Joe - no. it's not called Bedlam any more that would be consdered politically incorrect! Herewith more info on Tom O'Bedlam: from the Oxford Companion to English Literature - Tom O'Bedlan, a wandering beggar. After the dissolution of the religious houses (Henry VIII) where the poor used to be relieved, there was for long no settled provision for them. In consequence they wandered over the country many assuming disguises calculated to obtain them charity. Among other disguises, some affected madness and were called Bedlam beggars (see Edgar in Shakespeare's King Lear who adopts this disguise): "Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices, strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary". In Dekker's "Belman of London 1608" Tom of Bedlam's band of mad caps" are enumerated among these species of beggars. Some of these Bedlam beggars sang mad songs, examples of which are given in Percy's "Reliques". They were also called Abraham-men from the name, it is said, of one of the wards in Bedlam.