The Victorian Criminal Lunatic: A Shocking Case of Child Neglect

During my recent PhD research into the Victorian lunatic asylum, specifically the Cumbrian institution (Garlands Lunatic Asylum, Carlisle), I have come across several cases which have sparked my interest. One such case is that of Jane Ann Shaw, admitted to Garlands on 11 July 1888. Jane came to the asylum after her arrest - which took place in April 1888 along with her husband Joseph - for wilfully neglecting their two children aged six and four. The article below from the Lancaster Gazette on 21 April 1888 details Jane and Joseph’s arrest in detail:

Whilst detained in Carlisle Gaol, it became evident to the authorities that Jane was not in possession of her normal mental health, as she was having delusions of people on the wall of her cell and she tried to climb after them. On 4 July 1888 Jane was ordered to be sent to the asylum as she was found ‘guilty but insane’. Also, on the same date, after 3 months in prison, her husband was discharged from Carlisle Gaol.

            On admission to the Cumbrian Asylum Jane was classified as suffering from dementia at the age of 34, which in some part was caused by her chronic alcoholism. She was described as being very violent and suffering from hallucinations of hearing and of sight. The asylum suspected that she was in the early stages of general paralysis, which was primarily caused by syphilis. Her conduct during her stay at the asylum was regarded as manageable. On several occasions she was noted as talking and gesticulating to herself, but she was able to undertake regular work in the laundry. Between 1900 and 1904 there is a surviving visitor’s register, in which Jane is visited on several occasions by her niece and her sister, but never by her children or her husband. The last I can ascertain about Jane is that she remained in Garlands at least until 9 March 1918, as this is the last page of her casenotes I can view due to access restrictions in the archive. The closest I can get to understanding the time and place of her death is a search on ancestry which returns a 'Jane A Shaw died March 1919, Cumberland', as an educated guess I assume this is the Jane in question.

            As for the family she left behind, her youngest child Joseph Henry died in 1894 aged 10, but the details of his care in the years whilst Jane was incarcerated seem a mystery and I cannot find any details of him on ancestry.com. It seems that whilst Jane was in the asylum, and when Joseph was released from prison, both Ada and Joseph Henry remained in the care of their father. In the 1891 census they are both listed as living with Joseph, a railway engine driver, in Orchard Street, Carlisle. What is interesting from this entry, is that another, elder child is also listed, Jane Ann, aged 11. Jane is not mentioned in the newspaper reports for the child neglect case so we can only assume that she was either old enough to care for herself (aged 8 at the time) or was in the care of relatives. 

            Moving forward a decade, things seem to brighten for Ada, as in the 1901 census she is listed as 'Ada Westward' wife of Fred Westward. They lived in Carlisle, and interestingly her father Joseph, now aged 58, also resided with them. Even more interesting is that on the 1901 census Joseph is listed as 'widowed'. From the Garlands records we know that Jane his wife was still alive until at least 1918. It therefore seems that the stigma of a wife who is incarcerated in a lunatic asylum, formerly a criminal lunatic, was too much to bear, and he began telling people, notably the authorities, that he was a widower. It also seems that Ada, and possibly Jane, went along with this lie too. Jane, the younger, is much more difficult to trace, as I can find no mention of her after the 1891 census.

           Jane Ann Shaw's story is just one among several I have uncovered in my research of the Garlands lunatic asylum, Carlisle. My PhD aims to tell as many stories of the patients who underwent treatment at the Garlands during the latter half of the nineteenth-century. Please feel free to contact me (caradobbing@gmail.com) if you require assistance in finding your ancestors who were in the Garlands during this period, or if you have any interesting family tales.

