The Wicked Boy (41 page)

Several of Robert
'
s fellow Block 2 inmates. . .
The assignment of some patients to the block is detailed in the Daily Log of Admissions, Removals and Deaths, Male, January 1898–April 1913 (BRO: D/H14/D1/7/1/1) and in the records of individual patients.

Richard Oakes. . .
See his case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1492, and OBSP. Oakes' suicide note is reproduced in William Booth's
In Darkest England
.

George Pett. . .
See his case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1689, and
Sussex Advertiser
, 17 February 1896.

‘
From time to time. . .
' See ‘Warmark',
Guilty but Insane
. The book's author, George Penny, was not admitted to Broadmoor until 1923,
but he reported that the delusional doctor was the ‘doyen' of Block 2, having been there for more than forty years.

Archibald Campbell. . .
See his case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1798.

Isaac Jacob Mauerberger. . .
See
Reynolds's Newspaper
, 30 January 1887, and
Leeds Times
, 5 February 1887. He died in Broadmoor in 1925.

Roderick Maclean. . .
Maclean's case file (BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1095, closed until 2022) reportedly suggests that he was resident in blocks other than Block 2, but he played for the Block 2 team several times in the early 1900s, according to the asylum's cricket books (BRO: D/H14/G1/1/1 and D/H14/G1/1/2). He seems to have been in the Block 2 day room during the visit by Sims in 1902 (Sims notices that a man who had shot at the Queen is reading a copy of
Punch
in the day room occupied by the most affluent inmates). His sonnet-writing in Broadmoor is described in an article by Julius M. Price in the
Westminster Budget
of 21 January 1898 – Price, too, seems to have seen him in the Block 2 day room. Maclean's case is described in Paul Thomas Murphy,
Shooting Victoria:
Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy
(2012). Maclean died in the asylum in 1921.

William Chester Minor. . .
See Simon Winchester,
The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder,
Madness and the Love of Words
(1998); Church, ‘The Strange Case of Dr Minor: II' in
The Strand
of January 1916; and Stevens,
Broadmoor Revealed
.

Some wore frock coats . . .
See Steevens,
Things Seen
.

On one of his visits. . .
From Sims's article in
Cassell
'
s Saturday Journal
in 1902.

George Sims was invited into a bedroom. . .
See
Daily Mail
, 21 November 1905.

Alfred Gamble. . .
See
Morning Post
of 12, 15 and 21 October 1895;
London Standard,
15 October, 4, 5 and 13 December 1895;
Reynolds's Newspaper,
29 October and 8 December 1895;
Lloyd's Weekly,
8 December 1895. The Daily Log of Admissions, Removals and Deaths, Male, January 1898–April 1913 (BRO: D/H14/D1/7/1/1) indicates that he was discharged to the Salvation Army colony in Hadleigh in 1917.

pronounced him an imbecile. . .
See OBSP.

‘
Journal of Mental Science
'
. . .
In April 1896.

Sherlock Hare. . .
See his case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1553.

the queen
'
s sixtieth jubilee. . .
See
Reading Mercury
, 3 July 1897.

swine fever. . .
See Superintendent's annual report of 1899 in BRO: D/H14/A2/1/1.

the Boer War. . .
See
Reading Mercury,
18 November 1899 and 17 March 1900.

Jonathan Lowe. . .
See BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1779 and TNA: HO144/558/A60060. Lowe was in Block 5, the other of the two privilege blocks, when he wrote his letter, and was later transferred to Block 2. Another inmate who liked Broadmoor better than the world beyond its walls was August Deneis (or Denies), a Dutchman who was detained in the asylum in 1886, having attacked his wife with a mallet. He was discharged as sane in 1895, and entrusted to the care of his children in France, but in November 1896 he turned up at the asylum gates, begging to be readmitted. He died in Broadmoor in 1903. See Deneis' case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1714.

Lloyd's Weekly. . .
7 August 1898.

A former inmate. . .
Brailsford's letter is in Lowe's case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1779.

One elderly inmate. . .
See ‘A Visit to Broadmoor: a Day among Murderers',
Pall Mall Gazette
, 17 February 1886.

‘
those that know not what they do. . .
' See Steevens,
Things Seen
. The inmate was alluding to Christ's words on the Cross, cited in the Gospel According to Luke: ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.'

the lunacy commissioners. . .
See Partridge,
Broadmoor
.

Thomas Cutbush. . .
See his case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1523. Cutbush died in the asylum in 1903.

Arthur Gilbert Cooper. . .
See
Morning Post
, 16 November 1887. He died in the asylum in 1927.

One morning in May. . .
See Pett's case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1689.

In November 1898, at the age of sixteen. . .
See Daily Log of Admissions, Removals and Deaths, Male, January 1898–April 1913 (BRO: D/H14/D1/7/1/1).

CHAPTER 14: TO HAVE YOU HOME AGAIN

a letter written by Emily Coombes. . .
Exhibit J in TNA: CRIM 1/42/9.

‘
the nice little home. . .
' In Urwick (ed.),
Studies of Boy Life in Our Cities
, Reginald Bray reflects on the working-class ideal of ‘the little home', which consisted not of the rented house itself but its moveable contents – the tables and chairs and pictures and ornaments. He notes the ‘pride and affection' that the typical working family took in ‘the little home that they have got together'.

‘
your mother or Annie
'
. . .
That is, her husband's mother Mary Coombes and his widowed sister Anne, who lived together in Lockhart Street by Bow cemetery.

