Remembering the patients on the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Fort England Psychiatric Hospital

Abstract

In 2025, the Fort England Psychiatric Hospital celebrates its 150th anniversary and this marks it as the oldest South African psychiatric facility that is still in use today. Over its many years of existence, the hospital’s history and heritage has been synonymous with the careers of the appointed medical superintendents. Thus, the dominant heritage discourse of the hospital commemorates the achievements of the medical superintendents, but what is missing from the heritage of the hospital is the patients’ experiences and stories. In this article, I seek to include the experiences and stories of the patients as central narratives in the memorialisation and heritage of the hospital. To retrieve aspects of the patients’ lives and experiences, I investigate 20 case files from a set of 200 that was recently discovered at the hospital. The entire set of case files is composed solely of white male patients, who were suffering from chronic mental illness and who remained institutionalised until their passing. A mad studies framework, which aims to humanise the patients, guides the investigation of the case files. Accordingly, the article contributes a humanised narrative of the lives and experiences of the chronic patients to the heritage of the hospital.