Inconvenient People (74 page)

abuse of patients 52–3, 66, 77, 83–4, 203, 258–9, 261, 265, 266, 314, 375, 396
see also
asylum

attendants; mechanical restraint; murder

Acts of parliament relating to lunatics and the mentally disabled

1774 Regulation of Private Madhouses xix–xx, 387

1828 To Regulate the Care and Treatment of Insane Persons in England (the Madhouse Act or ‘Gordon’s Act’) xxi–xxii, 16, 32, 48, 54, 387–8, 395

1833 Chancery Lunatics Act 71

1845 County Asylums Act 82

1845 Regulation of the Care and Treatment of Lunatics (‘The Lunatics’ Act’) 82, 108, 141, 179, 180, 185, 188, 207, 347, 363, 364, 380, 388

1853 Regulation of Proceedings under Commissions of Lunacy (‘Chancery Lunatics Act’) 176, 389

1853 Lunacy Amendment Act 388

1862 Lunacy Amendment Act 389

1890 Lunacy Act 369, 376, 377, 379, 380, 389

1913 Mental Deficiency Act 382–4, 390

1930 Mental Treatment Act 390

1959 Mental Health Act 379, 390

1983 Mental Health Act 391

Acts of parliament relating to other matters

1839 Infant Custody Act 120

1870 Married Women’s Property Act 336, 345

1874 Married Women’s Property Act 345

1878 Matrimonial Causes Act 359–60

1882 Married Women’s Property Act 360

1884 Matrimonial Causes Act 359

1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act 360

1886 Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts 360

1889 Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act 360

Acomb House Asylum 256–9, 261, 264, 265

Agapemone

defections from, 98–9, 121–2, 125

few children at 109, 119–20,

‘the Great Manifestation’ 123–5, 128

heresy, accusations of 94, 95–6, 99, 112–3

hostility towards 95–6, 109–11, 117, 119–20

investigated by the Home Office and police 104

paranoid nature of 128

reputation for unorthodox sexual behaviour 96, 99, 104, 114, 117–18, 120, 129

the Spaxton/Four Forks complex 95, 98, 100, 104, 106, 107, 109, 113, 121, 122, 123, 128–9

suicides among members of 121–3, 125

triple marriage in 1845 97–8

wealth of 98, 100, 108–9, 122, 127

see also
hockey; Prince, Henry James; Starky, Julia; Starky, Samuel

alcohol
see
drink

Alice in Wonderland
, and
Alice Through the Looking Glass
81, 128, 307, 381
see also
Dodgson, Charles

Alleged Lunatics’ Friend Society aims 72–3, 82–3, 83–4, 314

cases assisted by 84, 86, 87–92, 395–400

criticisms made about the Society 78, 86–7, 396

dissolution of 290, 395

failures and mistakes 78, 86–7

and the Louisa Nottidge case 105

main supporters 78, 140, 183

and the 1859 Select Committee on Lunatics 286, 287, 288, 289, 290

views may have permeated official thinking 76

anatomy/anatomical examination 30, 35, 318

ancien régime
in pre-Revolution France 90, 379
see also
bastille

Anderdon, Freeman (alleged lunatic) 20–1, 23, 26, 31

Anderson, Dr Elizabeth Garrett 305

Anglicanism
see
Church of England

Anglo Saxon (ideals to be adhered to) xv, xxi, 220

anti-psychiatry movement of the 20th century 62

‘arrest’ of alleged lunatics by asylum keepers 13–14, 20–1, 30–1, 65–6, 136, 153–4, 176, 278–9, 297, 330–1, 363, 364, 395, 401, 404

Ashley-Cooper, Anthony, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
see
Shaftesbury

Ashwood House Asylum, West Midlands 401

Asquith, Henry (prime minister) 382

Astley’s Amphitheatre 4

asylum attendants/nurses accusations of maltreatment by 20–1, 34, 35–8, 39, 65, 196

blacklisted but still in employment 196

opinions about inmates’ sanity/recovery not sought 88, 140

pay and conditions 52–3

asylum incarceration

fear that it could drive the sane insane 140, 351

popular fear and distrust of county system, 189–91, 193

views that early incarceration led to quick recovery 290, 291, 371

views that it protected society 77, 115–18

views that it should be an option of last resort 113–14, 118, 396

attics xiv, xvii, 187, 197, 198, 201, 203, 205, 256, 258, 263

automatic writing 42, 296–8, 306, 308, 310, 317–19

Bailey, William (incarcerated businessman) 68–70

Barlow, Francis (Commissioner in Lunacy/Master in Lunacy) 141, 143, 147, 155, 158, 159–73, 252, 259, 260, 263, 279

Barming Heath Asylum, Kent 406

Barnes, Dr Robert 150, 152, 158–9, 168

Barnett, Richard (surgeon) 269–70, 273, 274

Barnwood Asylum, Gloucestershire 403

bastille (as metaphor for the asylum) xv, 61, 237, 251, 274, 313, 316, 379
see also
ancien régime

