CHAPTER 4 Experiencing Caterham: Work, Occupation and Asylum Life …a cheerful and homely aspect of the wards, tend materially to improve those capable of improvement, to soothe those not so amenable, and to promote the happiness and comfort of what are the most helpless and dependent of our fellow creatures. 1 The domestic comfort and happiness of the patients depends materially upon the intelligence, character, and kindly disposition of the Attendants and Nurses who are so closely associated with them… 2 …much active exertion by the staff and attendants in endeavouring to rouse the listless and apathetic to exertion, and in directing hands previously unskilled and found wanting in habits of work. 3 The three quotes above shed light on three important facets that represent the holy trinity of the asylum management and organisation, namely the aim of its regime, the purpose of work for both patients and staff and the importance of character, comfort and cheer in a long-stay asylum. They also convey the challenges of administering large-scale asylums, attempt- ing to cater to the various needs of patients, many of whom were suffering from a range of medical issues. Indeed, in the causes of death, a wide array of conditions were listed, including heart disease, pulmonary consump- tion, cancer and various inflammatory skin conditions such as erysipelas, abscesses and ulcers. Patients may well have lived with these conditions for © The Author(s) 2020 S. Eastoe, Idiocy, Imbecility and Insanity in Victorian Society, Mental Health in Historical Perspective, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27335-4_4 97