Glenside Museum
Encyclopedia
Glenside Museum is situated within the Glenside Campus
of the University of the West of England
in Fishponds, Bristol
, England
.
The museum was founded by Dr Donal F. Early; a consultant psychiatrist at Glenside from the 1950s. He collected items of memorabilia and started a collection on the balcony of the dining hall of Glenside. When the building closed, the collection was re-located to the Glenside Chapel, and the collection slowly was built up to the museum it is today. The chapel was built in 1861 and is a grade II listed building. The museums collection consists of a wide range of paraphernalia and images from the life of Glenside Psychiatric Hospital (previously known as the Bristol Lunatic Asylum and later Beaufort Hospital
in World War I
) and of the local Learning disability
Hospitals of the Stoke Park Group and the Burden Neurological Institution. The museum has drawings and paintings by the accomplished artist Dennis Reed who painted images of life at Glenside during the 1950s. These painting are located in the chancel. The museum charges no entrance fee, but depends on donations from the public.
Exhibits include several early Electroconvulsive therapy
(ECT) machines.
One of the most celebrated workers at the former Bristol Lunatic Asylum was the painter Stanley Spencer
(later Sir Stanley Spencer RA CBE) who worked there in 1915-1916 as medical orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps. During the Great War the asylum was turned over to military use and renamed the Beaufort Military Hospital. It had to accommodate some 1,460 wounded soldiers at any one time, usually more. A number of the patients were retained to perform menial duties. As is recounted in Paul Gough's book, Journey to Burghclere Spencer had a difficult time in the hospital, leavened by moments of quiet reverie, as the painter wrote of his second day:
"I had to scrub out the Asylum Church. It was a splendid test of my feelings about this war. And I still feel the necessity of the war, & I have seen some sights, but not what one might expect. The lunatics are good workers & one persists in saluting us & always with the wrong hand. Another one thinks he is an electric battery... "
On 14 December 2009, on the 50th anniversary of Spencer's death the University of the West of England - who now own the hospital building - held a celebratory event to unveil a series of artwork and a blue plaque remembering the painter's time in the vast teeming metropolis of the Beaufort.
Glenside, Bristol
Glenside campus is the home of the School of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England , Bristol. It is located on Blackberry Hill in the suburb of Fishponds...
of the University of the West of England
University of the West of England
The University of the West of England is a university based in the English city of Bristol. Its main campus is at Frenchay, about five miles north of the city centre...
in Fishponds, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The museum was founded by Dr Donal F. Early; a consultant psychiatrist at Glenside from the 1950s. He collected items of memorabilia and started a collection on the balcony of the dining hall of Glenside. When the building closed, the collection was re-located to the Glenside Chapel, and the collection slowly was built up to the museum it is today. The chapel was built in 1861 and is a grade II listed building. The museums collection consists of a wide range of paraphernalia and images from the life of Glenside Psychiatric Hospital (previously known as the Bristol Lunatic Asylum and later Beaufort Hospital
Beaufort Hospital
Beaufort Hospital was a military hospital in Stapleton district of Bristol during World War I. Before the war it was an asylum and after the war it became a psychiatric hospital....
in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
) and of the local Learning disability
Learning disability
Learning disability is a classification including several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors...
Hospitals of the Stoke Park Group and the Burden Neurological Institution. The museum has drawings and paintings by the accomplished artist Dennis Reed who painted images of life at Glenside during the 1950s. These painting are located in the chancel. The museum charges no entrance fee, but depends on donations from the public.
Exhibits include several early Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy , formerly known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Its mode of action is unknown...
(ECT) machines.
One of the most celebrated workers at the former Bristol Lunatic Asylum was the painter Stanley Spencer
Stanley Spencer
Sir Stanley Spencer was an English painter. Much of his work depicts Biblical scenes, from miracles to Crucifixion, happening not in the Holy Land but in the small Thames-side village where he was born and spent most of his life...
(later Sir Stanley Spencer RA CBE) who worked there in 1915-1916 as medical orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps. During the Great War the asylum was turned over to military use and renamed the Beaufort Military Hospital. It had to accommodate some 1,460 wounded soldiers at any one time, usually more. A number of the patients were retained to perform menial duties. As is recounted in Paul Gough's book, Journey to Burghclere Spencer had a difficult time in the hospital, leavened by moments of quiet reverie, as the painter wrote of his second day:
"I had to scrub out the Asylum Church. It was a splendid test of my feelings about this war. And I still feel the necessity of the war, & I have seen some sights, but not what one might expect. The lunatics are good workers & one persists in saluting us & always with the wrong hand. Another one thinks he is an electric battery... "
On 14 December 2009, on the 50th anniversary of Spencer's death the University of the West of England - who now own the hospital building - held a celebratory event to unveil a series of artwork and a blue plaque remembering the painter's time in the vast teeming metropolis of the Beaufort.