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The year 1967 is the 200th anniversary of one of England's oldest and most famous private mental hospitals located at Cheadle, nine miles from the city of Manchester. To read the story of the Cheadle Royal is to review England's history of psychiatry and care of the mentally ill.
To hear Miss Roberts tell it, Cheadle Royal's orientation always was and remains remarkably benignant. It was in the forefront of many advances in the handling of mental patients. Almost as soon as the nowfamous Dr. John Conolly had totally abolished mechanical restraint at Hanwell (circa 1839) so had the Cheadle Royal Hospital. Cheadle Royal pioneered many mental therapies in England, including allowing patients to reside outside the hospital in houses leased and furnished for the purpose. The open-door policy and an industrial rehabilitation unit were conceived and put into operation early at this hospital. During a turbulent medical era (1948