Over the course of the nineteenth century children increasingly became social, economic and scientific concerns. Their physical and mental well-being was deemed intrinsic to the future development of Britain and its Empire, and thus maintaining healthy youngsters was, by the turn of the twentieth century, considered a national priority. This article explores the interconnectivity between poverty and the child residents of pauper lunatic asylums in England. It draws on a corpus of extant patient case files from four pauper lunatic asylums between 1851 and 1907 and engages with detailed information about the children and their mental conditions. Additionally, there will be a focus on understanding family backgrounds, parental occupations, the correlation between diagnoses and class, and methods of ‘treatment’ designed to equip children for independent working lifestyles. The overarching objective is to consider the socio-economic ramifications of child mental illness for parents and families and better understand how Victorian institutions accommodated this specific class of patient.

中文翻译：

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英格兰农村和城市的儿童、贫困和心理健康（1850-1907 年）

在 19 世纪的过程中，儿童越来越成为社会、经济和科学方面的关注点。他们的身心健康被认为是不列颠及其帝国未来发展的内在因素，因此在 20 世纪之交，保持健康的年轻人被视为国家优先事项。本文探讨了贫困与英格兰贫民疯人院的儿童居民之间的相互联系。它利用了 1851 年至 1907 年间四个贫民疯人院的现存患者病例档案，并提供了有关儿童及其精神状况的详细信息。此外，还将重点了解家庭背景、父母职业、诊断与班级之间的相关性，和“治疗”方法，旨在使儿童能够独立工作的生活方式。首要目标是考虑儿童精神疾病对父母和家庭的社会经济影响，并更好地了解维多利亚州的机构如何容纳这一特定类别的患者。