While we tend to think of “asylum” as a place for the mentally ill, there were also asylums that ran during the Victorian era that were rather shelters that provided temporary support to other groups. The Liverpool Night Asylum for the Houseless Poor was a building that provided overnight shelter for the homeless population in Liverpool, England. With the industrialization of the country, many people moved into large cities. But the lower class faced many problems with low pay and support, so there were many who lacked stable needs such as food and shelter.
Despite Egerton Smith’s philanthropic goals in creating the Night Asylum, there was little offered in the building besides cramped wooden floor to sleep on. But it provided a refuge to thousands, who stayed an average of 2-3 nights. It is interesting to note the gender ratio of inhabitants, as there were nearly double the men than women. In a port city such as Liverpool, there were many workers such as sailors who were passing through and needed a temporary place to stay. The jobs to be found in such a city likely leaned masculine in general according to Victorian standards. The Liverpool Night Asylum separated sleeping spaces for men and women.
Of note in a report produced by Smith is the inclusion of details of a couple of black inhabitants. A young boy is described as the son of an overseer in Jamaica. He was able to join a ship to try sailing, with the understanding that he would become an apprentice there if he liked it. After being assaulted by the captain, the boy refused to sign into apprenticeship. The captain tricked the boy off the boat with an errand just before the boat set sail again, leaving the boy to look for help in Liverpool, where he found the Night Asylum. The topics to be discussed of race, class, and authority present in the story are very telling of what many Victorians faced and provide an example that many people found themselves in growing cities in a multitude of ways.
The Liverpool Night Asylum was just one of many such shelters to pop up during this period of poverty and expansion. The transition into what society was becoming was not a seamless one, and many people fell through the cracks as the world shifted around them. The Liverpool Night Asylum would, in 1849, transition into another use that displayed the growing needs of the time—a workhouse.

Mayhew, Henry. “Asylum for the Houseless Poor.” London Labour and the London Poor, 3rd edition, 1851.

Smith, Egerton. “Description of the Liverpool Night Asylum for the Houseless Poor.” British Library, 2nd edition, 1839, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/description-of-the-liverpool-night-as.... Accessed September 19 2021.

Contributed by Jessica Paterson