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Directory of Commissioners
legal commissioners unpaid commissioners |
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Biographies of Medical Lunacy Commissioners 1828-1912
Sir Henry Halford (Bt)
FRCP
1794
Born Henry Vaughan 2.10.1766. In 1809 inherited a large
property from a
cousin of his mother, Sir Charles Halford, and consequently
changed his
name. Also created Baronet by George 3rd in 1809. He was
physician to
George 3rd and 4th, William 4th and Victoria.
His published Royal College of Physicians addresses include a
number on
insanity.
30.9.1820 President of the Royal College of Physicians
22.1.1820: Letter from George 4th
As Queen Victoria dissented from this practice, and Halford was President
to 1844, succeding Presidents did not benefit.
20.5.1823: Letter from George 4th
The king also spoke to Halford; he said "You had better make him a fellow"
(Clark, G. 1966 footnote 3, p.656, citing the
1834 report on
medical education, part one, 15)
PALL MALL EAST
The great event in Royal College of Physicians history whilst
Halford was
President was
its move to palatial new buildings in Pall Mall in 1825 (Table of
Offices)
which move he,
according to G.T. Bettamy in DNB, was largely instrumental in
securing
1828 HOME SECRETARY'S COMMISSION
2.8.1828 Letter from
Robert Peel
to Halford asking his opinion on
doctors who had approached him for Commissioners' posts.
5.8.1828 and 5.8.1828 Letters from Halford to Peel. Halford
recommended Thomas Turner
(College Treasurer),
John Bright (Physician
Commission Secretary),
William Macmichael (College Registrar),
Henry Herbert
Southey
and
Cornwallis Hewett.
That is, Halford recommended five physicians for the five medical posts on
the new commission. Three were successful nominations, but Machmichael and
Cornwallis Hewett were passed over in favour of
John Robert Hume and
Thomas Drever.
Nick says that Halford later recommended Macmichael and Cornwallis Hewett
as Chancery Visitors (no
reference).
Brougham stated that he confirmed Chancery
Visitor appointments already made by Copely (Lyndhurst) before December
1830, and that one of these was the already established "Court of Chancery
Physician (Dr Macmichael)". The second (Henry Herbert Southey) was
recommended by Macmichael). Cornwallis
Hewett replaced Macmichael as a Chancery Visitor in 1839.
FRIENDS
Halford's will (1833) was witnessed by "his three medical friends":
Macmichael
(RCP Registrar 1824-1829 and then, by Halford's influence,
physician and librarian to George 4th),
Turner (M1)
and
John Bright (M2)
(Munk
1895
p.87).
Macmichael and Turner were noted as physicians who
Halford would delegate his ordinary practice to when he
attended the King.
Another friend was "Dr Seymour of St George's hospital"
(M6),
who attended
him in his final illness.
(Munk
1895
p.97)
Halford lived at 16 Curzon Street (1818 (Number not given)
1838, 1841).
(1830 map). This
modern map shows Curzon Street in the
southwest corner of
Mayfair
The
leading Royal
College of Physicians members
met at Turner's house
after Halford's death to decide how to commemorate him.
(Munk
1895
p.109)
A
Physician
Commissioner
Junior
Commissioner
1795-1796
President of
the Royal
College of Physicians 30.9.1820 to his death
9.3.1844
Senior Commissioner 1820-1822 and 1824-1826.
"
An important repercussion of
George 3rd's
mental
breakdown
was that it
became not only respectable but indeed necessary for
fashionable doctors to
be acquainted with the management of mental illness. The
leader of this
trend was "the late sir Henry Halford.. a general physician"
who attended
George 3rd in his final illness from
1810
to his death and who was later
"extensively consulted in this disease".
Hunter, R.A. and Macalpine, I.
1963
p.960.
Internal quotes from
Seymour,
E.J.
1847
(M6)
"
For many years after
Dr Matthew
Baillie's death" [23.9.1823] "indisputably
at the head of London practice.. a good practical physician
with quick
perception and sound judgement, but he depreciated physical
examination of
patients, knew little of pathology, and disliked innovation.
His courtly,
formal manners and his aristocratic connection served him
well.. described
by J.F. Clarke.. as "vain, cringing to superiors, and haughty
to
inferiors.. " [his tenure as President] "was by no means
favourable to
reform and progress" (DNB)
in succession to John Latham.
