St Lawrence's Hospital was a mental health facility in

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...

, Surrey.

History

The facility was commissioned by the

Metropolitan Asylums Board The Metropolitan Asylums Board (MAB) was established under Poor Law legislation to deal with London's sick and poor. It was established by the Metropolitan Poor Act 1867 and dissolved in 1930, when its functions were transferred to the London Count ...

and designed by John Giles. It opened as the Metropolitan Asylum for Chronic Imbeciles in 1870. A nurses' home was added to the asylum in 1889 and it became Caterham Mental Hospital in 1920. In 1928

Joey Deacon Joseph John Deacon (24 May 1920 – 3 December 1981) was a British author and television personality. Biography Deacon was born with severe cerebral palsy, a neurological condition that left him with neuromuscular spasticity that particul ...

, the author and television personality, was admitted to the hospital where he remained for the rest of his life.

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

took administrative control of the facility in 1930. A nurse was killed when a bomb fell on the hospital in November 1940 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was renamed St Lawrence's Hospital after the local parish in 1941 and it joined the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in 1948. In 1981 ''

Silent Minority ''Silent Minority'' is a 1981 British documentary film made by Nigel Evans for ATV which aired in June 1981 on ITV. The film spotlights the conditions of mental patients at the Borocourt Hospital near Reading, Berkshire and the St Lawrence H ...

'', a documentary film made by

Nigel Evans Nigel Martin Evans (born 10 November 1957) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ribble Valley constituency in Lancashire since 1992. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Joint Executive Secretary of t ...

for ATV, highlighted the conditions of

mental patient A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

s at the Borocourt Hospital near

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

and at St Lawrence's Hospital in Caterham. After the introduction of

Care in the Community Care in the Community (also called "Community Care" or "Domiciliary Care") is a British policy of deinstitutionalisation, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional ca ...

in the 1980s the hospital reduced in size and closed in 1994. Most of the buildings have been demolished but the nurses' home has been converted into flats.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lawrence's Hospital, Caterham Defunct hospitals in England Former psychiatric hospitals in England Hospitals disestablished in 1994 Buildings and structures in Surrey Hospitals established in 1870