When West Ham became an independent borough in the late 1800s, one of the first decisions the council took was to establish that the new area should dispose of its own asylum for mentally ill paupers. To this end, a small farm located in Ilford was purchased, with the intent of transforming it into an asylum.

Architect Lewis Angel was hired to redesign the farm and work started in 1898, only to be completed in 1901, when the asylum started admitting its first patients. In 1918 the asylum changed its name to the West Ham Mental …

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