Middlefield Hospital c.1910s

These photos are from a Minutes Book from Middlefield Hospital. They date from around the 1910s.

At this time, Middlefield was called the Midland Counties Institution.

Photos courtesy of Warwickshire County Records Office, with thanks to Rob Eyre and Amy Aylward.

You can comment on the photos by clicking the link above them.

You might like to consider:

• what the people are thinking or feeling in the photos

• what their everyday lives are like

• the story the photo is telling

• how the photo makes you feel

The Schoolroom - Clay Modelling and Drawing Classes

A group of children sit in a school room at desks. Unlike the other classes, here both boys and girls are together.

Two women, their teachers, stand at the front of the class next to blackboards. There are pictures of fish and plants drawn on the blackboards. The children appear to have balls of clay on their desks.

Gardening

A group of men and boys are in the grounds of Middlefield.

They are all smartly dressed.

They have wheelbarrows, watering cans and a lawnmower.

A Basket-Making Class

A group of smartly-dressed young men are surrounded by woven baskets and chairs.

Weaving was a common activity in learning disability institutions.

A Tailoring Class

In this photo 5 boys sit with their tailoring work. They appear to have been making or altering pairs of trousers. They are all smartly dressed and sit in the same classroom as the other craft classes. A man, presumably their teacher, sits behind them, at a sewing machine.

A Sewing and Knitting Class

In this photo there are two rows of girls and women at benches. They are of varying ages. They have their knitting and sewing work in front of them. The classroom looks very similar, if not the same room, to the other craft classes. They are dressed smartly. They have a woman stood behind them, presumably their teacher. The ‘teacher’ looks like the same teacher in the rug-making class.

A Rug-Making Class

In this photo we can see two rows of young boys sat at desks. They have their rug work in front of them. The rugs look to be ‘rag’ rugs. The boys are dressed smartly. A woman is with them, presumably their teacher.

A Group of Little Ones

In this photo we can see a woman in a nurse’s outfit surrounded by a group of young children (‘little ones’). There are both boys and girls in the group. They are all dressed smartly. They are sat in the grounds of what is probably Middlefield. They are of varying ages.

A Dormitory

This photo shows a Dormitory from Middlefield Hospital. There are 8 beds visible, although 2 might be a type of cot. There is a table in the middle of the room, dressed in a lace tablecloth with flowerpots on top. Note how close together the beds are.

A Carpentry Class

In this photograph, 3 men of varying ages stand around a carpentry table. They are dressed in smart clothes and long white aprons. They are surrounded by lots of different tools.