The late eighteenth and early nineteenth century witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of pauper lunatics being admitted to institutions and many mentally-ill paupers found their way into workhouses. The range of options existing for the admission of paupers, who at the time were described as lunatics or insane, included private madhouses, charitable asylums, public asylums as well as workhouses. Legislation relating to transfer from a workhouse to a one of these other institutions was ambiguous and depended on the concept of dangerousness and whether a workhouse inmate was manageable, rather than the nature of their illness. Because demand exceeded the space available because of overcrowding, workhouses and public asylums continually needed to increase provision by means of converting existing facilities or erecting new buildings. Nevertheless, the transfer of patients between asylums was commonplace and extensive. This article will explore the interface between two urban workhouses in the West Midlands of England and their local asylums from the late eighteenth until the end of the nineteenth century. It will demonstrate that, although local circumstances at any one time may have contributed to decisions on transfer, the overriding difficulty in the correct placement of pauper lunatics throughout the time period was institutional overcrowding, mainly driven by the increasing numbers of pauper lunatics.

中文翻译：

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济贫院还是庇护所？容纳十九世纪英国的穷疯子

十八世纪末十九世纪初，收容机构收容的贫民疯子数量急剧增加，许多患有精神疾病的贫民进入济贫院。收容当时被称为疯子或疯子的乞丐的现有选择范围包括私人疯人院、慈善收容所、公共收容所以及济贫院。有关从济贫院转移到其他机构的立法含糊不清，取决于危险性的概念以及济贫院囚犯是否可以控制，而不是他们疾病的性质。由于过度拥挤，需求超出了可用空间，济贫院和公共收容所不断需要通过改造现有设施或建造新建筑来增加供应。尽管如此，患者在收容所之间的转移仍然是普遍且广泛的。本文将探讨十八世纪末至十九世纪末英格兰西米德兰兹的两个城市济贫院与当地收容所之间的联系。它将证明，尽管任何时候的当地情况都可能影响转移决策，但在整个时期内正确安置贫困疯子的首要困难是机构过度拥挤，这主要是由于贫困疯子数量的增加造成的。