Institution Information - Alexander Chalmers' House
Town/Parish/County: Fisherrow, Inveresk, Midlothian
Alternative Names: [none]
Location Map: Click here to see a historic map showing the street where the institution was located.
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Locating Records for this institution
For people admitted to Scottish Mental Health institutions from 1 January 1858 a record usually survives in the ‘Notices of Admissions by the Superintendent of the Mental Institutions’ which are held by the National Records of Scotland. We are creating an index to these records and can assist you in searching the unindexed period. Search our index here or read more about the project here.
Records kept by this private institution do not seem to have survived, but it would seem that Alexander Chalmers moved his asylum to a property in nearby Campie Lane, Fisherrow, in the late 1850s. For more information on the Campie Lane Asylum, click here. If you learn of anything concerning the survival or whereabouts of these records, please contact us.
Text from 1857 Royal Commission Report
"A CHALMERS'S HOUSE, MUSSELBURGH; Visited 26th May 1855.
A Chalmers has been a gardener. About ten years ago he acted for some months as an attendant in Saughtonhall asylum; and he took this house at Whitsunday 1855, for the purpose of receiving private patients.
The house is situated in Market Street, Fisherrow.
At the date of our visit it was only partially furnished, and not ready for the reception of patients; but we understand that two or three have since been admitted. The house and garden are both small, and do not afford the means of properly separating the sexes."