Dr. Joseph Mason

Dr. Joseph Mason (1711-79) established an asylum for the insane at Stapleton in 1738; in 1760 he moved the facility to the Fishponds, where its reputation grew considerably.  He was succeeded by Dr. Joseph Mason Cox (1763-1818), a friend of Joseph Tomkins of Abingdon and whose home at nearby Overn would be a frequent visiting place for Mary Steele’s niece, Mary Steele Tomkins. See her letters to Mary Steele in Timothy Whelan, ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011),  vol. 3.