Until the end of World War I, there was little change in the admission process at Kew. Upon arriving, a variable amount of data was collected on the person being admitted. These basic details included age, sex, marital status and former address (or name of the asylum/jail transferred from). Other details requested included names of relatives or friends, the person's religion and occupation and whether others in the family have ever been classified as insane. Other information recorded, where available, were dates of previous admissions, "form of mental disorder", bodily condition ("satisfactory", "unsatisfactory", "feeble", etc.) and "duration of existing attack". From approximately 1900 onwards, photographs were usually taken on admission. If the person was very restless, the photograph was omitted.Day, p.57 Belongings, such as books, clothes, and spectacles were often returned to friends or family.Day, p.60 Inmates were required to dress in institutional clothes. This was useful in a number of ways as it assisted the public in easily identifying escaped inmates; reduced the need to request clothes (or money for clothes) from the inmate's family or their estate; and minimised inmate conflict when inmates swapped or stole clothes from each other. The property and estates of people who were deemed to be insane were controlled and administered by the Master-in-Equity, also known as the Master-in-Lunacy.PROVguide 59
