• HOME
• THE LANGUAGE OF MADNESS
• THE ASYLUM
• • Asylum Design
  • Patient Buildings
• SOCIETY
• • Urban & Rural Life
  • Class & Gender
  • The Hysterical Female
  • The Evils of "Self-Abuse"
  • Family
  • Visitors
• LEGISLATION
• • Legislative Influence
  • Origins of Legislation and the Criminality of Insanity
  • Teenaged Years: Marked Custody Transition
  • Turn of the Century: Voluntary Admissions
  • Updated Act: The Mental Hospital Act
• SUPERINTENDANTS
• STAFF
• • Working at the LAI
  • Hiring Practices
  • Rules for Employees
  • Employee Roles in Moral Therapy
  • Doctors at LAI
  • Doctor Connections to UWO
  • Training School for Nurses
  • Attendants
  • General Staff
• PATIENT PERSPECTIVES
• • Introduction
  • Patient Art
  • Patient Letters
  • Their Voice
• MEDICAL TREATMENTS
• • Medical Treatment Introduction
  • Use of Restraints
  • Drug and Alcohol
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Female Surgeries
  • Neurosyphilis
  • Shock Therapy
  • Lobotomies
• MORAL THERAPY
• • Moral Therapy Introduction
  • Labour
  • Amusements
  • Diet
  • Religion
• THE WORLD WARS
• • Before the First World War
  • During the First World War
  • After the First World War
  • The First World War and the LAI
  • First World War Veterans at the LAI
  • The Second World War
• MEMORIES OF RMHCL
• • Introduction
  • Their Memories

General Staff

Photograph of Major Frederick St. Clair Fisher, porter at the London Asylum, circa 1931. RMHCL
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Bursar

• Responsible for keeping hospital records, monitoring expenditures, and requisitioning supplies
• Highest paid staff member under the Medical Superintendent
• Supervised bookkeeper and clerks in his department

Engineer

• In charge of all boilers and machinery
• Responsible for heating and lighting plants, electric wiring, plumbing, building repair
• Kept a record of all work being done as well as an annual inventory of all their tools and supplies

Farmers

• The asylum employed farmers, gardeners, cowmen and dairymaids who worked along side patients to maintain the far
• The London Asylum boasted its self sufficiency with 200 of its 300 acres of cultivated land by 1881
• Pigs and cattle were raised on the farm and the Asylum even produced its own dairy products
• In addition to the 200 acres of farm, the asylum had 50 acres of beautifully manicured grounds and 20 acres of gardens
• The London Asylum was well known for its excellent produce and won many prizes at the Western Fair

Firemen/Stockers

• Due to the Asylum's location 3 km outside of the city of London, they needed to provide their own fire services, thus completing the self sufficiency of the Asylum
• Different whistles representing different buildings were used to notify the presence of fire. If a fire were detected, following the Asylums emergency plan, staff would remove patients from danger before assisting to extinguish the fire
• By 1913 the city of London had expanded enough that the asylum was now within city limits and an agreement was made with the city fire department to assist if necessary

Matron

• The matron was the highest paid of the female staff members of the Former London Asylum. This was considered a position of great respectability and social standing
• She was responsible for domestic concerns of the hospital as a whole. The matron would make sure that food was properly prepared and served and that food waste was at a minimum. She would also perform any other duties required by the superintendent
• With one position dedicated to ensuring proper health for patients it is clear that the asylum took the health and well being of patients seriously

Night-Watchmen

• Made rounds and ensured that all was well in the hospital and responded to any emergency situations that may have occurred
• Counted patients, ensured everyone was in their proper place, made sure everyone was provided with bedding, clothing, chamber utensils, made sure the doors and windows were closed, and could not refuse any patient who asked for water
• The night-watchmen were important to the overall living conditions of the patients

Porter/Messenger

• The porter performed office duties and relayed messages

Storekeeper

• The location of the asylum necessitated the need for a store
• In charge of the general stores on the asylum grounds
• Delivered items to various locations on hospital grounds as needed
• Required to visit the bakery and butcher shop daily to check for sanitary conditions
• Reported to the bursar any supplies that were needed and keep a hospital inventory