Lucy Smith
- Title
- Location
- Role
- PhD Student
Biography
I graduated in 1991 with a BScEcon(Hons) in Politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. Since then I have been employed in various roles within Education and Adult Social Services. In 2019 I completed a part-time Open University MA in History and was awarded ESRC funding for a NWSSDTP CASE Studentship at Keele. Working in collaboration with the Staffordshire Archives and Heritage Service on their Wellcome Trust funded Asylums Project, I am currently exploring the history of mental health care in the Asylums at Stafford, Burntwood and Cheddleton. Information regarding the project is available on the blog https://staffordshireasylumrecords.wordpress.com/.
Research and scholarship
Occupational Stress and the Victorian Asylum. My research looks at the relationship between work and mental health through admissions to County Asylums between 1818 and 1918. Using case notes and other records from three Staffordshire Asylums, alongside other datasets, I am building partial biographies to examine occupational stress as a cause of admission to these institutions. This project will develop understanding of the nature of work-related mental illness across a range of occupations during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the impact it had upon patients and their families, and how it was perceived by the medical profession, employers and wider society. I will also explore the role of work as a form of treatment in nineteenth century mental health care and the working environment of staff employed within the asylum.
Publications
NWSSDTP ESRC CASE Studentship