The undesirables : the law that locked away a generation

Wise, Sarah (Writer on English history)2024

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Summary

By 1950, an estimated 50,000 people had been deemed 'defective' by the government and detained indefinitely under the 1913 Mental Deficiency Act. Their 'crimes' were various: women with children born out of wedlock; rebellious teenagers caught shoplifting; those with epilepsy, speech impediments and chronic illnesses who had struggled in school; and many who were simply 'different'. Forcibly removed from their families and confined to a shadow world of specialist facilities in the countryside, they were hidden away and forgotten - out of sight, out of mind. Through painstaking archival research, Sarah Wise shines a light on this shameful chapter. Piecing together the lives irrevocably changed by this devastating legislation, 'The Undesirables' provides a compelling study of how early 20th century attitudes to class, gender and disability resulted in a nationwide scandal.