Alarm whistle for use by warders at Birmingham Mental Hospital. The design known as ‘the Metropolitan’ was the standard police whistle, German silver and made by J. Hudson and Co., Barr St., Hockley, Birmingham 1890-1914.
The whistle could be used to alert / interrupt disruptive or aggressive behaviour from patients and as a call to other warders for assistance.
St Brigid’s Mental Hospital was opened as the Connaught Asylum in 1833 with accommodation for 150 patients. In 1850 it was renamed the Ballinasloe District Asylum, to serve the counties of Galway and Roscommon only. In 1901 there were 1004 patients. The name of the hospital was changed to St Brigid’s in July 1960 and closed in 2013 .
