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Camberwell House asylum
Camberwell House asylum opened at 30-32 Peckham Road in 1846, occupying two houses built in 1790 and previously used to house a school. It was owned by Aubin & Co. and was under the medical superintendence of the surgeon John Hayball Paul, a partner in the company.
Camberwell House was initially licensed to hold 150 pauper patients (70 male and 80 female), as well as a small number of male private patients. It expanded rapidly, taking over various other buildings on the south side of Peckham Road, and by 1878 was licensed to hold over 360 patients, making it the second largest asylum in London.
Throughout its life pauper patients were its mainstay (it was in fact overlooked by the workhouse) but it remained a private concern rather than coming within the state ambit and did not enter the National Health Service when that was set up in 1948. The fact that it was providing on a paying basis services that were now free undoubtedly contributed to its demise, and it closed in 1955.
As is often the case with private asylums, very few of its records survive. The very first patient register is held at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the next two at the Wellcome Library; for the next 100 years of its history no surviving patient records are known.
Camberwell House was initially licensed to hold 150 pauper patients (70 male and 80 female), as well as a small number of male private patients. It expanded rapidly, taking over various other buildings on the south side of Peckham Road, and by 1878 was licensed to hold over 360 patients, making it the second largest asylum in London.
Throughout its life pauper patients were its mainstay (it was in fact overlooked by the workhouse) but it remained a private concern rather than coming within the state ambit and did not enter the National Health Service when that was set up in 1948. The fact that it was providing on a paying basis services that were now free undoubtedly contributed to its demise, and it closed in 1955.
As is often the case with private asylums, very few of its records survive. The very first patient register is held at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the next two at the Wellcome Library; for the next 100 years of its history no surviving patient records are known.
Created: Thu, 8 Oct 2015, Updated: Thu, 8 Oct 2015
5 images use this description: (all images taken in 2015)
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