Letter Writing in the Asylum, 1897-1900

As a rule, historians of the lunatic asylums of the Victorian era work with sources which were written by the medical men in charge of a mentally ill patient’s care. Comments about the nature and cause of a patient’s insanity was therefore a second-hand account and a real sense of the malady escapes us. However, in my research of the Garlands lunatic asylum, Carlisle, I have come across a number of letters written by the patients themselves. In this blog post I shall give a sample of these letters which give a fascinating insight into their state of mind at the time of writing. These few letters were photographed from the male patient case book for the period April 1897- March 1900. The letters are an extremely piecemeal collection, slotted into the casebook alongside the patient’s details. Often they survive as single documents, and it is unclear why these certain letters were kept as opposed to others which they will have written.

Letters Portraying Patient Delusions

One theory I have is that the letters were kept as indications of their insanity. The delusions experienced by the mentally ill were often portrayed in letters they wrote. For example, one patient admitted in November 1898 was under the delusion that he was a meteorological observer and he wrote frequent reports – in the form of letters – to Queen Victoria. The case notes reflect this as they commented that; ‘he says the Queen has appointed him to take charge of the meteorological stations in this district and that he has to send daily reports to Sir Robert Scott’, and also that he was ‘constantly going to the window to make “observations” as to the state of the weather etc. He sees “lightening” and hears “thunder” nearly every day.’ Along with this letter to Queen Victoria there is also a drawing of plans for a royal Indian palace. The drawing is extremely detailed and includes architectural dimensions with accurate measurements. Thus, as well as portraying his delusions, the letter and accompanying drawing displays his intelligence and that he was able to maintain rational thought whilst labouring under irrational fantasies.

Another patient also displayed his delusions through letter writing as he wrote letters to ‘Sergeant Instructor Prince’ requesting he bring his uniform to the asylum so that they ‘can show the foreign table of nationalities how they can be reformed.’ He signed the letter ‘Private I Wills’, when in fact he was an eighteen year old draper’s apprentice from Wigton. His attack of mania was however only short lived, and after an eight week stay at Garlands he was discharged recovered.

Heartfelt Letters to Loved ones

Some of the letters I have come across in the patient case notes display the patient’s anguish at being confined and being absent from their family and friends. One example is a patient writing to his father: ‘Father of my tenderest care. I write to you...hoping you are surviving.’ The letter is extremely long, includes many long, rambling sentences and is clearly from a person who is missing his usual surroundings accompanied by loved ones. From the tone in which the letter is written, the patient is worried about his father’s health and would like more than anything to see him, but his health is preventing him from doing so:

I ‘acknowledge all the many gifts you gave me and for all your great many kindnesses and kindness you have held the post of your present abode. Steadfast and steady I long you cling with all your might...I conclude by giving you my best favours with every utmost skill, be sure and receive my answer and I believe in you so faithful until death. Reflections sore and sweet.’

Letters of Protest

Part of many patients’ maladies was the failure to understand their mental illness. This resulted in many protests of sanity and outcries against their incarceration. Often these protests were in the form of letters. The first example was of a patient, F. Penrice, suffering from mania, who wrote to the Earl of Carlisle:

‘Having been wrongfully detained here not having any explanation of the meaning of this, I solicit your assistance in this case...C. Wedgwood may have some information. He having decoyed me from the station leading me to expect I was accompanying him to another place altogether. I consider I have been here much too long.’

He was recorded as expressing ‘absurd delusions’, such as that all his insides had been bored out of him several years previously, and that he is the Duke of Cumberland.

The second example is from a patient who continually wrote to the superintendent of the asylum to notify him of the (false) cruel treatment he received from the asylum attendants, calling them ‘liars’ and ‘scoundrels’. He accused the head attendant of failing to report these supposed instances and covering them up. He told superintendent Dr Farquharson; 

‘if I was you I should open my eyes...it should not take you long to see him in his true light...he is the slimiest sneak that I have had the misfortune to be in company with and have come across.’

These protestations, I believe, are evidence of the patients’ unwillingness, and more likely their inability, to come to understand their removal to the asylum due to their weakened mental states. The unfamiliarity of their surroundings caused them to invent stories of abuse, and to protest against their confinement in order to return to a place they feel comfortable in.  