"Halford was a baronet years before he bacame president. No one
could have been better fitted to magnify his new office in the eyes of the
world, and through it to elevate the College and the profession"
(Clark, G. 1966 p.656)
"The
new king, George 4th, wrote him a letter to
intimate that in future the president of the College was always to be a
physician in ordinary to the sovereign. The College accepted its share of
the compliment"
(Clark, G. 1966 p.656. The letter is printed
in Munk 1895)
"A year after the gracious letter promising that the presidents should
always be royal physicians there came another, a private letter to Sir
Henry Halford, which showed that royal favours created obligations. The
King 'in continuation of the same feeling' as of the previous year wished
that Sir Henry would make
Henry Herbert Southey, the poet laureate's
younger brother, a
fellow
of the College. Southey was a
licentiate, but by
the interest of another licentiate, Sir William Knighton, he had already
become, like Sir William, a physician in ordinary to the King. He was
admitted a fellow"
(Clark, G. 1966 p.656. The letter is printed
in Munk 1895 pp 108-
109)
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Medical member of the Metropolitan Commission
and Lunacy
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
M1
Thomas Turner MD FRCP
Physician
Commissioner
1811,
1813, 1819,
1824. Royal College of
Physicians' Treasurer 1822-
1845.
Metropolitan and
Lunacy Commissioner
1828-1855.
Throughout his career as a Medical Commissioner, Turner appears from the evidence to have been more active and reliable in visiting and attending board meetings than Hume, Bright or Southey.
Born 17.1.1773 in London.
He was the eldest son of Samuel Turner (b. 1745, died 24.2.1818), a West India merchant of the City of London, and Anne (born 1753, died 16.8.1833), daughter of Dr John Athill of Antigua. His parents married in Antigua but were buried in London. His grandfather was Lord Mayor in 1768.
Educated at Charterhouse School. Trinity College Cambridge 11.4.1793. MB 1799. MD 1804. According to Memoirs 1818), he also attended a London school of medicine.
24.12.1800 Assistant physician at St Thomas's Hospital, Southwark. Physician 16.6.1802 to August 1816, when he resigned. Whilst at St Thomas's, Turner published his only known paper, a report of a case of inflamed kidneys published in the Royal College of Physicians Transactions, volume four. The anonymous author of Memoirs of eminent physicians and surgeons (1818) commented:
"Official incumbency always earns respect, but it should not be held as a sinecure with apathy, where the interests of science are concerned". From his paper: "we have some grounds to form rather a favourable opinion of Dr Turner's talents, but it does not seem to have been his wish, like many others, to press forward much on public attention"
14.1.1805 Married Lucretia Grace (who died 23.12.1826), the eldest daughter of Sir John Blois, 5th baronet, and Lucretia whose family were "of the island of St Christopher" in the West Indies. They had at least two sons. The eldest, Samuel Blois Turner (born 12.12.1805) went to Charterhouse and Pembroke College, Cambridge and became and anglican minister. Henry Blois Turner went into the East India Company service.
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1805. Censor 1807, 1817, 1827 and 1822. Physician Commissioner 1811, 1813, 1819 and 1824.
| 23.12.1822 TURNER TREASURER ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS (aged 49) Turner was appointed in place of G.G. Currey, who had been his assisstant and successor at St Thomas's Hospital. Currey had died on his "wedding tour". |
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Turner was a close friend of the new President, Henry Halford. His great achievement as Tresurer was the leading part he played establishing the Physician's new premises in Pall Mall East. Munk says he
"was in that responsible and onerous office during the building of the college ediface in Pall Mall east. His exertions in that capacity were indefatigable, and his management of the pecuniary affairs of the college most judicious"
The opening in 1825 was marked by a presitigious ceremony which Turner organised. Halford wrote to him from his home on 30.6.1825
"I am gratified by this opportunity of expressing to you my deep sense of your indefatigable zeal and of your successful industry in preparing everything for the late ceremony and of (apraising?) you how much reason I have seen to admire your prudence in the management of the pecuniary affairs of the College ever since you have been its Treasurer. I remain, My Dear Sir with high esteem, your faithful friend and Servant. Henry Halford."
On Halford's motion the Fellows unanimously decided to purchase a piece of plate for £25, with a suitable inscription, to be presented to Turner (RCP Annals. Meeting on 30.9.1825)
23.12.1826 Death of Lucretia, his first wife.
As an experienced Physician Commissioner, Turner gave
eveidence to the
1828 Select
Committee of the
House of Lords considering the Pauper Lunatic
Bills.
| 9.8.1828 TURNER METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER (aged 55) |
1828
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His signature appears on Reports more often than the other medical commissioners (3.4.1 table one). However, during the period July 1829 to April 1831 he was the least frequent of the active medical visitors, spending an average of 6.5 days a quarter visiting private asylums. (3.4.2 table two)
Physician extra-ordinary to Queen Adelaide from 24.7.1830 to her death in 1849. At sometime physician to William 4th. (Respecting the interest of William 4th and Queen Adelaide in lunacy, see Clitherow (H13). See also Southey (M4)
7.1.1841 Second marriage, ten days before his 68th birthday, to Dorothy (nee Athill), widow of Thomas Hackett, MD. She died 1.9.1843
| 23.8.1842 TURNER INQUIRY COMMISSIONER (aged 69) |
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18.10.1842 He and Mylne (L1) signed a report on the licensed house at Hook Norton, Oxfordshire. Reproduced Parry-Jones, W.L. 1972 pp 144-145.
