Involuntary Commitment in the 19th century

[fantasticheria]

In the story I'm writing I have a character, who some people consider to be mad. His madness isn't obvious (his behaviour is kind of normal though a bit eccentric), but he talks about really weird things. At some point his sister, who is his closest relative, gets convinced that he has truly gone mad, and she wants to get treatment for him. She's

Comments

[rojaji]

check out 'the professor and the madman' - its a historical account of the making of the oxford english dictionary. one of its most prolific contributors happened to be an american who had been sent to broadmoor after being found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. the time period is close - he was sent there in the early 1870's.

the main character came from money and his family was able to provide him with more comfortable living conditions there than most. at the very least you can get a good idea of what the asylum might have been like during that time period.

here's the main characters wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Chester_Minor

[fantasticheria]

Thank you, the book really seems interesting and will probably be of great use!

[fantasticheria]

Thank you, that was very interesting and helpful! And also thanks for the search term, it really works much better than the ones I've used before..

[sollersuk]

Try Googling the history of the " Bethlem Royal Hospital" (at that date it was in Lambeth)

[azvolrien]

Just out of curiosity, how did the name get turned around?

[azvolrien]

...Actually, never mind. I misread your comment.

[samtyr]

http://www.victorianlondon.org/

You'll need to look under the "Health & Hygiene" section; also check out the links. You might also check this blog:

http://catsmeatshop.blogspot.com/

Hope this helps some.

[fantasticheria]

Okay, now I'm a bit shamed I didn't even think about victorianlondon.org. But yes, threre are some pretty interesting articles on mental health there. Thanks for the other link, too!

[orthent]

I'm fairly sure that in Victorian times, there were private asylums for which no legal commitment procedures were necessary--the relatives of the person being hospitalized had only to pay. Then it was just a matter of dragging or tricking the patient into the doctor's closed carriage. There are stories of women, especially, being committed just at the word of a (male) relative, for being inconveniently strong-minded and assertive. At any rate, places like this definitely figure in the fiction of the period. Lady Audley ends her career in one, in Lady Audley's Secret, and the heroine of one of Sheridan LeFanu's novels is sent to one as well. So is Sybil in one of Louisa May Alcott's thrillers, "A Whisper in the Dark."

[fantasticheria]

I've read some of those stories, too. It's just that all the stories I've managed to find are about women being committed, not men. But anyway, a private asylum probably is the solution here as well as some sort of a plot of the relatives. Thanks for the book recommendations, I'll have to check them out. :)