VPRS 7451 Trial Leave Register

Full description

This series records details of male and female patients' trial leave. Most patients are allocated a trial leave number however the exact meaning or usage of this number is not clear. The numbers do not follow in a strict sequence.

Details recorded include:

* patient name,
* date of admission,
* period of leave allowed,
* date returned to Asylum (or if discharged, under which particular section of the Lunacy Act the discharge was permitted)
* the name of the person responsible for the patient whilst the patient was on trial leave.

Patients entries are listed in chronological order from the date the trial leave commenced. Trial leave was allocated in six and twelve month periods. Groups of patients were allowed out on trial leave at the same time. Therefore you find a whole group of patients with the same time allocated, rather than different times for each individual patient. Leave was extended in some cases and these dates were recorded. Where further entries for trial leave for the patient are recorded reference is usually made to the next entry.

This series is not complete. The volumes recording trial leave between 1928 and 1941 have not been recovered.

This series has been transferred to the P.R.O. in two consignments. The P1 consignment was transferred from the Charles Brothers Museum, Parkville. The P2 consignment was transferred from Kew Mental Hospital. The first 2 volumes of the P2 consignment fill the date-range gap in the P1 consignment (1882-1901).

From 1962 the dates of trial leave for voluntary patients and recommended patients were recorded in separate volumes. See item list for details.

For the dates of trial leave of patients resident in the Willsmere Unit see VPRS 7687 Trial Leave Registers-Willsmere Unit.

P1 Consignment

Included in unit 2 is a list of patients who escaped during 1908 and a list of patients escaped and recaptured from 12th August 1901. Unit 3 also has a list of escaped and recaptured patients 1908-1916.

There is an index by patient name at the front of units 1, 3, and 4.

P2 Consignment

All units except unit 5 have an index at the front.