Bath 46, 84, 217, 222, 254, 398, 404

Bedlam
see
Bethlehem Hospital

Belcher, Tom (boxer) 4–5, 19

Bellingham, John (murderer of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval) 40, 89

Benthamism 55, 75

Berners Street, central London 311, 332

Bethlehem Hospital (‘Bedlam’) xiii, xx, 67, 77, 83, 87, 88–9, 92, 201, 234, 310, 312, 398, 399, 406

Blackfriars Bridge 37, 70

Blanchard, Thomas (surgeon) 194

Blandford, Dr George Fielding (alienist) 197–8, 310, 317, 335, 344, 377, 378

Bleak House
138, 176, 336

Bloody Code 264

Bloomsbury 101, 327, 356, 366

Blundell, Dr Thomas (physician) 9, 18, 24

Bolden, Gilbert (lunacy law campaigner) 72, 78, 84, 86, 287, 399

Bow Street police office/magistrates court 96, 341, 346, 357

Brandenburgh House Asylum 279, 282, 284, 332, 349, 350, 351, 352

Brighton 95, 96, 97, 106, 152–4, 166, 408

Brislington House Asylum 33–9, 58, 60, 62, 87, 297–303, 309, 407

allegations of cruelty at 35, 36–7, 38–9, 48, 51, 52, 62, 299

brochure touting for patients 48–9

conditions at and ethos of 1865–70 298–301

high fees and exclusivity 46–7, 49–50, 298

interior and exterior of building 34–5, 37, 47

social and gender segregation 34, 45–6, 52, 299–300

Bristol 38, 45, 46, 51, 52, 86

Bristol Riots 52

British National Association of Spiritualists 322

Broadmoor Hospital xiii, 77

Brontë, Charlotte 80, 183, 201–5, 317

Brooke House Asylum, Clapton, North London 71

Brougham, Henry (lawyer, Lord Chancellor, MP) 22, 23, 24, 25, 31

Buckingham Palace 87–8, 90

Bucknill, Dr John Charles xv, 188–9, 192–3, 266–7, 289, 406

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward

admired and liked by Charles Dickens 208, 220–1, 247

allegations of violence towards his wife 213, 214, 228

arranges surveillance on his wife 222–3

attempts to suppress his wife’s books 217, 218

death of 249

disliked by Thomas and Jane Carlyle 218, 222, 240–1

hearing difficulties 213, 224, 249

interest in the occult 215, 249

and John Forster 222–3, 244–6

and his mother 208–9, 210, 211, 215

novels and literary life 208, 211, 212, 213, 215–16, 217, 219, 220, 237, 239, 240

as politician 212–13, 221–2, 223–4, 225–6, 235, 240, 241, 247, 249

sexual indiscretions and excesses 212, 214, 233

Bulwer-Lytton, Emily (‘Little Boots’) 211, 213, 214, 215, 216, 218–19, 220, 234, 241

Bulwer-Lytton, Robert 211, 217, 219, 220, 224, 225, 228–9, 241–3, 248–50

Bulwer-Lytton, Rosina

accusations that she was not ‘maternal’ and other alleged character faults 209, 212–13, 230–1, 236

appearance 208–9, 223, 225

childhood, early years and relationship with parents 210, 214

criticisms of male-dominated public life 215, 216–17, 219–21, 230–1, 235, 243, 246

death of 249–50

finances and debts 210, 212–13, 216, 218, 222, 223, 227, 232, 233, 248–9, 250

hatred of Charles Dickens 220

hatred of her husband 209, 213, 215, 216, 217, 219–21, 229–31, 233

interrupts her husband’s election speech 223–6

marriage 209, 210–12, 213–16

novels, autobiography and literary life 216–18, 355

plot to incarcerate her in an asylum 222–3, 226–29, 243–7

press and public support for 236–40, 243

‘burkers’ 7, 21
see also
anatomy/anatomical examination

Burrows, Dr George Man (alienist and asylum proprietor) 11, 14–15, 18, 19, 20–1, 24, 26–31, 118, 379, 393, 394

business worries
see
money

Bywater, Catherine 1, 2–4, 8, 9, 10, 11–12, 15–16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26–7, 29, 30

Camberwell House Asylum 285

Cameron, Dr George Fenton (physician) 197

Campbell, William (Lunacy Commissioner) 138–9, 145, 270

Carlyle, Thomas 81, 218, 222, 240–1

Carpenter, William B. (physiologist) 317–18

Carr, Lady Jane (John Perceval’s mother) 41, 49–51, 57–8, 60, 61

Carroll, Lewis
see
Dodgson, Charles

Catherick, Anne
see
Woman in White, The

Cavendish Square, Central London 107, 346, 350, 351, 352, 358

certificates of lunacy

doctors unwilling to sign 207

fees for signing a certificate 350

patient has no statutory right to know what was on the certificate 234, 302, 313

questionable evidence upon 14, 21, 86, 181, 234, 266, 267, 270, 274, 281, 288, 302, 313–14, 322, 350

requirement that the two certificates be entirely independent of each other 16, 297, 303–4, 361, 387, 388

too easily obtainable 48, 314–15

unwillingness to note down obscenities of alleged lunatic 181

Chancery lunatics xiii, 50, 71, 83, 84, 186, 196, 285, 287, 289, 317, 351, 354–5, 372, 389, 392

