Normansfield Hospital, now the Langdon Down Centre
As family historians, we are perhaps familiar with the final column in the census schedules, where, in stark terms, labels such as ‘lunatic’, ‘imbecile’, ‘idiot’ or ‘feeble-minded’ are recorded against the names of some of our ancestors. While most of those so described could expect little by way of medical treatment, a few received more sympathetic care.