page_title: Madhouses Act 1774
section_title: Legislative history
hierarchical_section_title: Madhouses Act 1774 / Legislative history
caption_attribution_description: Mezzotint engraving of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1732–1800) after a portrait painting by Gilbert Stuart. The sitter is portrayed at half-length, seated in an upholstered armchair studded with small nails, his body is nearly full-front with the head and eyes turned three-quarters left. He wears a dark coat with a collar of velvet, his coat being buttoned across his chest, but opened below, showing a waistcoat. His stock and shirt ruffles are of white muslin and his wig or hair is powdered. His face is plump and his complexion "beefy," expressing mental and physical activity with a look of hauteur. He sits beside a table covered with a cloth on which is an inkstand, two quill pens, a tray with a piece of sealing-wax, and a packet of letters, with one unfolded. His left arm rests upon the chair arm and the left hand, partially closed, is shown, but the right hand is concealed by the table. The background is plain.
context_page_description: The Madhouses Act 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which set out a legal framework for regulating "madhouses".
context_section_description: In 1774, Thomas Townshend again reintroduced the Madhouses Bill. The Bill was presented to the Commons for its first reading on 2 March, and was amended in committee on 23 March. The Lords voted on it on 21 April, and made two amendments (the addition of s.19 and s.31) on 6 May, before the bill returned to the Commons on 10 May. The bill received Royal Assent on 20 May.
caption: Thomas Townshend (the younger); a contemporary engraving
exif: {}