In debate on the 1845 Lunacy Bill, Thomas Duncombe asked Turner's age and period of service, saying that, when first appointed a commissioner, he "had no expectation of receiving any pension at all", but, under the Bill, if he had already served fourteen and a half years, he could retire in six months with a pension of £750. Ashley could not tell him Turner's age, but guessed "about sixty-five", adding that he "was very well able to fulfil the duties of his office". (Hansard 15.7.1845 col.529)
Hansard Wednesday 16.7.1845. In Committee on the Lunatics Bill:
Mr Warburton moved to omit all the words after 'that' for the purpose of inserting the following words:
Any superannuation allowance to be granted to any paid Commissioner appointed, or to be appointed, under this Act, shall be granted only as a compensation for services performed under this Act, and shall be subject to the provisions of an Act passed in the fourth and fifth years of His late Majesty William the Fourth in respect of such officers and clerks as might enter the public service after the 4th day of August, 1829
... Amendment agreed to
So, as passed, the Act only provided for pensions calculated on years of service as a Lunacy Commissioner (see law)
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4.8.1845
TURNER MEDICAL
LUNACY COMMISSIONER
NAMED IN 1845 ACT (aged 72) |
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Stimulated by Prichard's death, The Lancet in January 1849 suggested that Hume and Turner should, in honour, resign, given their age and health. They were "men verging on second childhood", hardly fitted to uphold their profession against the three active lawyers".
The Lancet described Turner as "very infirm" and repeated references to blindness, such as the one below, probably relate to him rather than Hume:
-
"The frailties of age are sacred, unless when the old do a
positive
wrong, by retaining offices of public trust after their
faculties have
ceased to fit them for the fulfilment. We mean no disrespect
when we
declare that we have heard from good authority, that a
medical
commissioner, making an examination into the state of a
lunatic asylum,
actually, in his blindness, mistook a male for a female
patient."
(Lancet
editorial
13.6.1849).
Between August 1845 and December 1846, Turner attended Boards only a little less often than Prichard (see table) and he was not absent for long periods like Hume (see table)
However, it was not necessarily the most active commissioners who attended the most Boards. A commissioner indisposed for much visiting might increase his Board attendance whilst those who took over his visiting decreased theirs. Prichard, in fact, was minuted as indisposed for visiting at a time when he was regularly attending Boards. (See Hume M3)
MEETINGS MISSED BY MEDICAL COMMISSIONERS, ALMOST CERTAINLY
NOT DUE TO
VISITING:
This list only counts meetings that were attended by all three legal commissioners. On these occasions the missing commissioner was probably not visiting as visits usually required a medical and legal commissioner.
| 1846 | 1847 | 1848 | |
| TURNER missed: | no meetings | 2 meetings | one meeting |
| PRICHARD missed: | 7 meetings | no meetings | 5 meeting |
| HUME missed: | 7 meetings | 13 meetings | 13 meetings |
From the minutes we gather that Hume and Prichard were unable to carry their full share of visiting, so Turner must have done more than his share. It appears, therefore, that during these three years he was the medical commissioner most available for work.
17.8.1855? Turner retired aged 82. Wilkes appointed in his place 10.10.1855?
There is a different date (10.10.1855) for Turner's retirement in The financial Accounts of the United Kingdom (1855-1856). Thies accounts show Wilkes as appointed on the same day. I have taken this as a financial date with respect to Turner - interpreting the discrepancy as meaning he actually retired at the earlier date, but as on full pay until Wilkes started work. The same financial accounts show Mylne as a commissioner for twenty-nine days beyond his death, which suggests they relate to payments.
Turner's pension calculated on ten years service was £375 a year ( Parliamentary Estimates 1861-1862)
Aged 90 (1863?) he was garrotted by roughs, the only effect of which was to cure his goitre" (Munk)
He died 10.3.1865.
Thomas Turner's younger brothers maintained direct connections
with the
West Indian trade and plantations. The Turners and Athills
were closely
intermarried and descendants of his brother Charles (born
1877, died 1854)
seem to have inherited "Lynch's", the family plantation of
Samuel Bryan
Athill, where the Athills had their private family burial
ground. Charles
Turner was a Liverpool merchant, and another brother, John
Hayward Turner,
married in Liverpool in 1822. In the Parliamentary Return of
slave
compensation payments, there were claims in Antigua that
appear to relate
to both Charles and John Turner. Claim number 265 (litigated)
involved 331
slaves the joint property of "Hardmen Earl and John H. Turner"
and "Charles
Turner". Earl and John Hayward Turner were paid
£2,373..12..7½
on the claim, and Charles was paid the same amount. Jointly,
on my
calculations, Earl and John H. Turner owned about 930 slaves
in Antigua.
