Medical records
The medical superintendent was the principal officer of the asylum. Brookwood had only five superintendents during its first century of history. These were: Dr Thomas N. Brushfield, from 1 March 1866; Dr James E. Barton, from 1 April 1882; Dr James A. Lowry, from 1 October 1910; Dr Leonard Barber, from 1 May 1940; and Dr J.M. Frew, from 1 August 1961. The post was renamed physician superintendent in 1948. From 1 October 1968 the senior officer of the hospital was redesignated as a medical administrator, the first holder of the post being Dr Joan M. Garai. The superintendent appears to have been directly responsible for a relatively small group of records. These have been divided into medical records, which appear in the list under medical registers, and administrative records, which appear in the list under hospital management both before and after 1948.
The main series of patient records have been separated into discrete sub-series. (See the introduction to the overall series for advice on tracing individual patients in these records.) The legislative background to the many different statutory records is complex. Under the 1853 Lunatic Asylums and Pauper Lunatics Act (16 & 17 Vict. cap.97) examples of pro forma registers were laid down for compulsory usage on admission of patients to lunatic asylums. These included the formats for medical journals (-/5/11/1/1-6), and patient, also described as admission, registers (-/5/1/1/-). Subsequent to the 1890 Lunacy Act (53 Vict. cap.5) separate registers of discharges, transfers and deaths (-/5/3/1-3) were created to complement the admission registers, accounting for the more complex discharge procedures of the 1890 Act.
In 1906 four new forms of register were created under the revised Rules of the Commissioners in Lunacy, superseding the admission registers and registers of discharge, transfer or death. These new registers were described as civil registers (-/5/1/2/1-14), medical registers (-/5/1/8/1-10), registers of deaths (-/5/3/3/1-6), and registers of discharges and transfers (-/5/3/2/1-6). A further change occurred under the 1930 Mental Treatment Act (20 & 21 Geo.V cap.23), when patients could be admitted to mental hospitals of their own volition without a reception order. From 1930 patients were categorized as voluntary, temporary or certified patients depending on their form of admission. To account for this change the civil registers were divided into three concurrently running sets (-/5/1/3/- to -/5/1/5/-). Subsequent to the operation of the 1946 National Health Service Act (9 & 10 Geo.VI cap.81) these were then merged together again as general registers (-/5/1/6/1-10).
The most important change to mental health legislation since 1890 was the 1959 Mental Health Act (7 & 8 Eliz.II cap.72). From this point the overwhelming majority of patients were admitted as informal voluntary patients, although Brookwood had already been practising limited informal admission by admitting patients to specially designated villas (-/5/1/9/2). The major effect of the act in terms of the written record is that only admission registers (-/5/1/7/1-6), registers of death (-/5/3/4/1) and discharge registers (-/5/3/7/1-4) were kept from 1961.
Administrative records
The clerk and steward was the principal administrative officer of the asylum, to be succeeded by the hospital secretary in 1948, and then by the sector administrator and finally the unit general manager. As with the medical superintendents, there appear to have been only five holders of the post in the first century of the hospital's history. These were: Walter Cappe, from March 1867; Thomas Stone, from April 1887, appointed as clerk only; Montague Hallam, from June 1890; Charles Alexander Ekins, from October 1925; and E.F. ('Tod') Lloyd, from March 1958. Mrs C.M. Mills continued as sector administrator on the retirement of Lloyd in 1975, being succeeded by Robert Ewings and Reginald M. Fream.
The majority of administrative records in the archive derive from the office of the clerk and steward and successors. Some records series created prior to the retirement of C.A. Ekins in 1958 have been separated into a discrete series. These include many records pertaining the early years of the asylum which Ekins and possibly other staff undertook to re-arrange, not all of which may derive from the clerk and steward's department. Many of these records appear to have been extracted from a series of 39 boxes of papers, mostly consisting of bills, receipts and correspondence, which have been arranged in the list towards the end of the records of hospital management under Surrey Quarter Sessions and Surrey County Council. The influence of Ekins is also identifiable across many other record series.
The following is a detailed summary of the contents:
The detailed arrangement of the catalogue is as follows:
3043/1/ MANAGEMENT UNDER SURREY QUARTER SESSIONS AND SURREY COUNTY COUNCIL (1867-1948) 1854-1960
3043/1/1/ ANNUAL REPORTS 1867-1947
3043/1/2/ HOSPITAL COMMITTEES 1867-1948
3043/1/3/ RULES OF THE HOSPITAL 1867-1945
3043/1/4/ INSPECTION: COMMISSIONERS IN LUNACY, LATER BOARD OF CONTROL 1854-1960
The Commissioners in Lunacy were the official inspectorate which had authority over all asylums in England and Wales. Further to the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act (3 & 4 Geo.V cap.28) the Commissioners were redesignated as the Board of Control.
