DISPLAY CASE

Staffing the Asylum

This photograph is believed to show a senior staff group from either 1926 or 1927.

The Superintendent at the time was Dr Walter Read, who is probably the gentleman in the middle right of the front row. Chaplain Philip Raynor is on his left, and to his right is probably Dr Sidney Holder, the principal assistant medical officer, with Dr John Rohan beside him.

Housekeeper and Matron Mary Ratcliffe is on the far left of the front row, and the lady to the far right is Grace Kirk, who was deputy head nurse. The gentlemen in the back row are probably the senior male attendants, clerks and stewards.

Scale of staff emoluments

Reference: D/H10/A4/9

This document lists allowances of goods and services given to Asylum staff in addition to their wages.

Along with staff wage books it shows that there was a vast difference between the wages of senior staff, such as the Medical Superintendent, and the salaries of ordinary nursing and auxiliary staff. In 1917 the Medical Superintendent was paid around £1000 a year in addition to having a furnished house. All his rates and bills were paid, his washing was done by the Asylum laundry, he had stables and a horse, and was allowed to take produce from the garden and farm. The value of these benefits was estimated to be an extra £250 per annum.

This proportion of benefits to income was reflected in the salaries of more junior staff. Female attendants and servants were paid around £80 – £100 annually depending on their experience, and received board, lodging, washing and uniform worth an extra £30 a year.

Photograph of Berkshire Asylum nurses at Christmas

Reference: Original photograph in private collection

This Christmas photograph shows a group of nursing staff sometime between 1919-1926. Grace Kirk, who can also be seen in the senior staff group photograph, is at the rear, on the right of the group. She became Deputy Head Nurse in 1926, and succeeded Mary Ratcliffe as Matron in 1932. She left Fair Mile in 1938 to get married.