These letters are a rare glimpse into the mental affliction of pauper patients of the Victorian lunatic asylum. This forms just one part of my ongoing PhD research into the Garlands Asylum, Carlisle. I am fascinated in writing history from below and bring the voices of the asylum back into contemporary consciousness. Any questions, queries, or stories you have of the Garlands I would love to hear them. I also assistant those researching their ancestors in the asylum, if you require my help please do not hesitate to contact me at caradobbing@gmail.com

Family and Community History Article

Just a quick update on my progress with my research into the Garlands Asylum.
Sorry I have not posted to this blog in a while, I have been busy in the archives, writing the initial chapters of my PhD and attending some interesting conferences.
I have also had my first academic article accepted and published in the latest edition of the Family and Community History journal. To access the journal follow the link below. Access is free through a university or similar institution, without this there is a fee to access the journal.

'An Undiscovered Victorian Institution of Care: A Short Introduction to the Cumberland and Westmorland Joint Lunatic Asylum': http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14631180.2016.1144957

The article is a brief flavour of what my PhD will aim to address. Any questions or queries you may have about the asylum or my research please do not hesitate to contact me on caradobbing@gmail.com

I have helped several people to trace their ancestors in the Garlands Asylum, if you would like me to this for you please contact me at the email above.

Causes of Insanity 1862

Whilst conducting research for my PhD on the Cumbrian Victorian Lunatic Asylum - Garlands (Carlisle) - I found the causes of insanity recorded for the patients admitted in its first year of operation, 1862, rather interesting, and some rather amusing. 

They begin with the relatively common causes: epilepsy; drunkenness; childbirth; melancholia (today would be depression); dementia, and a hereditary predisposition passed on by parents.

The more outlandish causes I came across were: 

Sunstroke in Bombay

Fright from being thrown in the sea

Religion

Taunting about men by neighbours

Jealousy 

Pride & haughty temper

Fright by being bitten by dog

Quarrel with Wife

Change of menstrual period

Love affair

Study

Disappointed affections

This blog is a small part of my ongoing PhD research into the Garlands Hospital. I am attempting to write the asylum's history as it is one currently unwritten. Any stories you may have about the history of the Garlands Hospital, Carlisle, please use the comment box to share them. I would love to learn as much as possible about this undiscovered institution.

The Moral Treatment of Patients

In the latest episode of the BBC'c Who Do You Think You Are? Frank Gardner was shocked to discover his great-grandmother, Grace Rolleston, was incarcerated in Victorian lunatic asylums after the death of her husband in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He was even more surprised to learn that in this era, moral treatment was advocated in these instituitons. This blog is based on a recently submitted a paper for the William Bynum Essay prize detailing the moral methods of treatment employed at the Garlands Asylum.

Modern images conjured up by the phrase 'lunatic asylum' are of shackled madmen in dark damp cells subjected to ridicule from their keepers. Contrary to popular perception, lunatic asylums in the latter half of the nineteenth century advocated moral methods of treating their patients. This was in response to the brutalisation of the insane which had taken place for centuries before. The emerging profession of psychiatry and growing knowledge of diseases of the brain brought with it new and humane ideas for treating madness.

In England the pioneer of moral treatment was the York Retreat, a private Quaker house specialising in the care of the mentally ill. Following ideas adopted on the continent, the Retreat - run by successive generations of the Tuke family - was opened in 1792 and its moral regime was based upon the structure of the family. Patients were treated as children and the Retreat operated as a 'surrogate home'. Staff dined with the patients; patients helped with the chores, and they organised social events together. (See A. Digby Madness, Morality and Medicine) Due to its small patient intake, and the fact that the Retreat only cared for wealthy Quakers, its methods were not widely adopted in county asylums. This did not occur until the 1840s and 1850s after Dr John Conolly of the Hanwell Asylum had successfully proved that the abandonment of mehcanical restraint could work in a large institution. 