3043/1/5/ INSPECTION: BOARD OF GUARDIANS AND MAGISTRATES 1867-1945
3043/1/6/ ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS OF THE MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT 1866-1939
3043/1/7/ FINANCIAL AFFAIRS 1867-1948
3043/1/8/ STAFF AND APPOINTMENTS: REGISTERS 1866-1949
For an alphabetical list of employees, 1907-1924, compiled by the Brookwood Cemetery Society, see 6518/16.
3043/1/9/ STAFF AND APPOINTMENTS: PAPERS 1866-1949
3043/1/10/ PATIENT MAINTENANCE 1894-1947
3043/1/11/ PATIENT EMPLOYMENT AND AFFAIRS 1867-1935
3043/1/12/ FARM AFFAIRS 1867-1948
3043/1/13/ BUILDINGS AND FITTINGS 1862-1947
3043/1/14/ SUPPLIES AND PROVISIONS 1868-1940
3043/1/15/ REGISTERS OF THE CLERK AND STEWARD 1898-1938
3043/1/16/ FILES OF M. HALLAM, CLERK AND STEWARD 1895-1925
M. Hallam was clerk and steward of the hospital from 1890-1925. Files mostly relate to electrical and mechanical works to hospital buildings. Files -/Box 94/8, -/Box 95/12 and -/Box 95/16 relate together to compliance with the National Insurance Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo.V cap.55) and the National Insurance Health Act 1920 (10 & 11 Geo.V cap.10). The only personal records of Hallam known to be present in the collection are two photographs in the personal names file for surname letters G-K, listed under records of C.A. Ekins, clerk and steward. Where a code number applies to the contents this has been noted in square brackets. Since not all files have code numbers no attempt to arranged the files in a code order has been made.
3043/1/17/ PAPERS, MOSTLY BILLS, RECEIPTS AND CORRESPONDENCE 1865-1877
A substantial discrete series of bundles of miscellaneous papers from the first ten years of the asylum have been preserved. 41 files or bundles have been described in detail. Thereafter the remaining 24 boxes of papers have been ordered into a rough chronological sequence without detailed description as 'boxes of bills, receipts and correspondence'. Throughout the series there are a similar variety of papers, and some patient and staff records are contained in the sequence of boxes. However, a disproportionate number of patient and staff records have been listed in detail in order to achieve the maximum detailed coverage for these records. The records probably derive from the offices of both the clerk and steward and the medical superintendent. Many of these papers do not preserve a complete original order. It is likely that many bundles of bills and receipts, especially from 1867-1868, were worked on as part of the historical research of C.A. Ekins, clerk and steward, and some papers re-arranged into the A1 and A3 series described above. However, from 1875 several boxes do preserve an original order, although some original bundles have been grouped together into larger bundles for convenience.
3043/1/18/ RECORDS OF THE HOSPITAL IN WORLD WAR II 1938-1944
Records mostly relate to the air raid precaution (ARP) scheme. Files relate to Brookwood Hospital as opposed to the Emergency Medical Service hospital or the Connaught Hospital which also used the Brookwood site.
3043/1/19/ PAPERS OF ROBERT LLOYD, FIRST HEAD GARDENER 1862-1912
3043/1/20/ PAPERS OF DR TN BRUSHFIELD, FIRST MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT, AND FAMILY 1861-1959
3043/1/21/ MISCELLANEOUS, INCLUDING PLANS 1861-1953
3043/2/ MANAGEMENT UNDER BROOKWOOD HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (1948-1972) AND FARNHAM AND BROOKWOOD HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (1972-1974) 1911-1982
3043/2/1/ ANNUAL REPORTS 1948-1960
From 1955 the reports covered the period of financial years rather than calendar years, although patient statistics continued to be calculated from Jan-Dec. If date is given as year only, report applies to calendar year. For annual report for year to Apr 1962, see 6248/4/193.
3043/2/2/ SOUTH WEST METROPOLITAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL BOARD: COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS 1949-1971
Additional papers relating to South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board are listed separately below.
3043/2/3/ BROOKWOOD HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE: COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS 1948-1975
On creation of the Brookwood Hospital Mangement Committee in 1948, four sub-committees were appointed covering: Establishment, Supplies & Treatment; Estates; Finance & General Purposes; and Housing. The first two of these committees were subsequently divided into: Establishment Sub-Committee; Supplies and Treatment Sub-Committee; Estates (Farm and Garden) Sub-Committee; and Estates (Works) Sub-Committee. These sub-committees continued in existence until the merger with Farnham Group Hospital Committee in 1972.
