Apr 242018
Bristo Port, Edinburgh EH1 1EY
Bedlam Theatre is on the site of the old Poorhouse, which included rooms for those who had ‘lost their reason’. Starting in 1792, Dr Andrew Duncan led the campaign for a new Lunatic Asylum. Dr Duncan himself had done one tour of duty to China on a ship of the East India Company. Progress was slow until Parliament granted £2,000 in 1806. Fund-raising began in earnest, with applications to ‘gentlemen and noblemen’ in Scotland and England – and India. By 1814, of the £6,500 raised from individuals, ‘contributions totalling £1,700 were received from Madras, Bombay, Calcutta and Ceylon’.
Andrew Duncan bust in Old College, Edinburgh University.
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