Along with the use of non-restraint, the new institutions built after the 1845 County Asylums Act were opened with the moral management of patients in mind. Central to the new moral regimes of care were: a nourishing diet - often a departure in the lives of most pauper lunatics living in destitution; exercise - absent from those living in cramped conditions; useful employment in tasks which benefit the running of the asylum in order to divert the minds of the insane from unwanted thoughts; religion, and recreational pursuits.

The Garlands Asylum was opened in 1862, in the period when moral treatment dominated asylum care. In the first rules and regulations of the Garlands it was clearly set out that the 'medical and moral treatment of the individual cases...be the first duty of the medical officers'. In line with the staples of moral treatment as stated above, in the 1863 annual report, medical superintendent Dr Clouston stated that 'a good dinner has generally a far more soothing effect than any sedative'. He highly regarded the effects of patients taking regular exercise, advocating 'a walk on the country roads thrice a week'. With regards to useful employment, Clouston believed that 'regular work for both mind and body will do much to counteract the ill effects of the associations of the persons, places, and circumstances that were connected with the original outbreak of the malady'. Daily prayers and frequent church services in the asylum chapel were seen as an important way of promoting a patient's recovery through self-confidence and self-belief. Also integral to upholding a moral regime of care was ensuring suitable amusements and recreational pursuits were provided for the patients. Annual trips to the seaside and nearby places of interest were routinely organised. Dr Clouston believed that, 'amusement and recreation rouse whatever mental power still remains, and may even call up the long unfelt sense of conscious happiness and enjoyment of life'. For those too unwell to leave the asylum other distractions were provided. A generous supply of books and periodicals were on offer, as well as an abundance of craft material for hobbies such as knitting and sewing. Visitors would often be invited to perform a series of different entertainments to keep the patients happy. Choirs, dancers, drama groups, guest speakers and even ventriloquists would appear at the Garlands, and on special holidays - such as Christmas and Easter - dances would be held for the patients.

One method which was adopted at the Garlands, which was not widely done elsewhere at this time, was the absence of alcohol in the dietry of the patients. The opening rules and regulations of the asylum stated that: 'No beer, wine, or intoxicating liquor...will be allowed'. Dr Clouston acknowledged in 1869 the rarity of the absence of alcohol in the daily diet of the patients; '[this is] one of the few English asylums in which no beer is given as part of the ordinary dietary'. Even the moral pioneer the York Retreat advocated the consumption of alcohol among its patients. This unique abstinence stance is unsurprising given the context of Cumbria in this period. The temperance movement was extremely prevalent in Northern England, and one of its leading figures became the Countess of Carlisle, Rosalind Howard, in the 1890s. Clouston personally held teetotal beliefs as he stipulated in one of his many articles; 'alcohol I believe to be an enemy to the fruitful working of the mind by diminishing the power of attention'. However, alcohol was employed for medicinal purposes in the Garlands Asylum to severe cases of feeble-mindedness, hysteria, and neuralgia. Alcohol was also advocated in times of national celebration. In 1897, to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, patients were alloted a pint of beer with their evening meal to mark the occassion. In this respect, Garlands was a pioneer in its stance on abstinence, as other asylums failed to realise the benefit of teetotalism in the daily regime of asylums until the 1880s.

These examples of moral treatment in the Victorian lunatic asylum are a far cry from the images we are presented with in our minds eye. We must be educated in the growing humanity which was adopted in this era, as it was this which the modern basis of psychiatry was formed. I am aiming to retell the story of the Garlands so that people understand that it was a caring, humane institution in which to receive care, rather than one to be terrified of. 

This blog is a small part of my ongoing PhD research into the Garlands Hospital. I am attempting to write the asylum's history as it is one currently unwritten. Any stories you may have about the history of the Garlands Hospital, Carlisle, please use the comment box to share them. I would love to learn as much as possible about this undiscovered institution.

The 'alien' patients - not such a new problem

The term 'alien' in the nineteenth century was used to refer to persons settling in Britain who had not been born here. Today we would call such people immigrants.

