Normansfield Hospital

Normansfield Hospital is a Grade II* listed building[1] in Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. It was built as a facility for patients with an intellectual disability and included a theatre. It now houses the national office of the Down's Syndrome Association, and the Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability.

Normansfield Hospital
Normansfield Hospital
Normansfield Hospital is located in London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Normansfield Hospital
Location within Richmond upon Thames
Geography
LocationTeddington, London, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates51°25′12.83″N 0°18′45.22″W
Organisation
TypeMental health
History
Opened1868
Closed1997
Links
ListsHospitals in England
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameNormansfield Hospital
Designated25 May 1983; amended 2 September 1996
Reference no.1065379

History
Normansfield Theatre exterior

The Normansfield Hospital was founded at the White House in Teddington as an institution for mentally disabled children by John Langdon Down,[2] after whom Down syndrome was named. It was opened as the Normansfield Training Institution for Imbeciles in May 1868.[2] The south wing was built in 1869, the north wing was added in 1873 and the Normansfield Theatre was opened by the Earl of Devon in 1879.[2]

When Down died in 1896, his sons, Reginald and Percival, succeeded him as managers of the institution.[2] It was renamed Normansfield in 1925 and joined the National Health Service in 1951.[2]

The hospital was the scene of a strike by the nursing staff in the Trades Union COHSE in 1976.[3] The nurses were angry that the regional health authority had ignored their grievances against the consultant psychiatrist Terence Lawlor and demanded that he be suspended. His suspension led to a public inquiry chaired by Michael Sherrard.[4] It was one of many official inquiries into National Health Service mental hospitals during that period.[5]

Dr Lawlor's professional style emerged as intolerant, abusive and tyrannical. COHSE was roundly criticised for a strike over which its officials had broken union rules, misled their membership and then blamed the nurses. An NHS administrator was found to be fearful of Dr Lawlor. The only body to emerge with any credit was the local Community Health Council, which was abolished in 2003. The inquiry recommended that Lawlor should be sacked. The same judgement applied to several senior nurses and administrators.[2] The hospital closed in 1997.[2]

The Down's Syndrome Association operates the Langdon Down Centre in the former hospital's theatre wing, which includes the national office of the Down's Syndrome Association,[6] the Normansfield Theatre (a Grade II* listed Victorian theatre) and the Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability. The museum's exhibits include information on John Langdon Down and his family, the history of the care of people with learning disabilities, and the history of the Normansfield Hospital and its residents. The museum also features art, including many works by James Henry Pullen, and artefacts of the former Royal Earlswood Museum in Surrey about the former Royal Earlswood Hospital.[7][8]

The museum opened in 2012, and is a member of The London Museums of Health & Medicine group.[9][10]

See also

References
  1. Historic England (2 September 1996). "Normansfield Hospital (1065379)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  2. "Normansfield Hospital". Lost Hospitals of London. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  3. "Dark Corners of the NHS No 23: Normansfield Hospital". NHS Managers Network. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  4. "The Normansfield Inquiry". British Medical Journal. 2 (6151): 1560–3. 1978. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.6151.1560. PMC 1608780. PMID 20792765.
  5. "Official Inquiry Reports into National Health Service Mental Hospitals". The Production and Reproduction of Scandals in Chronic Sector Hospitals 1981 by Amy Munson- Barkshire. Socialist Health Association. 6 June 1981. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  6. "Hospitals". Derelict London. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  7. "Hospital memories get new home". Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  8. "Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability at Langdon Down Centre". Visit Richmond. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  9. Philpot, Terry (2 February 2012). "Museum opens door to hospital's past Normansfield was once a progressive hospital, now it's the first museum of learning disability". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  10. "Medical Museums". medicalmuseums.org. Retrieved 26 August 2016.

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