Database Trials
We’re currently testing these databases. Please explore and provide us with your valuable feedback.
We’ll decide which databases to purchase based on need, content, quality, ease of use, costs, and other factors. We can’t promise that these databases will be purchased or, if purchased, that we can continue to provide them, but we welcome and value your input!
Records from Bethlem Royal Hospital, 1559-1932
This database is a trial which expires December 10, 2025. We appreciate your feedback.
Bethlem Royal Hospital is a psychiatric facility in London. It was established as a priory of the Order of St Mary of Bethlehem in 1247, before beginning to care for mentally ill patients sometime in the 14th century. Often referred to colloquially as ‘Bedlam’—and generally accepted to be the origin of the very same noun—past incarnations of the institution were infamous for their questionable diagnosis of mental illness and poor treatment of patients.
This collection, which has been curated in association with Findmypast and the Museum of the Mind, contains four centuries' and 130,000 images' worth of records from Bethlem. The records are diverse in both form and subject matter. They include: voluntary and criminal admission registers; discharge and death registers; male and female patient casebooks; minutes of the Court of Governors; and staff salary books. All handwritten items have been fully transcribed.