{"product_id":"dorsets-private-lunatic-asylums-sally-morgan-9781918403022","title":"Dorset's Private Lunatic Asylums: Cranborne, Halstock, Stockland, and the foundation of the county asylum at Forston, 1774-1860","description":"\u003cp\u003eDetailed history of the three private asylums in Dorset, established in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which provided quite different services. Placed deep in rural Dorset, their existence in small villages impacted the lives of many families and the wider community. At Halstock the Mercer family trained as surgeons and provided a service for pauper and private patients over almost 100 years. The Stockland asylum was short-lived and took in large numbers of pauper patients. Cranborne was a much more homely environment for a small number of private patients. Each asylum faced its own challenges. When the county asylum opened at Forston, and later transferred to Herrison hospital, the Dorset private asylums could no longer compete. Many of their patients were transferred to Forston and it is often through the more detailed record keeping in the county asylum that their conditions and circumstances become clear. There are records of more than 400 patients passing through the three private asylums. Their stories throw some light on the treatment of vulnerable people in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which was occasionally harsh and sometimes considerate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sally Morgan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1918403023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781918403022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Hobnob Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/15\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 260\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.81lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.55d","brand":"Sally Morgan","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48447165169919,"sku":"9781918403022","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e47558a4-fdf9-428b-9125-65a44f53a8c1.jpg?v=1777229273","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/dorsets-private-lunatic-asylums-sally-morgan-9781918403022","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}