Printed Annual Reports

These are filed by bundle, each bundle covering a decade Some early printed Reports are included in the Directors' Minute Book 1792 - 1841 (RET 1/1/1/1) Format of Annual Reports - a summary:- The Annual Reports became more detailed as time went on. By the mid nineteenth century there were two main components of the Annual Report: the Report of the Medical Superintendent (with statistical tables of patients), and the Report of the Committee (with financial statistics). Initially, both ran from 1 July to 30 June (thus, eg 1897 report is 1 July 1896 to 30 June 1897). But from the late 1890s onwards, the Committee Report ran from 1 April to 31 March. The Medical Superintendent's Report continued to run from 1 July to 30 June until 1903, when it was altered to cover a calendar year, January - December (the 1903 Report covered an 18 month period of 1 July 1902 - 31 December 1903) From 1903 until 1967, two separate Reports were issued annually: the larger Medical Superintendent's Report (entitled the Report of the Retreat), covering the calendar year, and the smaller Report of the Committee of Management, running from 1 April to 31 March. Researchers should consult both sets of reports which contain different information The Medical Superintendent was called the Physician Superintendent from the 1938 issue, and the Medical Director from the 1962 issue. From the 1953 issue up to 1961, what had formerly been entitled the Report of the Retreat was now called Report of the Physician Superintendent, and from the 1962 issue up to 1966 the Report of the Medical Director There was a slight change in the Reports sequence during the Second World War. A single Committee Report covered the two years 1943-1944 and also contained the Physician Superintendent’s Report for 1943. The Committee Report for 1945 contained the Report of the Physician Superintendent for 1944. The Physician Superintendent’s Report for 1945 was a special 150th Anniversary issue. In 1965 the Committee Report was finally adjusted so that it would henceforth also cover the calendar year. In order to do this, two Committee Reports were issued for 1965, the first of these actually covering April-December 1964 and the second covering the calendar year 1965. The annual reports return to a single annual issue again in 1967. From 1967 onwards, all reports and information are therefore in one publication. However, just as the Retreat has changed and developed in recent years, the size and format of reports can be seen to have changed also

1796-1996

253 reports

Open and available at the Borthwick Institute for Archives. This material has been digitised by the Borthwick Institute for Archives as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project, and can be freely accessed online through the Wellcome Library catalogue.