High Royds Hospital was the third of four large hospitals built by the West Riding of Yorkshire County Council to accommodate ‘pauper lunatics'. The hospital was designed by the county engineer J. Vickers Edwards, work began in 1884 and the hospital was opened in 1888. Pavilions were arranged in an echelon formation with the administrative block, which included a tower and clock, at the centre and the service area behind, the whole linked by covered corridors. There were wards designated for the care of patients with epilepsy and other special groups. Subsequently there were many additions to the hospital which included an infirmary, long-stay wards detached from the hospital and a ‘neurosis unit’ built in the modern style in 1938.

The General Medical Council has introduced a generic professional capabilities framework. It includes the need to develop the professional values, actions and aspirations fundamental to becoming a ‘dedicated doctor’. The history of psychiatry has potential to facilitate this learning, both by an understanding of content and the ability to think historically.