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Commissioners in Lunacy

Public body established by the Lunacy Act 1845

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Through Mental disorder

The structure of the Lunacy Commission

The Lunacy Commission comprised eleven Metropolitan Commissioners: five lay, three medical and three legal, and constituted 'a permanent inspectorate for all asylums and houses licensed for the care of the insane in the country (with the single exception of Bethlem Hospital in London).' The five lay members were all honorary and solely had to attend board meetings. However, the medical members and the legal members and its Secretary were full-time and salaried. The Commissioners were required to 'visit gaols, workhouses and other institutions where the mentally afflicted might be found and, in the case of the workhouses they were to report their findings to the Poor Law commissioners and to the Lord Chancellor.'

The first Chairman of the Commissioners was Lord Shaftesbury, who remained in post until he died in 1885. The first Secretary was Robert Wilfred Skeffington Lutwidge, a barrister and uncle of Lewis Carroll. He had previously been one of the 'Metropolitan Commissioners', and later become an 'Inspector' of the Commission. In the order of precedence, the post of 'Master in Lunacy' ranked next after that of a Master in Chancery.

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