West Riding Asylum: Music and Theatre in the Large-Scale Pauper Asylum

Abstract

The pauper asylum for the East Riding of Yorkshire, located just north of Wakefield, was closely associated with the nearby Friends’ Retreat at York, a Quaker foundation. The connection with the Tukes, who founded and managed the Retreat, fed into a strong Christian ethos for the Wakefield institution. Aspects such as work therapy were central from its inception, but the Quaker influence and general concern over the appropriate treatment of paupers meant recreational activities and entertainments were slow to be included in the asylum’s programme until its transformation in the 1860s under Superintendent John Cleaton. Later in the century, Wakefield itself was also recognised as a model, particularly under the influential Superintendent James Crichton-Browne (1866–1876), and its programme of theatrical entertainments led the way from the late 1850s through the second half of the nineteenth century. Crichton-Browne is best known for his pioneering research into mental health treatment, but he was also key to developing the approach to moral management pursued at Wakefield and elsewhere.