Conference: Normansfield - Past Present and Future

www.langdondownmuseum.org.uk

9.30am – 5.00pm Saturday 5 May 2012

A conference exploring the history of Normansfield and its collections
through historical research, archiving and personal experience.

Venue: Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability, Langdon Down Centre,
Normansfield, 2A Langdon Park, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 9PS

Booking:
for a booking form please email:
[log in to unmask] or call 0208 614 5100

Delegate rate:  £20 including lunch | Concession ticket: £15 including
 lunch | Booking is required in advance

Speakers:
·
Ian Jones-Healey,
Langdon Down Museum Archivist
Talk: Creating the Langdon Down Museum of Learning Disability at Normansfield
·
Professor Conor Ward,
author of Dr John Langdon Down and Normansfield.
Talk: John Langdon Down in Earlswood (1858-1868) and in Normansfield
(1868-1896). John Langdon Down was a brilliant physician. Recruited
  to restore the good name of Earlswood he combined research with clinical
care. He identified Down's syndrome and other previously unrecognised
disorders. He emphasised the educational value of entertainment, focused
on the Assembly Hall. His wife Mary multitasked
 as administrator, educator and motherfigure.
·
Lord Rix:
President Mencap.
Talk: Personal recollections of Normansfield. Our daughter, Shelley, came
to live in Normansfield in 1956 - about the same time as
 the Friends of Normansfield was formed. Elspet and I seemed to migrate to
fundraising for the Friends – for both of us were well known at the time
for our Whitehall Farces. I will touch on this, Shelley’s move to Oak
House and eventually to a Mencap home in
 Whitton. I will also mention the Sherrard Report.
·
Jan Pimblett,
Principal Development Officer London Metropolitan Archives. Talk: The
Normansfield Hospital Archive 1853-1983
The Normansfield Hospital collection, which is housed at London
Metropolitan Archives, reveals a vivid and compelling history through
 documents and photographs. This presentation will explore the work
undertaken to preserve the collection and make it accessible to readers.
The scope of the collection will also be examined with reference to some
key materials which show the pioneering work
 of the hospital, the lives and experiences of residents and staff, the
final decline of the institution and the enduring legacy of Dr Down and
his work.
·
Ray Elmitt,
local historian and author of a Hampton Wick Timeline.

Talk: Normansfield and the local community. The 1891 Census for
Normansfield records 319 persons who 'slept or abode at this Institution
on the night of Sunday April 5th 1891'. This
 would have been the biggest single grouping of people within Hampton Wick
and South Teddington and this presentation explores the impact they had
on the surrounding community.
·
Sarah Chaney:
UCL and Bethlem Royal Hospital.
Talk: “Few communities of the poor have so much amusement provided for
them": Entertainment, Occupation and Environment in the Nineteenth
 Century Asylum. The foundation and early years of Normansfield Hospital
were closely linked to the growth of the psychiatric asylum system, and
can be best understood with a clear understanding of the way in which
such institutions were founded and functioned.
 The popularity of moral treatment (a humanitarian method, introduced in
the late eighteenth century, aiming to "re-educate" disordered minds
through environment, rest and occupation) and the "non-restraint"
movement of the 1840s were important influences on
 the model adopted by Down. This talk explores these influences at the
Normansfield, Earlswood and Caterham asylums.

David Wilmore
A historic theatre consultant advising on theatre building restoration,
nineteenth century staging techniques and special effects of the period.

Talk: Historic Victorian theatres and Normansfield.
David Wilmore will give a presentation which relates to the original
"Ruddigore" portraits used in the Gilbert and Sullivan's first production
of Ruddigore at the Savoy Theatre in 1888 and
 now kept at Normansfield. He will examine the history of the original
production, the provenance of the portraits and how they were used in the
original production.

-- 
Sarah Chaney
PhD Candidate
Centre for the History of Psychological Disciplines
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT