James Hume (superintendent)
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James Hume (27 February 1823 – 28 August 1896) was a New Zealand asylum superintendent and one of the founders of the asylum Ashburn Hall near Dunedin.
Hume was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland on 27 February 1823.[1] He worked at the Gartnavel Asylum in Glasgow and the Worcester County Asylum before emigrating to Dunedin in 1863.[1][2] The same year Hume's son William was admitted to the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum.[2] In 1864 Hume became superintendent of the asylum, with his wife Mary as matron.[2]
Hume's position at the Dunedin Asylum was downgraded in 1882 when superintendents of asylums were required to be doctors.[1][3] In October that year he and Edward William Alexander founded Ashburn Hall, the first private asylum.[3] He was the non-medical superintendent until 1896 while Alexander was the medical officer.[3] The medical and non-medical model of managing the asylum was similar to Hume's experience of Scottish asylums.[4] The asylum's patients were largely middle-class who had to be able to pay for their care; Hume and Alexander believed that those of better class should not have to mix with the 'insane poor' with insanity largely attributed to the poor.[3] Hume's model of care at Ashburn Hall was based on his experience of working in Scotland and England and was founded in methods of moral management.[3] Patients who could pay for them received better facilities and privileges.[3] Hume was superintendent at Ashburn until his death.[4]