100 years ago

Some remarkable delusions entertained by the insane regarding the war had been alluded to at the annual meeting of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum for the Insane.

The medical superintendent reported that the commonest war delusion that was met with was the belief of many melancholic patients that they individually were responsible for the war and all its misery.

“One or two go a step further,” he said, “and accuse themselves of being the Kaiser. It is not surprising that patients suffering from melancholia should entertain the delusion that they are the Kaiser, as such patients occasionally even accuse themselves of being the devil.

"The ideas patients suffering from mania entertain are of a very different kind - the result of their elated mood. Several are on friendly terms with Kitchener and Jellicoe, and one is frequently heard encouraging the former by repeating 'wake-up, Kitchener.'”
 

50 years ago

Since the founding of Dr Barnardo's Homes, 359 children from York, including 31 in the previous five years, had been cared for by the organisation.

The Rev HL Hughes, from Barnardo headquarters, who gave the figures at a meeting celebrating 99 years of the organisation, also said that the number from Yorkshire was 9546, which included 544 children in the previous five years.

Dr Barnardo was a household word in Britain and the Commonwealth. Something like 7000 children were currently being looked after in about 110 Homes in these countries. On average 2400 children were admitted each year.

The work was not only in providing secure homes for those who had no home, but was extended to many ancillary services, such as after-care of handicapped children and ailing children, handicapped training and welfare centres.
 

25 years ago

New shots had been fired in the battle to reopen railway stations, as part of a plan to ease traffic congestion in the York area.

Two public meetings had been arranged by the North Yorkshire branch of the pressure group, Transport 2000, to stimulate interest in providing stations at Haxby, Strensall and Copmanthorpe.

“We believe there is a relatively cheap form of traffic management which could solve York's traffic problems,” said branch chairman, Councillor Albert Cowen.

It would involve park-and-ride, already on the stocks as part of York City Council's overall strategy, and the reopening or re-siting of stations to serve new housing estates which had sprung up in surrounding villages.

Talks were planned between North Yorkshire County Council and British Rail, although the warning bells had already gone up that such moves would require “massive injections of ratepayers' cash.”