The Monros were also owners of private 'madhouses' in Hackney and Clerkenwell, and visiting physicians to scores of others. Indeed the family name 'Monro', became synonymous with the very word 'mad-doctor'. Absenteeism of the medical officers at Bethlem led to patients too often being at the mercy of untrained and overstretched staff. This was a central point of the shocking revelations of the Parliamentary enquiry into 'madhouses' in 1815/16. James Monro, and his son John, had already suffered a public scandal with the publication of 'A Treatise on Madness' in 1758. Here, William Battie, physician to the London asylum of St. Luke's, argued that Bethlem and the treatment doled out by the Monros, was antiquated, negligent and abusive. So began the great rivalry between the two establishments

Bethlem Hospital, popularly known as "Bedlam", is a unique institution. Now seven hundred and fifty years old, it has been continuously involved in the care of the mentally ill in London since at least the 1400s. As such it has a strong claim to be the oldest foundation in Europe with an unbroken history of sheltering and treating the mentally disturbed. During this time, Bethlem has transcended locality to become not only a national and international institution, but in many ways, a cultural and literary myth. The History of Bethlem is a scholarly history of this key establishment by distinguished authors, including Asa Briggs and Roy Porter. Based upon extensive research of the hospital's archives, the book looks at Bethlem's role within the caring institutions of London and Britain, and provides a long overdue re-evaluation of its place in the history of psychiatry.

Is mental illness or madness at root an illness of the body, a disease of the mind, or a sickness of the soul? Should those who suffer from it be secluded from society or integrated more fully into it? This Way Madness Lies explores the meaning of mental illness through the successive incarnations of the institution that defined it: the madhouse, designed to segregate its inmates from society; the lunatic asylum, which intended to restore the reason of sufferers by humane treatment; and the mental hospital, which reduced their conditions to diseases of the brain. Moving and sometimes provocative illustrations and photographs, sourced from the Wellcome Collection's extensive archives and the archives of mental institutions in Europe and the U.S., illuminate and reinforce the compelling narrative, while extensive gallery sections present revealing and thought-provoking artworks by asylum patients and other artists from each era of the institution and beyond.

Set in the notorious 18th Century lunatic asylum that gives the play its name, Bedlam is the story of how a cruel and unusual institution starts to crumble, after the arrival of an unassuming country girl. Nell Leyshon's new play is an anarchic tale of madness and sanity, authority and incarceration and the arbitrary lines that separate them. Full of violence, romance and reverie, Bedlam will make history this September when it becomes the first ever production by a female writer to be staged at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Originally published: London: Simon & Schuster, 2008.