Commissioners in Lunacy

A body established under the Lunacy Act 1845 to inspect asylums and oversee patients’ admission, detention, and discharge. Its eleven Commissioners comprised three medical, three legal, and five unpaid lay members. The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury chaired the Commission from 1845 to 1885. In 1913 it was replaced by the Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency.