Genealogy Chat

Thank you every one for your replies.
I think this is a very interesting subject. I am sure life must have been very difficult for both sufferer and carer in times gone by.

The person who I am interested in was a great great uncle born either 1866 or 1870. He lived at home with his mother and sister in the 1901 census. But died on the same day and year as his mother in 1904.
His informer for his death was from the workhouse. So I am guessing things became too difficult for his mother and he went into the workhouse. He died from general decline and bedsores.
I wish I could find out more about him. Very odd that he should die on the same day as his mother.

I found the definition of idiot here

http://www.institutions.org.uk/poor_law_unions/imbeciles.htm

the sad thing is though that even today there is much stigmatisation of people suffering from mental illness - one in four of us is likely to suffer an episode of mental illness at some time in our lives

I worked in the mental health sector for nearly thirty years and suffered a breakdown about fifteen years ago - I never shy away from telling people what happened to me because if I did I too would be stigmatising it - it should be treated much the same as any other illness. I think a lot of the problem is fear - people are afraid of those who have suffered a form of mental illness, they shy away from it

Admittedly people are generally more enlightened these days but the stigma lingers

Persons who have fallen in later life into a state of chronic dementia were classed as imbeciles. Not quite the definition we might have in mind today.

Mental Health Acts

1879
An 'asylum for idiots' was established at Park House, Highgate which later became known as Earlswood Asylum.

1886
The Idiots Act 1886
Legislation addressed the needs of the Mentally Handicapped for the first time. Registration and Inspection of specialised Asylums was introduced.

1896
The National Association for the Care of the Feeble-Minded was founded

1913
The Mental Deficiency Act 1913
Four "classes" of Mental Deficiency were defined:

Idiot ~ unable to protect themselves from common dangers.

Imbecile ~ could protect themselves from common dangers, but unable to take care of themselves.

Feeble-Minded ~ required care to protect themselves.

Moral Defectives ~ criminal or vicious personalities. Unmarried Mothers also became absorbed into this category!

thanks that is helpful.
It's funny because they differentiate between idiots and imbeciles ????
I looked around the national archives to see if I could find anything out.

Some idiots (nice term) could read and write and were head of households.

Annielaurie can you tell me where you got the definition from please.

In 1881 the definition of idiot was as follows

Idiot ~ persons who suffer from congenital mental deficiency.

Of course, the term may not have been used correctly by the enumerator.

I would have thought it was a general term for anyone who was considered to be "not quite right"

Yes thank you Martin that was very interesting.

Hi Leslie,

I don't know what the definition of an idiot was. However this link may be of interest to you.

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Cen_Guide&c_id=9

I have searched this site with no luck.

I am looking for a definition of when someone is called an "idiot" in the census.
Can anyone help please ? Yes I know what an idiot is. I would just like to know how they determined someone was an idiot was it just a general term or a specific term related to a particular handicap or disability.
Thanks for any help you can give