Specifically, in the records of the Garlands Hospital, 'alien' was used to refer to Irish and Scottish patients who had been born in their respective countries but had settled in Cumberland and Westmorland and were receiving treatment in these counties. The problem with these 'alien' patients, was that the rate payers of the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland had to bear the cost of these patients and they saw their treatment as being an unnecessary expense. Many called for the removal of the 'alien' patients to their home countries, but this would cost more and could not guarantee that they would not return to England. Therefore, the 'alien' patients in Garlands - and in many other English county asylums - were ostracised and extremely resented in the asylum.

I came across the 'problem' of the 'alien' patients in the annual reports of the Garlands Hospital. I had only come across this term from previous research at university when it was used to refer to Jewish immigrants flooding across Europe during Hitler's reign. Therefore, in this context, the term cropping up in the 1880s I immediately assumed it meant jewish patients. However, on further research I was soon proved wrong. From 1884 onwards, in the annual reports of the Garlands Hospital, there was a table detailing the amount of 'alien' patients present in the asylum at the end of that year. It divided the patients up with respect to their different nationalities. Therefore, after the number of patients from Cumberland and Westmorland were stated, the number of Irish and Scotch were also detailed. It is important for me to note that in addition to Irish and Scotch, German and American patients are also detailed, but never exceeding 2 patients for either.

On first glance it seems that this is slightly racist, singling patients out according to nationality. But on further exploration, it seems to make sense considering the extra expense that they incurred to the asylum ratepayers and that there was no way of claiming it back from their home countries - as explained above.

It was not just the added expense which caused the medical men to have an adverse reaction to the 'alien' patients. The view of 'aliens', or immigrants, in this period was not a favourable one. Following the Irish famine of the 1840s, a huge wave of Irish immigrants flooded the ports of Western England. These included the Cumbrian coastal towns of Maryport and Whitehaven. By the 1860s, when the Garlands Hospital was opened, thousands of Irish immigrants had settled in Cumbria. These were mainly low-skilled workers and their families. They were targets of abuse by the locals as they were blamed for taking their jobs by accepting a lower wage. As stated by D. MacRaild (Irish Migration, Networks and Ethnic Identities since 1750) the immigrants tended to stick together in the face of adverse reaction from the locals and created 'little Irelands' around Britain, often living on the same street or neighbourhood. This pack mentality did nothing to alleviate the hate felt towards them. Often the most destitute individuals of society, due to the upheaval and devastating nature of the famine, the Irish were labelled as dirty, drunkards, violent, and as having loose morals, to name a few.

These attitudes are reflected in the annual reports of the Garlands Hospital. The first time the 'alien' patients were referred to in the annual reports was 1874. In his report, Dr Campbell, the medical superintendent at that time, stated how 'the Irish patients were the most unruly, destructive and difficult to manage'. It is important to note that at this date patients of Irish birth numbered 34 out of a total of 406 patients, a mere 8%. He goes on to complain how 'it seems a pity that power is not given by the Lunacy Act for the transfer of lunatics into the sister countries in the cases where settlement is known and acknowledged'. (THOS 8/3/12)

In the 1889 annual report, clearly hampered by the problem of the excess cost of the 'alien' patients, Dr Campbell details, 'up to the end of 1889...£15 761 [almost one million pounds in today's money] has been expended here on Irish and Scotch patients'. (THOS 8/3/27)

On further research into the 'problem' of 'alien' patients, I discovered that it was not an issue unique to cumbria, or to lunatic paupers. In 1846 the Poor Law Removal Act was introduced. This stipulated that any foreign national who had remained in the same English parish for 5 years, with or without permanent settlement, they could not be removed back to their home country. Thus, removal of 'aliens' back to their homelands was frequent. However, I have come across stories in my research which detail how many 'alien' paupers were simply driven to the nearest port and left there with enough money to get them home. Once the poor law guardian had gone they simply used the money to transport them elsewhere in England. In the face of increasing instances such as these, further acts in 1861 and 1865 reduced the term before irremovability took place to just 1 year, and extended the area of settlement from a single parish to a larger unit of the poor law union. Removal, therefore, became much less frequent as it became much harder to enforce. The result was that pauper lunatics now became a burden on the English poor law system.

