Claire Chatterton looks at the sometimes traumatic impact on patients and staff of the decision by the War Office to requisition asylums for use as military hospitals

The rising casualty rates during the first world war caused a major problem for the British government. As the numbers of soldiers affected grew, the War Office began requisitioning large public psychiatric asylums to be used as war hospitals to treat soldiers. One after another the institutions were emptied, often rapidly. The patients were dispersed to other public asylums across the country. This article investigates the impact of this policy on inpatients and nursing staff in asylums.