Our fascinating Mental Health and Family History Day Course explores historical and social issues surrounding the sensitive area of mental-health care and portrayal.
Examining 19th-century scandals in which sane individuals were confined to “lunatic” asylums by unscrupulous relatives and doctors. Reviewing contested cases, archival evidence and considering the accuracy of literary depictions in novels such as The Woman in White and Jane Eyre. The re-purposing of former mansions as institutions. And highlighting the plight of those struggling to free themselves from incarceration.
Tracing the development of UK mental health asylums and the people who were deemed to require asylum care. Using Stanley Royd Hospital, Wakefield as a case study, highlighting key points for family history research into those who lived and worked in asylums. Through a personal case study alongside samples of male and female admissions from 1862 and 1882, demographic evidence is used to explore who was admitted to an asylum and why.
Delving into the lives of asylum inmates forgotten by their families, using biographies to link historical theory with archival records. Investigating backgrounds, reasons for admission, treatment, and experiences inside the institution, as well as how those who were discharged adjusted to life beyond the asylum’s confines.
Looking at safe and thoughtful ways of writing about people who died by suicide and examining the history of suicide by tracing shifts in societal attitudes, resistance to discriminatory burial practices, and efforts toward reform. Considering methods for analysing historical texts, especially the challenges of interpreting and representing the lives of marginalized people.
Engaging in conversation with a person living with dementia can be challenging; however, family history offers a powerful way to foster meaningful connection and stimulate memory. By revisiting early life experiences through family history, which are often better preserved than more recent memories, it is possible to encourage engagement and provide gentle cognitive stimulation. Drawing on personal experience as a young carer for a dementia sufferer helps to bring to life the value of using family history as a practical and compassionate communication tool. This presentation will help others to create an individual plan of how to use family history in meaningful conversations.
- 20% Discount for all Society of Genealogists Members
- Recordings available until 11 June 2026 for everyone who pre-books
Click here for information about our events. Contact events@sog.org.uk if you have any questions.
Programme details
| Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Madness & Mad Doctors in Victorian England | Online | 11/05/2026 | 13:00 - 14:00 | |
| Asylums - History and Life | Online | 11/05/2026 | 14:30 - 15:30 | |
| The People who Families Forgot: stories of asylum inmates | Online | 11/05/2026 | 16:00 - 17:00 | |
| Remembering Our Ancestors who Died by Suicide | Online | 11/05/2026 | 18:30 - 19:30 | |
| Family History Helps in Dementia | Online | 11/05/2026 | 20:00 - 21:00 |
About the Speaker
Rebecca Stanley
Rebecca Stanley has been conducting research on-and-off for the past 20+ years. With a focus in American Jewish genealogy, she has traced her family across the US and into what is now Central and Eastern Europe. Currently living in Los Angeles, she was a founding member of that city's Young Adult Child Caregiver Alzheimer's Support Group and the Young Adult Alzheimer's Bereavement Group. Just under five years after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and only 1.5 years after her mother died, Rebecca spoke at the Society of Genealogists' 2024 NextGEN Conference about her own experiences on Alzheimer's, genealogy, and caregiving during the Covid-19 pandemic. A Paralegal-in-training, she also writes historical fiction in her spare time.
About the Speaker
Dai Davies
Dai Davies is a professional genealogist who draws from a background in anthropology (MA & BA (Hons)) to explore ancestral stories with a special focus on social identity. Understanding local culture and history is central to this approach. Much of Dai’s research focusses on South Wales, nonconformist movements, and rural to urban migration. You can find much of Dai’s work for free on the GenealCymru YouTube channel where the mission is to get people excited to research their Welsh and British ancestors and prepare them with the knowledge and skills to successfully do so. So far, Dai’s work through GenealCymru has reached over 1.2 million people.
About the Speaker
Sarah Wise
Sarah Wise is a social historian and author of Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England which was shortlisted for the Wellcome Prize, and The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum, shortlisted for shortlisted for the RSL’s Ondaatje Prize.
About the Speaker
Janet Few
Dr. Janet Few is an experienced family, social and community historian who has presented throughout the UK, overseas and at sea. She has written several books of interest to genealogists and contributes to local and family history journals. She also writes historical fiction. Working as an historical interpreter, Janet spends time living in the seventeenth century as her alter ego, Mistress Agnes. You can read her very interesting blog, ‘the history interpreter’ online. Janet manages Swords and Spindles, a company providing living history presentations. Janet is currently serving as the president of the Family History Federation. She is heavily involved in the work of family history societies and was awarded the Society of Genealogists certificate of recognition in 2020 for her work.
2025053010012626542.png)
About the Speaker
Jude Rhodes
Jude lives in and is from Yorkshire, much of her work is focused on Yorkshire family and local history with a specialism of the Yorkshire Dales and an interest in migration from the Dales.
Jude qualified as a genealogist through the Pharos and SoG Advanced Skills and Strategies course. She is an AGRA Associate, member of the British Association for Local History Outreach Committee and Secretary for the Society of One Place Studies.
She enjoys presenting talks and teaches Family History at her local FE College. Jude works with individuals and families living with dementia by using family history to stimulate conversations.