It is surprising really, in the face of the upcoming 2015 general election and with immigration being one of the main issues, that little has changed in the divisive nature of people's attitudes to immigrants in Britain. Clearly, we are a much more accepting and liberal society nowadays, and do not have racist generalistic attitudes toward the Irish and Scotch. But for a small minority, this has shifted to other nationalities and religions that have come to live in Britain. It is interesting to think that this shift has occured in just over 100 years, and it makes one wonder just how our attitudes will have changed in 100 years time.

This blog is a small part of my ongoing PhD research into the Garlands Hospital. I am attempting to write the asylum's history as it is one currently unwritten.

Any stories you may have about the history of the Garlands Hospital, Carlisle, please use the comment box to share them. I would love to learn as much as possible about this undiscovered institution.

Notable cases

During my research I have come across some notable patients which have stood out to me for a number of different reasons. The names of the patients have been limited to their last name and their first initial, just in case their relatives do not want their full details released and to be the subject of a public blog. I hope you find these cases as interesting as I have.

Young Patients

When talking about 'young' patients I am referring to those under 16 who were admitted to the Garlands Hospital. Cases of insane patients under this age are of interest to the historian because their admission to the asylum was not a typical occurrence. The lunacy Act of 1845 did not give any guidelines for the treatment of mentally ill children. Many were kept at home under the care of family, or, wealth permitting, they were sent to private madhouses for idiot children at a considerable cost. In some instances children were sent to asylums when their behaviour got out of control, to the point where families could not care for them anymore. 

The youngest male patient I could find was S. Gate admitted in November 1902 aged twelve. He was admitted due to his frequent violent behaviour which began three years previous. He also suffered from epileptic fits which the family struggled to cope with. It is believed that his imbecility was caused by a 'fall from a horse three years ago causing injury to the head'. However, his case notes also suggest that insanity ran in the family as it was present on his fathers side.

On admission he was remarked as being impatient and restless and that his 'intelligence is of low order'. In his case notes there is a side note that his head had been operated on in March 1902 by a professor in Edinburgh, but he found nothing he could do for his benefit.

In the first few months of admission Gate was extremely troublesome. He annoyed other patients and stole from them. His frequent fits were hard to manage. However, from 3 June 1903 his behaviour began to improve. The doctors noted that his fits had ceased and that he was 'not as troublesome'. They also stated how he had began to join the male patients who were employed in jobs around the asylum. This behaviour continued, although some instances of Gate being 'quarrelsome' were noted, his overall demeanour had dramatically improved, and he was discharged to the care of his family on 15 May 1904. (THOS/8/4/39/5, Male casebook 1900-1903)

Gate's violent behaviour must've been curtailed by his asylum stay because on the 1911 census he was listed as living with his parents and siblings and he was employed by his father on his farm. What is interesting is that he is not listed as being a lunatic, idiot or imbecile, which proves that his condition must be behind him.

The youngest female patient I could find was E. W. Penn admitted April 1903 aged fourteen. Different from Gate, Penn's mental illness was attributed to a 'congenital defect', in other words she had been an imbecile since birth. She was admitted because her violent behaviour had become too difficult to manage, and Maryport magistrates had ruled that she should be sent to the asylum. It is noted in the casebook that her mother also suffered from mental illness, thus, her incarceration could've been the father admitting that he could not cope with two mentally ill relatives. (THOS/8/4/40/6)

Prior to her admission into the garlands Hospital, Penn had been in the Royal Lancaster Asylum for two years nine months. A clear indication that her condition had been present for a long time and was not improving, therefore she would've fallen into the category of 'chronic' patients who were unlikely to get better.

Her behaviour at Garlands was very violent and she frequently had to be sedated to calm her down. She was unable to speak coherently and could only utter very few single words. However, she was able to tell doctors that she came from Carlisle and that she was ten years old - both facts were completely wrong. Doctors at Garlands diagnosed her as suffering from imbecility. 

