THE HISTORY OF Herrison Hospital near Dorchester has been brought vividly to life by former nurse Jackie Allen (nee Fisher).

Jackie worked at the former hospital for many years and has many happy recollections of the establishment, together with her friend Ruby Ryan.

They have collected a vast amount of memorabilia about the hospital, its history, patients and the people who worked there, and it is a valuable resource for people interested in the establishment.

Jackie said: “Charles Dickens wrote about the workhouses and said they were a place for lunatics. We think he was being cruel, but in Victorian times that was a nice way of describing mentally ill people because a lot of people believed they had the devil inside them.

“It was thought they were also affected by the moon – hence lunatic – and for a lot of people, asylums were set up by philanthropists and were a place of safety for the mentally ill.”

Herrison started life as Dorset County Asylum, which in was originally founded 1832 and was based at Forston House in Charminster. By the 1860s, this facility was too small, and the new asylum at the Herrison site was opened in 1863. Herrison House itself was opened in 1904, and in 1940 the institution became known as Herrison Hospital.

Over the years the establishment grew and the patients were encouraged to grow their own food in the hospital’s grounds and on its farm.

They slept in large wards, long rooms containing more than 70 beds, and although the staff were compassionate the treatments seem primitive and barbaric by today’s standards.

When Jackie and her friend Ruby Ryan were nurses at Herrison their matron was Margaret Murray, who was later awarded an OBE for services to nursing.

“She was wonderful woman,” said Jackie. “You always knew what sort of mood she was in because if she was in a bad mood her scarf was pulled down but it would be up if she was in a good mood. There was a great camaraderie among the staff and if a patient was being difficult – and I remember one woman picking a nurse up and throwing her across the ward – everyone would stick together and help.

“The treatments were very different today. “We prescribed LSD and there was another treatment called deep insulin therapy. But generally speaking, we had a lot of fun with the patients – real fun, not as in making fun of them – and we enjoyed working with them.”

The staff also had a lot of fun together. There were sports events and dances and Jackie met her late husband John at the hospital, as he was also a nurse there.

The nurses had a strict curfew in the evenings, although there were ways of getting around it if you were clever enough, and the friendships forged last to this day.

“It was a different world then, but a very enjoyable one,” said Ruby.