The Central Hospital was also known as Hatton on the Hill and was referred by locals as "Going up the hill" when anyone was sent there. Your relative did not have to have a mental illness to be sent there, when I wroked there as a nurse in the late 70's there were polish POW there, because they did not want to go back to Poland when the war was over, so were sent to Hatton. I also know of one gent in his 60's who was sent there because he stole a penny from the mantlepiece at home. They patients were also lumped in with those with learning difficulties, so it was not a nice place to be and the treatment of any kind of mental disability was still in it's infancy even in the late 70's, they had not long stopped frontal lobectomies when I started nursing!
Also women who were deemed too strong willed or prone to bouts of mild depression or "The hysterics" could also be sent up the hill.
Hi there, never used this before but here goes. I'm interested to hear that you nursed at Hatton in the 70's and wondered if you ever came across one of my relatives, Davis Thomas Burdett. He died aged 83 in Feb 1981 and had spent all his adult life there after being sent to the asylum with severe shell shock during First World War. We have been told he was a harmless individual who was a great gardener and spent much of his time tending the gardens at the Hospital. I know very few other details but it is a tragic story and any small peice of information would be much appreciated. He was not talked of in the family because of the stigma at the time I suppose but I would love to have him remembered as he should be.
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