During her time at Garlands she remained troublesome but seemed to become much quieter as the years passed. Doctors noted how she began to show 'no vitality', and after a six month illness, Penn died of TB on 11 March 1908 aged just nineteen. (THOS/8/4/40/6)

Criminal Patients

Throughout the history of Garlands, criminal patients have been admitted to the asylum, transferred from various county gaols and houses of correction. Some of these patients were insane before their convictions, and some were driven to insanity by their incarceration in gaol. As the Garlands Hospital was an institution built for pauper patients, the types of crimes these criminals were convicted of were typical of the destitute poor. Such crimes as begging, vagrancy, stealing, prostitution, intemperance and assault. 

An example of a 'typical' criminal pauper patient is J. McGreavy. He was admitted to the asylum on 26 April 1892 diagnosed with dementia caused by 'drink'. He was convicted of being drunk and disorderly on 13 April 1892 at Workington Petty Sessions and sentenced to 14 days hard labour at Carlisle gaol. He was transferred to the asylum at the end of his sentence when it became clear to the gaol overseers that he was of unsound mind. (Criminal Patients Reception Orders, THOS 8/4/18/7 1886-1895)

McGreavy was a 35 year old married engine fitter from Workington with 5 children. His problem with drink had led to his mental instability, and ultimately to his incarceration to the asylum. On admission to Garlands Hospital his behaviour was noted as 'very excited and violent' and he was diagnosed with dementia. The medical attendants observed that he was very confused and that his memory of recent events was poor. He knew he had been in Carlisle Gaol, but did not know why he had been sent there. With his memory still lacking, but his mental state being 'much brighter', McGreavy was discharged as recovered after a short stay at the asylum on 8 June 1892. (Male Casebook 1891-1893, THOS 8/4/39/2)

A completely out of the ordinary case came to light when researching the criminal patients of the Garlands Asylum. Mrs E. Bushby was admitted to the asylum on 7 February 1890 aged 47 from Carlisle Gaol. Her crime had been committed thirteen years previous and she had also been in Broadmoor criminal lunatic asylum. She had been convicted of child murder. Bushby had 'drowned her youngest child when it was 9 months old'. Clearly the worst crime imaginable, but the cause stated for her insanity was cited as 'jealousy'. This leaves us with a lot of questions as to how jealousy could drive a person to murder their own child. Bushby had two living children and a husband who lived in Egremont. The stigma attached to having a mother and wife who had murdered a young child must've have been huge, and would have effected their lives greatly. (Criminal Reception Orders, 1886-1895, THOS 8/4/18/7)

Private Patients

A notable private patient I have come across in my research is Mrs A. Little. Private patients were charged more than pauper patients and were responsible for covering these costs themselves, thus these patients often came from wealthy families. Unmarkable in her admission, it was her death in the asylum which attracted my attention. She was admitted 30 April 1896, aged 45, the wife of a doctor from Maryport. Her insanity was caused by an addiction to 'alcohol and morphine' and she had previously been in the 'Royal Institution' private madhouse since 1894. Her addictions had caused her to become delusional and she believed her 'servants were plundering her'.  SHe remained in the Garlands Hospital until her death on 19 December 1917. Her husband had died before her leaving her a widow, thus leaving his assets to her. Therefore on her death, the national probate calendar lists her as leaving £3392 2s 6d to her 'spinster' daughter M. Little. This sum equates to around £146,064.90 in today's money. A. Little was definitely one of the most - if not the most - wealthy patients to have been in the Garlands Hospital. (Female Casebook 1895-1899, THOS 8/4/40/5)

This blog is a small part of my ongoing PhD research into the Garlands Hospital. I am attempting to write the asylum's history as it is one currently unwritten.

Any stories you may have about the history of the Garlands Hospital, Carlisle, please use the comment box to share them. I would love to learn as much as possible about this undiscovered institution.