC/1/CS/8). |