A gentleman's mad-doctor in Georgian England: Edward Long Fox and Brislington House

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were a period of particular innovation in the history of British psychiatry. Enlightenment ideas brought a change in attitudes to insanity, reflected in the growing prevalence of psychologically based treatment techniques being implemented in both public and private institutions. A new group of practitioners, specializing in the treatment and management of insanity, was emerging. One of the most prominent and successful was Dr Edward Long Fox, a Bristol physician. His main venture was the establishment of Brislington House in 1806. Here he created a state-of-the-art asylum, catering mainly for the wealthier members of society. Its unique design, with seven distinct houses, enabled classification of patients according to social class as well as behavioural presentation. Within a context of safety and security, Fox sought to provide a therapeutic regime based on the principles and practices of moral management.