Blog - History

In the early 1840s Dr Alexander Morison, then joint physician at Bethlem, commissioned a series of portraits to illustrate his new book

Although the mural is now lost, he was said to have used colour to depict the trees and people in such a way that a passer-by mistook it for Paradise

Museum Volunteer Sophia Gal looks at artist Thomas Hennell, and his experience of mental health issues and his relationship with nature

We can only speculate why Margaret ended up confronting George III and his retinue at the garden entrance to St James’s Palace with a blunt dessert knife

Museum Volunter Sophia Gal kooks at the life and death of William Kurelek in the second of this two part blog series

A warm hearted and positive person who enjoyed taking a direct approach to working with people, and who promoted patient care with great energy

Eileen Skellern was born in 1923 in Stone, Staffordshire, the eldest of three sisters.

Mary Rushton Barkas was the first female doctor employed at Bethlem Royal Hospital, and became one of the first four medical assistants at the Maudsley Hospital

Beyond Hadfield’s lamentation for his animal friend is the story of a man who would inadvertently transform the legal perception of insanity beyond recognition

Beyond Hadfield’s lamentation for his animal friend is the story of a man who would inadvertently transform the legal perception of insanity beyond recognition

The second part in Dr Gillian Allmond's blog series looking at the ‘villa-style’ of building that inspired the construction Bethlem Hospital at Monks Orchard

No general hospital for the mentally ill had used this plan in England before Bethlem, but the villa system was well established in Europe already