War Worry: how the First World War affected patients of Powick Mental Hospital
Sarah Dentith
- Organisation:
- George Marshall Medical Museum
- Region:
- Worcestershire
- Notice Period:
- Regular (more than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Charity
- Fee:
- Paid: 50
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 17th May 2024
- Tagged:
- History | World War 1 | Mental Health | Worcestershire
My talk involves my research for the George Marshall Medical Museum on First World War patients at Powick Mental Hospital, near Worcester which contributed to my dissertation for a Masters in Local History at University of Birmingham.
I talk about the female and the male patients, from original records held at the Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service at the Hive in Worcester. The patient casebooks have rarely been accessed since the information is protected by the 100 year rule and additional legislation designed to protect the identity of vulnerable people. However I tell the stories of some of the patients at Powick during the war, the woman who attacked her neighbour, another who liked to undress, a man who believed he was an opera singer and another who escaped. I talk about those local men who were so worried about the war, it affected their delusions, and those soldiers who hadn't even finished basic training but told heroic stories of winning medals in France.
At a time when mental health is becoming big news, I recreate the lives of lost people, talk about their experience and paint a picture of their experience as staff tried to help them with occupational therapy and medicines in a time when the mentally ill have hardly been studied yet.
Views: 1318 | Enquiries: 1About Sarah Dentith
I work in archives and libraries and I am interested in the social side of medical history, looking at the people involved, their motivations and the way they felt.
My talks are charged at £50 for the George Marshall Medical Museum Worcester which is a charity. medicalmuseum.org contains previous research by myself and other volunteers and details of other volunteers who speak locally on medical history. The museum at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital site can be visited on weekdays.
I researched First World War patients at Powick Mental Hospital, near Worcester, for my Masters in Local History at University of Birmingham and was awarded a bursary to research this for the Worcestershire World War One Hundred project.
For my research on Victorian funding at Worcester Infirmary during my Degree course at University of Worcester I won awards from the University and from Worcestershire Historical Society.
I also now have a talk based on family history research which crossed over with local medical research when I discovered my great great grandfather rebuilt Worcester Dispensary. This includes many images from the Worcestershire Archives.
I am prepared to deliver talks on my previous research or, given sufficient time, to research a topic on request related to local medical or social history.
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