Leather truncheon used at Narborough Mental Asylum

Truncheon, made of a leather covered spring, with leather strap handle – now broken – reputedly used at the Narborough Hospital, re-named the Leicestershire and Rutland Mental Hospital in 1914, early 20th century.

This truncheon is believed to have been carried by a male warden working at the mental hospital in Narborough, Leicestershire in the early 20th century. It would have be carried by inserting a hand into the leather strap loop – now broken – and potentially used, or at least was threatened to be used, as a means to subdue inmates in the hospital. Other behaviour-control measures could have included physical restraint, seclusion, and sedation. Despite the presence of such items, the care of patients in such institutions had improved during the 19th century. Further legislation in the first half of the 20th helped to continue the trend.

With its origins in an earlier ‘lunatic asylum’ established in the 1830s, a new hospital had been built at Narborough and opened in 1907. The Narborough Hospital was re-named the Leicestershire and Rutland Mental Hospital in 1914, before becoming The Carlton Hayes Hospital in 1939. The institution was finally closed in 1996 as part of the so-called ‘care in the community’ initiative which saw the final closure of such institutions across the country, in favour of shifting care into smaller units in local communities and at home.