Soft toy rabbits (two) made by patients at St Crispins hosptal
This rabbit was made by patients at the Occupational Therapy Unit at St Crispin’s Hospital, Duston. It was given to a child living in Duston in 1950 and cherished as a childhood toy.
St Crispin’s Hospital is a relatively late example of an asylum in England, being built for the county of Northamptonshire in 1876. It was expanded in 1888, 1894, 1904 and again in 1948 after the creation of the National Health Service.
The foundations of occupational therapy were formed by the arts and crafts and moral treatment movements of the late 1800s and 1900s. It was based on the principle that the mind and body should be treated together and informed by thinkers and reformers such as John Ruskin and Octavia Hill.
Institutional care for people with a physical or mental disability faced widespread criticism during the 1960s and 1970s and the UK government adopted a new policy of Care in the Community in the 1980s. St Crispin’s Hospital closed in 1995 and a modern mental health facility, Berrywood Hospital, was opened in its grounds in 2010.
Number 88 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition 2025.
Sterilising drum belonging to Dr Francis Fisher Waddy, first anaesthetist at Northampton General Hospital. The drum contained small items of anaaesthetic equipment during their sterilisation.
A constraining garment used to restrict the movement of its wearer, preventing injury to themselves, others or property. This straitjacket comes from Hardingstone Workhouse.
© NMAG
©
NMAG
©
NMAG