‘
Mrs Cooper. . .
' Robert at first pretended that his mother was visiting a Mrs Cooper when his aunt confronted him in the back parlour on 17 July 1895.

That Sunday
'
s newspapers. . .
For instance,
Lloyd's Weekly
of 7 July 1895 reported that meat prices were ‘still depressed' but ‘firmer than last week'. The same paper carried an advertisement for
Light
Ahead
at the Theatre Royal in Stratford, the play that Robert and Nattie were to attend two days later.

hazy with heat. . .
See
Evening News
and
London Daily News
, 8 July 1895.

219–20
presumably to sell or pawn. . .
It was common practice to pawn blankets and coats in the summer, with the intention of redeeming them in winter. See Tebbutt,
Making Ends Meet
.

CHAPTER 15: IN THE PLASTIC STAGE

Robert was allowed back. . .
See Daily Log of Admissions, Removals and Deaths, Male, January 1898–April 1913 (BRO: D/H14/D1/7/1/1).

worked in the tailors
'
shop. . .
Notes in his file (BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1671) indicate that he was working there in May 1896 and on 18 November 1904. ‘Shows a fair degree of application at work in tailor's shop,' according to a note dated 5 April 1897. In total, according to the Superintendent's reports, about forty-five men worked in the various workshops.

They cut the winter jackets. . .
See Superintendent's annual reports in BRO: D/H14/A2/1/1 and ‘Warmark',
Guilty but Insane
.

an eighth of the going rate. . .
See Griffith,
Sidelights on Convict Life
.

Charles Leach Pike
. . .
His appointment as master tailor was announced in the
London Gazette
of 2 January 1895. The
Reading Mercury
noted his participation in many shows and concerts over the next twenty years.

vice-captain of the Broadmoor Cycling Club. . .
Reading Mercury
, 18 March 1899.

The costumes for the shows. . .
Reading Mercury
, 2 January 1904.

an enthusiastic member of the asylum
'
s brass band. . .
Notes in Robert's file (BRO: D2/2/1/1671) in 1905, 1907 and 1911 indicate that he was playing in the ‘asylum band', presumably the brass band, and in 1907 he was said to take a ‘great interest' in it. Since he emerged from Broadmoor able to play the violin and piano as well as the cornet it is likely that he also played with the string band, which was accompanied by the tailor Charles Pike and included Block 2 staff such as Coleman and Block 2 patients such as Frank Rodgers.

The editor of
‘
The British Bandsman
'
. . .
Sam Cope, quoted in Trevor Herbert,
The British Brass
Band: A Musical and Social History
(2000).

a concert on the Broadmoor cricket pitch. . .
Reading Mercury
, 2 June 1900.

his impersonation in November 1900. . .
Reading Mercury
, 24 November 1900.

Sherlock Hare. . .
See his case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1553.

the death of Queen Victoria. . .
Reading Mercury
, 26 January and 9 February 1901.

the coronation. . .
Reading Mercury
, 13 December 1902.

a fireball. . .
Reading Mercury
, 16 June 1900.

an attendant
'
s three-year-old son. . .
Reading Mercury
, 30 June 1900.

an attendant was invalided out. . .
Reading Mercury
, 8 November 1902.

Coleman hurried to the aid of William Chester Minor. . .
Minor was discharged to the care of his brother in America in 1910.

‘
RAC rather depressed. . .
' Noted in his case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1671.

excelled at billiards. . .
Noted in 1902 in his case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1671, and reported in Martin Smith's blog
streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.co.uk
.

a frayed old table. . .
See Griffith,
Sidelights on Convict Life
. ‘I should say that it dates from somewhere in the Fifties,' observes Griffith. ‘At any rate, it looks a great deal older than the asylum itself, although, of course, it amply fulfils its purpose, and is quite as suitable for the playing of a match between a homicide and an incendiary as the most up-to-date exhibition table would be.'

taking bets in batches of tobacco. . .
See Sims's article of 1902 in
Cassell
'
s Saturday Journal
.

allotted an ounce of tobacco. . .
See Griffith,
Sidelights on Convict Life
.

Dr Brayn used to tell. . .
See Hargrave Lee Adam,
The Story of Crime: From the Cradle to the Grave
(1908).

played chess. . .
According to a note in his case file, BRO: D/H14/D2/2/1/1671, reported in
streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.co.uk
.

Edward Oxford. . . and Richard Dadd. . .
See Stevens,
Broadmoor Revealed
, Murphy,
Shooting
Victoria
, and
streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.co.uk
.

Reginald Saunderson. . .
See TNA: CRIM1/41/4 and Winslow,
Mad Humanity
. For his chess prowess, and details of the match in which he and Robert competed between 1903 and 1904, see Tim Harding,
Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland 1824–1987
(2010) and
streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.co.uk
. Reginald Treherne Bassett Saunderson died in Broadmoor in 1943.

both Robert and Saunderson played cricket. . .
For cricket players, see cricket score books at BRO: D/H14/G1/1/1 (July 1904 to Aug 1906) and D/H14/G1/1/2 (June 1907 to July 1908).

the asylum
'
s strictures on cricket. . .
See
Rules for the Guidance of Officers, Attendants, and Servants
of Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum
.

the Reverend Hugh Wood. . .
See cricketarchive.com. Wood left Broadmoor in 1906 and was succeeded by the Reverend Albert Whiteley, a Yorkshire grammar-school boy and Cambridge graduate who remained at the asylum until 1934.