Chartism 78

Chelsea, London (asylums in) 71, 398, 399

child abuse
see
incest

child custody 120, 216, 359

child deaths 100, 109, 122, 135, 137, 144, 169, 292

chivalry
see
paternalism

cholera 45, 71, 111, 296

Church of England 92, 94, 113, 278, 279, 293, 316–17

Churchill, Winston 382

clairvoyance 210

Clapham Retreat asylum 11, 18, 20, 24, 32, 377

Cleaton, John (Commissioner in Lunacy) 405

Cloncurry, Lord (Valentine Lawless) 89

Cobbe, William (Agapemonite) 97, 98, 104–5, 107, 113, 128

Cockburn, Alexander (lawyer and Lord Chief Justice of England) 113–14, 220

Coleman, Benjamin (spiritualist) 317

Coleridge, Justice (later Lord), 189, 302–3

College of Physicians xx, xxi, 387

Collins, Wilkie 80, 81, 149, 199, 200–1, 202, 249, 339
see also
Woman in White, The

Colney Hatch county asylum 159, 407

Commissioners in Lunacy (from 1845) xiv, xvii, xx, 82–3, 86, 88, 89, 92, 103, 104, 105–6, 114, 118, 119, 138, 141, 149, 150, 153, 164, 178, 179, 180, 185, 188, 190, 193–4, 195, 197, 231, 233, 235, 243, 246, 259, 261, 264, 277, 290, 299, 300, 302, 308, 310, 322–3, 324, 354, 363–4, 376, 377, 383, 387–8, 390, 392, 393, 395, 396, 397, 399, 401, 402, 404

failures or perceived failures/criticisms of 86, 92, 106, 233, 235, 243–6, 264, 299, 308, 322, 354, 363–6

individuals felt able to contact directly/in person 103, 105, 178–9, 259

issue reprimands or penalties 138, 190, 193–4, 197, 277

Compton, Justice 193

Conolly, Dr John (alienist and asylum proprietor) 115–19, 159, 200, 234, 235, 242–3, 247, 270, 273–7, 283, 288–9, 304, 379, 395

controversy about payment for supplying patients 118, 273–5, 288–9

earlier views favoured non-incarceration, 118

gives evidence at Cumming inquiry 159

gives evidence at William Windham’s inquisition 283

gives evidence at the 1859 Select Committee on Lunatics 288–9

involvement in the Lytton case 234, 242, 243

lauded by Dickens 200, 234

proprietor of Lawn House Asylum and Henry Maudsley’s father-in-law 304

refutes the Pollock ruling and supports asylum incarceration 115–19, 159

signs Laurence Ruck’s lunacy certificate 271, 273–5

takes the acclaim for
‘non-restraint’ from Dr Hill 235, 247

conseil de famille
system in France 91, 354

Conservative Party/Conservatives
see
Tory party/politics

correspondence of patients

campaign to allow lunatics to send letters 315

controlled by lunacy order signatory 104

suppression of by asylum proprietors 49, 51, 58, 183, 257, 271, 300–1, 307–8, 313

county (public) asylums xiii, xviii, 18, 75, 76, 84, 86, 90, 96, 118, 138, 159, 185, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 235, 247, 257, 286, 289, 300, 303, 304, 310, 316, 317, 376, 401
see also under individual institution name

Craven Street, Charing Cross 78, 80

Crichton-Browne, Dr James (alienist and Lord Chancellor’s Visitor in Lunacy) 196, 318

criminal lunatics xiii, 75, 77, 88

Crouch End, Middlesex 5, 7, 14, 15, 21

cruelty towards patients
see
abuse of patients; mechanical restraint

Cumming, Catherine:

allegations of eccentricity 134–5, 142, 144, 156–7

appearance 131, 134

breakdown in relationship with daughters 132–4, 140, 144, 173

considered sane by certain other doctors and observers 140, 147–8, 148, 155, 158–9, 175

declared insane by certain doctors and Lunacy Commissioners 137–9, 141, 144, 145–6, 154, 157, 158–60, 173–4

early life 132–3, 148

estimated wealth 141

love of cats and birds 143, 144, 145, 150, 152, 153, 154, 157, 160, 163, 166, 173

marriage to Captain Cumming and state of the marriage 132–3, 138, 141, 142, 143, 144–5, 148, 161

physical infirmity 131, 132, 151, 152, 153–4, 155, 160, 163, 167

relationship with servants and their testimony of her insanity 130–2, 135, 137, 142, 143, 144–5, 156

cure rates 286, 289, 290, 352, 376