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  1. I have just read some fascinating history of Dunston. It opened in 1830,so it depends on when Ned Cotes became ill.... Perhaps the opening of Dunston prompted his family to send him there. Hmmmmmm.... https://historyofdunston.weebly.com/lunatic-asylum.html
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  2. Very interesting reading! I might be able to point you in the right direction here. While I am not familiar with Ned’s problems, I did work for some years in both north- and south Tyneside with mental health issues and got to know a great deal about the history and development of mental health services. Unfortunately for Ned, and thousands of others, reform came too late. Ned had already been dead for some ten years before the passing of the County Asylum/Lunacy Act of 1845 which determined that all counties should provide humane care and treatment for their lunatics. Northumberland County seems to have been particularly sluggish in getting to grips with the terms of the act and it wasn’t until 1859 that the Northumberland County Pauper Lunatic Asylum opened its doors to the first ‘patient’ – as they were now to be called. It eventually became St Georges Hospital, Morpeth having had many other names along the way. As I said, this came too late for Ned Cotes, so prior to his demise he would have been cared for under the terms of a previous act – The Madhouse Act of 1774 – which allowed unlicensed practitioners to run their establishments as commercial enterprises whose premises, but not practices, were subject to yearly inspection. This meant that people like Ned could be sent almost anywhere and I know that many of North Tyneside’s lunatics were sent south of the Tyne and vice versa. I have seen Bedlington adresses in old South Tyneside records. Gateshead, on the other hand, sent lunatics north of the Tyne and even chose to build its County Asylum in Stannington outside of Morpeth. It later became known as St Mary’s Hospital. Gateshead, one of my old stomping grounds, had several such establishments during Ned’s time: Bensham Asylum, Wrekenton Asylum, Sherriff Hill Lunatic Assylum and Garbutts Asylum and one other which I think could be of interest in Ned’s case - Dunston Lodge asylum, which I know to have been in use during Ned’s lifetime. Denton Lodge Asylum goes down in asylum history as being one of the most advanced in terms of treatment, not only in Northumberland or even England but in the whole world! It was visited by people from all over the world and had a success rate second to none, better than any other in the UK. I believe it was in use in one form or another right through to the 1930s. I know it was talked about a lot by older nursing staff (1960s) and quite a few elderly patients. That to me sounds like a reason it may have been chosen by the Rev. Cotes for his son. The clients weren’t paupers and Ned’s father was a vicar who I’m sure would seek out the very best help available. I also know that a great deal of documentation from these places is preserved at national. archives.gov.uk - try the Northumberland Archive . If it wasn’t for the fact that Christmas is two weeks away I’d gladly have a poke around myself. But, a woman’s work is never done especially in the lead up to the festive season. Good Luck wishes from a former Llanbradach resident!
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