Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Bedlam

BEDLAM, a contraction from Bethlehem, and the name of an English hospital for lunatics. The Hospital of St. Mary Bethlehem was first a priory, founded in 1247, by an ex-sheriff, Simon Fitz Mary. Its original site was in Bishopsgate. The Priory of St. Mary Bethlehem, like the other English monastic establishments, was dissolved at the Reformation, Henry VIII., in 1547, granting its revenues to the mayor, the commonalty and the citizens of London. They made it a hospital for lunatics. In 1676 the original buildings were superseded by those of the New Hospital of Bethlehem, erected near London Wall. Finally, in 1815, the hospital was transferred to Lambeth.