One of Life’s Great Tragedies: Mrs. Hume Pinsent in Sheffield: “The care and control of the feeble-minded” was the subject of an interesting presentation given last night by Mrs. Hume Pinsent at the old Firth College, Sheffield. Mrs. Pinsent, who is a member of Birmingham Education Committee, has carefully studied the subject for several years, and was a member of the Royal Commission which made a report on the question. Sir William Clegg presided over a large and representative gathering. Mrs. HUME PINSENT commenced by giving a few important figures. In England and Wales, she remarked, apart from certified lunatics, it was estimated there were 149,030 people who were mentally defective, and of these 66,000 were urgently in need of provision of some kind. Including certified lunatics, over 270,030 persons, one out of every 100 of the population, were mentally deficient. This indeed was a great national evil, and to meet it the Royal Commission recommended unity and continuity of control. They suggested that one central authority should deal with these people. At present there were four Government Departments dealing with them. The Board of Education dealt with a very small proportion of mentally defective children; the Local Government Board with a large proportion of paupers in need of relief; the Home Office with a large number who became inebriates and criminals — punished them but did not reform them — and the Lunacy Commissioners with those needing actual control. But not one of these authorities could be relied upon to give permanent control. All the witnesses before the Royal Commission were in favour of a single central authority to deal with all grades. There should also be a local authority, and mental defects should be dealt with so that the production of generation after generation of mentally defective people could be prevented. Difficult Problem: Doctors who examined children did not agree when a child was mentally defective and when it should be certified as an imbecile. And then H.M. Inspector probably came along and said certain mentally defective children had no right in the special schools. She knew of hundreds who had been thrown on the streets in this way to become a burden on the rates and a danger to the community: Guardians refused assistance in many cases, and altogether it was hardly possible to conceive a greater condition of muddle. A rich parent could secure proper control for his child, but a poor parent could not claim public aid for his little one unless he could persuade a doctor not to certify the child as an imbecile. If he did so certify it then it must become a pauper. In America it had been proved beyond doubt, that training for mental defects possible and under proper control excellent results had been secured. But if control in the case of children was important, it was even more important in cases of people over 16 years of age in order that the reproduction of their kind might be prevented. There must be continuity of control if this was to be effected. Feeble-minded parents brought forth feeble-minded children who frequently became paupers, criminals, or lunatics, throwing great expenses on the community. Until there was continuity of control all the money expended on the children was wasted. (Hear, hear.) There was no restriction on the number of children these people had, and while smaller families were becoming the rule, not only among the upper and middle classes but also the artisan class, large families still came from the degenerates and defectives. The problem was a serious one, both from a moral and financial point of view (Hear, hear.) Each year’s delay in dealing with this matter meant a fresh batch of boys and girls born to inevitable ruin. How England has Shirked the Question. England had shirked the problem long enough and if there was desire to put down crime, drunkenness, and lunacy, it could only be done by the State providing for complete control of the mentally deficient. (Applause) Miss MAXFIELD, who is president of the Sheffield special schools for mentally defective children, moved a resolution expressing the opinion that there is an urgent need for immediate legislation on the lines recommended by the Royal Commission, copies of the resolution to send the Lord Chancellor, the Home Office, Local Government Board, Board of Education, Lunacy Commissioners, and Members Parliament for the city etc. …
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Referenced
GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949