3043/2/4/ FARNHAM AND BROOKWOOD GROUP HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE: COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS 1969-1974
On creation of the Farnham and Brookwood Hospital Management Committee in 1972, two significant sub-committees, designated committees, were appointed: Finance and General Purposes; and Staff and Establishment.
3043/2/5/ RULES OF THE HOSPITAL 1946-1953
3043/2/6/ INSPECTION: HOSPITAL ADVISORY SERVICE 1970-1973
The Hospital Advisory Service (HAS) was set up in 1969 as an inspecting body, operating independently of regional hospital boards and reporting directly to the National Health Service. An advisory team of six members visited Brookwood for three weeks during March and April 1971, reporting in May 1971.
3043/2/7/ ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS OF THE PHYSICIAN SUPERINTENDENT 1939-1972
Ledgers recording formal reports to meetings of the visiting committee and its successors. Information varies dependent on date, but usually includes recommendations for discharge of patients, staff changes and issues relating to the running of the hospital.
3043/2/8/ FINANCIAL AFFAIRS 1948-1974
3043/2/9/ STAFF AND APPOINTMENTS: REGISTERS 1936-1965
3043/2/10/ STAFF AND APPOINTMENTS: PAPERS 1939-1974
3043/2/11/ STAFF SURVEY RETURNS 1949-1972
3043/2/12/ MEDICAL AND PATIENT THERAPY FUNCTIONS 1935-1974
3043/2/13/ WARD ADMINISTRATION 1951-1959
3043/2/14/ PATIENT MAINTENANCE 1947-1955
3043/2/15/ PATIENT AFFAIRS 1949-1966
3043/2/16/ FARM AND ESTATE AFFAIRS 1938-1972
3043/2/17/ FABRIC AND FITTINGS: INVENTORIES AND INTERNAL PAPERS 1948-1974
For plans and specifications relating to the fabric of the hospital, see under Engineers' and Architects' Departments of the South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. Records collated here are internal inventories, papers and correspondence.
3043/2/18/ FABRIC AND FITTINGS: ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURAL PLANS 1947-1971
Unless otherwise stated plans created by the Engineers and Architects Departments of South West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. Many files contain plans of works created by both departments and it has not therefore been possible to divide these functions. All plans and attached papers relate to building operations at Brookwood Hospital unless otherwise stated.
3043/2/19/ PAPERS RELATING TO SOUTH WEST METROPOLITAN REGIONAL HOSPITAL BOARD 1949-1973
3043/2/20/ HOSPITAL EVENTS 1935-1973
A number of programmes of events at Brookwood up to 1964 are also held in the series of files of C.A. Ekins, Clerk and Steward.
3043/2/21/ PUBLICATIONS AND ADVERTISING 1951-1967
3043/2/22/ FILES OF THE HOSPITAL SECRETARY 1948-1974
3043/3/ MANAGEMENT UNDER WEST SURREY AND NORTH EAST HAMPSHIRE DISTRICT HEALTH AUTHORITY (1974-1987) 1948-1991
3043/3/1/ ANNUAL REPORTS 1982-1988
Reports cover all of West Surrey and North East Hampshire Health Authority.
3043/3/2/ AREA HEALTH AUTHORITY COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS 1976-1981
3043/3/3/ DISTRICT HEALTH AUTHORITY COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS 1973-1988
3043/3/4/ BROOKWOOD HOSPITAL COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS 1971-1986
3043/3/5/ INSPECTION: HOSPITAL ADVISORY SERVICE 1985
The Hospital Advisory Service (HAS) previously inspected Brookwood in 1971: see under Brookwood Hospital Management Committee. As part of a broader survey of provision for mental illness a team also visited for two days in Oct-Nov 1985.
3043/3/6/ STAFF AND APPOINTMENTS 1959-1987
3043/3/7/ MEDICAL AND PATIENT THERAPY FUNCTIONS 1964-1989
3043/3/8/ WARD ADMINISTRATION 1955-1990
Due to the importance of the change to hospital sectorisation in 1973, some records of ward administration have been placed here even though they predate the period of the West Surrey and North East Hampshire Health Authority. Sectorisation was the process by which wards were allocated to patients from particular geographical areas. The hospital was divided along these lines into three area divisions, covering Farnham and Frimley, Guildford, and Woking divisions.
3043/3/9/ PATIENT AFFAIRS 1968-1989
3043/3/10/ ESTATE AFFAIRS 1975-1989
3043/3/11/ STAFF UNION AFFAIRS 1948-1984
These files were kept by the Sector Administrator at Brookwood and have been retained together even though some records predate the period of the West Surrey and North East Hampshire Health Authority.
3043/3/12/ LAUNDRY SERVICE 1972-1988
3043/3/13/ HOSPITAL EVENTS 1953-1990
3043/3/14/ FILES OF THE SECTOR ADMINISTRATOR AND UNIT GENERAL MANAGER 1976-1987
3043/3/15/ DISTRICT WORK STUDY UNIT 1971-1991
3043/3/16/ DISTRICT WORKS DEPARTMENT 1975-1978
Plans from 1975 indicate creator as being Farnham & Brookwood Hospital Management Committee Group Building Department. This had been abolished in Apr 1974, and it is likely that the plans were created by its successor, the West Surrey and North East Hampshire District Works Department, Farnborough.
3043/3/17/ MAGAZINES AND PRESS CUTTINGS 1969-1986
3043/4/ MANAGEMENT UNDER SOUTH WEST SURREY DISTRICT HEALTH AUTHORITY (1987-1994) 1975-1994
3043/4/1/ ANNUAL REPORTS 1988-1989
Reports cover all of South West Surrey Health Authority.
3043/4/2/ HEALTH AUTHORITY COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS 1983-1991
3043/4/3/ BROOKWOOD HOSPITAL COMMITTEES AND WORKING GROUPS 1986-1994
Since Brookwood Hospital took patients from each of West Surrey and North East Hampshire, South West Surrey and North West Surrey Health Districts, many of these bodies reported to all of the above authorities.
3043/4/4/ FINANCIAL AFFAIRS 1986-1990
3043/4/5/ FILES OF THE SECTOR ADMINISTRATOR AND UNIT GENERAL MANAGER 1975-1991
3043/4/6/ PUBLICATIONS 1986-1994
3043/5/ PATIENT REGISTERS AND CASE RECORDS 1867-1987
Medical registers here include some records which do not record specific details of medical treatment or diagnosis, but have been placed together to reflect the requirements of mental health legislation or patient management to keep the records. Registers are not indexed unless this is noted in the series or file description. Readers searching for an individual patient whose date of admission is not precisely known are recommended to use either the alphabetical registers (-/5/2/1-8), which were created as indexes to the admission registers, or the general indexes to case books (-/5/10/1-5). The most complete information on a patient's medical progress is usually contained in the case books, 1867-1921; in the Medical Superintendent's private record of patients, 1921-1961; and in the admission registers, 1961-1987, although more complete details for some patients may be contained in case files in list 7173. For patients for whom a date of death or discharge is known the registers of discharges and deaths will be useful.See also Patient Dependency Factor Survey returns, 1986-1989, above.
3043/5/1/ REGISTERS OF ADMISSION 1867-1987
3043/5/2/ ALPHABETICAL REGISTERS 1867-1959
The alphabetical registers were created as indexes to the admission registers, and more generally to patients at the asylum. Patient information is arranged under initial letter in order of date of admission. At the time of creation of a new register the full details of patients currently at the asylum were entered again in the new register. Patient information includes: date of admission; patient admission number or general reference number; union chargeable; whether discharged or died; date of discharge or death.
3043/5/3/ REGISTERS OF REMOVAL, DISCHARGE AND DEATH 1894-1988
3043/5/4/ ORDERS AND NOTICES OF REMOVAL, DISCHARGE AND DEATH 1909-1961
3043/5/5/ POST-MORTEM AND UNDERTAKERS REGISTERS 1867-1962
3043/5/6/ MISCELLANEOUS PATIENT REGISTERS 1867-c.1983
3043/5/7/ REGISTERS OF NUMBERS OF PATIENTS 1916-1984
3043/5/8/ REGISTERS AND CASE BOOKS OF THE MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT 1880-1963
Other records of the medical superintendent are listed under administrative records.
3043/5/9/ CASE BOOKS 1867-1921
Books consist of case notes recording cause, symptoms and progress of patients from admission until discharge or death. Usually two pages are devoted to each patient. Additional information in table form for each patient includes: date of admission; previous place of abode; weight and height; occupation; number of attacks; address of relative; from Apr 1880, form of mental disease. A very few entries include loose notices of death or correspondence. Entries are recorded in order of date of admission, but patient admission numbers or general reference numbers are not included in the information. Volumes from Apr 1880 are indexed under initial letter in approximate folio number order. Prior to Apr 1880 indexes are in separate volumes in the same format. Case books relating to chronic patients are indexed and include table of form of mental disease from 1867. Covering dates given are dates of admission, other than for the separate index volumes on which no dates are recorded.
