Table Of ContentStudies for the Society for the Social History of Medicine
Institutionalizing the
Insane in Nineteenth-
Century England
Anna Shepherd
Number 20
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE INSANE IN
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
Studies for the Society for the Social History
of Medicine
Series Editors: David Cantor
Keir Waddington
Titles in this Series
1 Meat, Medicine and Human Health in the Twentieth Century
David Cantor, Christian Bonah and Matthias Dörries (eds)
2 Locating Health: Historical and Anthropological Investigations of
Place and Health
Erika Dyck and Christopher Fletcher (eds)
3 Medicine in the Remote and Rural North, 1800–2000
J. T. H. Connor and Stephan Curtis (eds)
4 A Modern History of the Stomach: Gastric Illness, Medicine and
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Ian Miller
5 War and the Militarization of British Army Medicine, 1793–1830
Catherine Kelly
6 Nervous Disease in Late Eighteenth-Century Britain:
Th e Reality of a Fashionable Disorder
Heather R. Beatty
7 Desperate Housewives, Neuroses and the Domestic Environment,
1945–1970
Ali Haggett
8 Disabled Children: Contested Caring, 1850–1979
Anne Borsay and Pamela Dale (eds)
9 Toxicants, Health and Regulation since 1945
Soraya Boudia and Nathalie Jas (eds)
10 A Medical History of Skin: Scratching the Surface
Jonathan Reinarz and Kevin Patrick Siena (eds)
11 Th e Care of Older People: England and Japan, A Comparative Study
Mayumi Hayashi
12 Child Guidance in Britain, 1918–1955: Th e Dangerous Age of Childhood
John Stewart
13 Modern German Midwifery, 1885–1960
Lynne Fallwell
14 Western Maternity and Medicine, 1880–1990
Janet Greenlees and Linda Bryder (eds)
15 Human Heredity in the Twentieth Century
Bernd Gausemeier, Staff an Müller-Wille and Edmund Ramsden (eds)
16 Biologics, A History of Agents Made From Living Organisms
in the Twentieth Century
Alexander von Schwerin, Heiko Stoff and Bettina Wahrig (eds)
17 Bacteria in Britain, 1880–1939
Rosemary Wall
18 Health and Citizenship: Political Cultures of Health in Modern Europe
Frank Huisman and Harry Oosterhuis (eds)
19 Th e Politics of Hospital Provision in Early Twentieth-Century Britain
Barry M. Doyle
Forthcoming Titles
Psychiatry and Chinese History
Howard Chiang (ed.)
Stress in Post-War Britain
Mark Jackson
www.pickeringchatto.com/sshm
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE INSANE IN
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
by
Anna Shepherd
PICKERING & CHATTO
2014
Published by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited
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All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without prior permission of the publisher.
© Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Ltd 2014
© Anna Shepherd 2014
To the best of the Publisher’s knowledge every eff ort has been made to contact
relevant copyright holders and to clear any relevant copyright issues.
Any omissions that come to their attention will be remedied in future editions.
british library cataloguing in publication data
Shepherd, Anna, author.
Institutionalizing the insane in nineteenth-century England. – (Studies for the
Society for the Social History of Medicine)
1. Psychiatric hospital care – England – History – 19th century – Case studies.
I. Title II. Series
362.2’1’0942’09034-dc23
ISBN-13: 9781848934313
e: 9781781440568
∞
Th is publication is printed on acid-free paper that conforms to the American
National Standard for the Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Typeset by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by CPI Books
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
List of Figures and Tables xi
Introduction: Contexts of Insanity 1
1 Caring for Surrey’s Insane: Brookwood Asylum and
Holloway Sanatorium 13
2 Th erapeutic Agents: Doctors and Attendants 41
3 Origins and Journeys: Th e Patients at Brookwood Asylum and
Holloway Sanatorium 67
4 ‘Hurry, Worry, Annoyance and Needless Trouble’: Patients in Residence 91
5 Th e Taxonomy and Treatment of Insanity 115
6 Suicide, Self-Harm and Madness in the Asylum 145
Conclusion 169
Notes 177
Works Cited 209
Index 221
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply indebted to the Wellcome Trust for the doctoral studentship that
supported my PhD which prompted this study. Many people helped and sup-
ported me during the course of my research and the writing of this book. Th ey
are too numerous to mention individually and I apologize for not doing so. It
would have been impossible for me to have succeeded without their co-opera-
tion and assistance.
I was fortunate in that the bulk of the archival material was held in the Surrey
History Centre, Woking, where the staff unstintingly gave their time, expertise
and every possible assistance, which made my many hours spent there a produc-
tive and pleasurable experience. I should particularly like to thank Julian Pooley
for his friendship, sense of humour, extensive knowledge and chocolate biscuits
during my visits.
I should also like to extend my gratitude to the librarians and archivists at the
Wellcome Institute, the National Archives, the Royal Holloway Archives, and
the members of staff at the unique Egham Museum. I am particularly grateful
to the delightful Joy Whitfi eld, who shared her experiences and knowledge of
the Holloway Sanatorium where she had worked for many years. I would par-
ticularly like to thank the staff at the School of Humanities at Oxford Brookes
University; Carol Beadle deserves a special mention.
I am also very grateful to Dorothy Porter, who began the journey with me,
and Jonathan Andrews, who encouraged me to return to my research follow-
ing some particularly diffi cult personal challenges. Anne Digby was my mentor
and never ceased to believe in me, to provide advice, constructive criticism and
encouragement. A great many friends have supported me in a myriad of ways and
I would like to thank them all profusely. Andrea Tanner ceaselessly off ered advice
and encouragement at every stage, especially when life threatened to intervene
and I was ready to submit to the pressures. Graham Mooney has tirelessly sup-
ported and encouraged my endeavours, providing constructive insights. David
Wight has been a long-standing supporter of my research and been an inspi-
ration since my earliest forages in the archives. Keir Waddington has provided
– ix –
