Family historians looking to add detail to the story of their ancestors can now research mental hospital registers in East Yorkshire.
The registers are the men’s and women’s case books, which form part of the Broadgate Hospital archive (formerly East Riding Mental Hospital).
They are held by the East Riding Archives Local Studies, based in the Treasure House, Beverley, and contain case records for individuals who were admitted to Broadgate between 1871 and 1906. Details for each patient include name, age, marital status and cause of insanity. Some even contain a photograph of the patient.
Now, each individual patient mentioned in the case books has been catalogued so family historians can search by name for ancestors, who may have been admitted to Broadgate during this period, using the archive search on the East Riding of Yorkshire Council website at www.eastriding.gov.uk Collections Officer Sam Bartle said: “Most of family researchers using our facility tend to focus on the census and microfilmed parish registers, but many of them are perhaps unaware that they also have the region’s archives at their fingertips.”
Broadgate was located just outside Walkington and is now a housing development. It opened in 1871 and closed in 1989.
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