3043/5/10/ CASE NOTES AND INDEXES TO CASE BOOKS 1867-1922
3043/5/11/ REGISTERS OF MEDICAL TREATMENT 1893-1973
3043/6/ PATIENT REGISTERS: EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE HOSPITAL 1939-1941
Brookwood housed a separate Emergency Medical Service (E.M.S.) hospital during the Second World War. The E.M.S. was established under the auspices of the Ministry of Health to serve both military and civilian patients. Information for each patient includes: date of admission; date of discharge; hospital or barracks from which admitted.
3043/7/ HOSPITAL SUPPORT BODIES 1889-1990
3043/7/1/ BENEVOLENT FUND 1889-1973
3043/7/2/ FRIENDS OF BROOKWOOD HOSPITAL 1954-1990
The friends were founded by Mrs Bertha E. Redding, later chairman of the hospital management committee, in 1954. A further file relating to the Friends is listed under the A3 records of C.A. Ekins, Clerk and Steward, as A3/31.
3043/8/ HOSPITAL ORGANISATIONS 1882-1990
3043/8/1/ STAFF SOCIAL CLUB 1911-1982
3043/8/2/ HOSPITAL PERFORMING BAND 1929-1967
3043/8/3/ HOSPITAL FIRE BRIGADE 1937-1987
3043/8/4/ HOSPITAL CHAPEL 1882-1979
3043/8/5/ HOSPITAL MUSEUM 1979-1992
3043/9/ RECORDS OF C.A. EKINS, CLERK AND STEWARD 1866-1965
C.A. Ekins was clerk and steward of the hospital from 1925-1958. He completed over half a century of work in mental hospitals, having begun his career at Three Counties Asylum in Jan 1908. He subsequently worked in mental hospitals at Denbigh, Middleton-in-Wharfedale and Burntwood before being appointed as clerk and steward at Brookwood. It has not been possible to reconstruct completely the filing system of foolscap envelopes employed by Ekins. Many files appear to have formed schemes numbered A1, A3 and A4, but some files arranged under these codes appear to have been dispersed among other records and hence the series have many gaps. In some instances the original file title has been crossed through and the envelope re-used for entirely different contents. Where it appears that the code number applies to the contents these have been noted in square brackets. Records clearly identifiable as from schemes A1 and A3 have been arranged in code number order, with the file code noted in square brackets. No attempt has been made to sort these records by earlier provenance since this is often very varied even within individual files. Many files throughout were compiled as part of personal research carried out by Ekins into the history of mental health, created thematically and apparently without concern for original order. Some files may however have developed as a record of administrative correspondence.
3043/9/1/ HISTORICAL PAPERS AND FILES 1866-1965
3043/9/2/ PERSONAL PAPERS 1867-1965
3043/10/ PHOTOGRAPHS 19th cent-20th cent
Further photographs of the early years of the asylum are contained in Mrs Brushfield's photograph album, for which see under Personal Records of Dr T N Brushfield, first medical superintendent and family, ref. 3043/1/20/-.
3043/10/1/ SITE AND BUILDINGS 1874-1988
3043/10/2/ STAFF 1884-1968
3043/10/3/ ENTERTAINMENTS AND EVENTS late 19th cent-1971
3043/10/4/ SPORTS 1884-1947
3043/10/5/ FIRST WORLD WAR 1914-1918
3043/10/6/ SECOND WORLD WAR 1939-1945
3043/10/7/ PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM late 19th cent
3043/10/8/ GLASS PLATE NEGATIVES 19th cent
3043/10/9/ OTHER HOSPITALS 19th cent - mid 20th cent
3043/10/10/ MISCELLANEOUS PORTRAITS 1884 - c1921
3043/10/11/ MISCELLANEOUS 19th cent-1960
3043/11/ INDEPENDENT BODIES 1926-1988
3043/11/1/ STAFF ASSOCIATIONS 1926-1982
3043/11/2 COMMUNITY HEALTH COUNCILS 1975-1988
3043/12/ OTHER HOSPITALS AND HEALTH AUTHORITIES 1842-1990
3043/12/1/ SURREY COUNTY LUNATIC ASYLUM AT WANDSWORTH, LATER SPRINGFIELD ASYLUM 1842-1879
3043/12/2/ THREE COUNTIES ASYLUM, ARLESEY, BEDFORDSHIRE 1851-1908
Papers relating to this asylum have been retained due to C.A. Ekins' employment there prior to becoming Clerk and Steward at Brookwood.
3043/12/3/ SURREY HOSPITALS 1932-1990
3043/12/4 OTHER HOSPITALS 18TH CENT-1979
3043/13/ MISCELLANEOUS 1815-1838