Group    From /5/1868  To 1997

Normansfield Asylum

Categories: Children, Medicine

See Lost Hospitals of London for an excellent history of this hospital. Briefly: The White House, a mansion with 5 acres of grounds, was built in 1866.  Dr Langdon Down and his wife Mary bought it and named it Normansfield, after their solicitor (!).  It opened in May 1868 as a private asylum for children with mental health problems from upper class families.  The children were taught according to their abilities and the hospital expanded with new wings and out-buildings.  A splendid Entertainment Hall was built and opened in 1879 (still exists and is regularly open to the public).  By 1888 the hospital covered 40 acres.  The Langdon Down’s two sons both qualified in medicine, worked at Normansfield and took it over when their parents died in 1896-1900.

Normansfield transferred into the NHS in June 1951 but the family continued their involvement.  We have to mention that a grand-daughter married a neurologist, Dr Russell Brain (nominative determinism rules! - see Isambard Brunel for more examples).

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Normansfield Asylum

Creations i

Dr John Langdon Down

We could not get close enough to take easily legible photographs and initiall...

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Other Subjects

Mary Redfern

Mary Redfern

Drowned in the 1898 HMS Albion disaster, aged 13. Buried in grave 5 at the memorial in East London Cemetery.

Person, Children, Tragedy

1 memorial
Holly Susan Whitlock

Holly Susan Whitlock

2015: Our colleague Andrew Behan has been register-diving again and writes: "I think that this three year old girl was Holly Susan Whitlock. The registers record her death in the Borough of Camden,...

Person, Children

1 memorial
Rita Ferguson

Rita Ferguson

We think Ferguson lived locally and was involved in the community at the Grove Estate, possibly in a role for the Hyde Housing Association.

Person, Children, Gardens / Agriculture

1 memorial
Peggy Jones

Peggy Jones

One of the 11 "children of England" present on 7th July 1933 when The Princess Royal laid a foundation stone for a nurses home for the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Person, Children

1 memorial
Frank George Southgate

Frank George Southgate

Drowned in the 1898 HMS Albion disaster, aged 3 months. Buried in grave 5 at the memorial in East London Cemetery.

Person, Children, Tragedy

1 memorial