Turners and Athills and the West Indies
|
Medical member of the Metropolitan Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
M2
John Bright MA MD FRCP
Physician
Commissioner
1820-1821.
Physician Commission Secretary
1825
-
1828
Metropolitan Commissioner
1828
-
1845
Chancery Visitor
1842?
-
1862
Born 17.12.1782.
The fourth son of Paul Bright ("gentleman") of Inkersall in Stavely parish, near Chesterfield, North Derbyshire. Paul Bright died 17.3.1804 and was buried at Stavely.
13.12.1787: matriculated Wadham College, Oxford. BA 1801. MA 1804. B.Med 1806. MD 1808.
First practised in Birmingham.
Married (before 1811) Elizabeth Minors of Birmingham.
about 1811 Birth in Birmingham of John Edward Bright, their eldest son.
1810 Appointed physician to the General Hospital, Birmingham. "...but before long he removed to London" (DNB)
Royal College of Physicians candidate 30.9.1808. Fellow 30.9.1809. Censor 1813.
Madhouse Commissioner 1820/1821. [Censor again 1822]
| 1825 BRIGHT SECRETARY ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS (aged about 43) |
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4.2.1828 Mary Bright, John Bright's eldest sister (born 21.7.1789) married William Milnes, recently a widower, of Stebbings Edge Hall, Ashover, Derbyshire. In 1828 or 1829 John Bright and William Milnes were so-purchasers, for £60,000, of Overton Hall, Ashover, seat of the late Sir Joseph Banks (Royal Society President 1778- 1820). Milnes' estate in this area was about 16,000 acres and it is possible he was expanding his land. The actual hall became John Brights' seat and, with its acquisition, he joined Milnes as one of the Lords of the Manor of Overton
| 9.8.1828 BRIGHT METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER (aged 45) |
1828
|
His signature was on the Reports in 1829 and 1840 (3.4.1 table one). During the period July 1829 to April 1831 he was the most frequent of the visitors, spending an average of 7.875 days a quarter visiting private asylums. (3.4.2 table two)
Royal College of Physicians Harveian Orator 1830.
Royal College of Physicians Censor again 1833. Elect 25.6.1839. Censor again 1840.
Bright's wife died 22.12.1841. His mother (aged 88) died on
6.2.1842.
| 1841 BRIGHT BECAME CHANCERY VISITOR |
|
Cornwallis Hewett, who Bright seems to have replaced, died on 13.9.1841. Bright is sometimes shown as appointed 1841.
I initially calculated the date of Bright's appointment as 1842 from the text of the 1862 Chancery Lunatics Act, section 23, which provided for pensions. This said that one Visitor, who was 78, had served 28 years; the other, who was 80, had served for 20 years. Bright was 80.
The other Visitor was Southey (M4). Bright took responsibility for the eastern half of London (1859 SCHC 21.3.1859 Q1373) and half the country.
-
"Dr Bright was for many years the Chancellor's adviser in
Lunacy.. he
was never largely engaged in practice, and after he was
appointed to the
court of Chancery he limited himself to his official duty.
An ample
private fortune placed him beyond the anxieties of
professional life."
(Lancet
obituary)
| 23.8.1842 BRIGHT INQUIRY COMMISSIONER (aged 59) The evidence below suggests he may not have been an active commissioner during the inquiry years |
|
Bright was one of the Physicians who examined McNaughton
in 1843
(Hunter and MacAlpine 1963 p.919)
26.6.1843 Bright retired as physician to
Westminster Hospital
(Lancet
obituary), but was retained as a consulting physician from
1843-1870
(DAVIES #### p.##)
CEASED TO BE A COMMISSIONER 5.8.1845 AGED 63. He was the
only one of the
four medical commissioners who served from 1828 who was not
named a Lunacy
commissioner in the 1845 Lunacy Act. He (and Southey)
continued as a
Chancery Visitor until 1862 when part time Visitors were
replaced by full-
time Visitors.
1859 SCHC 18.7.1859:
Dr John Bright:
Q.632 Chairman: I believe you are a Physician of some standing? Yes.
Q.633 You are one of the physicians who act under the authority of the Lord
Chancellor with reference to lunatics consigned to his care? - I have acted
as Commissioner and secretary of Commissioners in Lunacy, and visitor of
Chancery lunatics, 38 years
Q.634 [Duty to visit the Chancery Lunatics]
Q.635 [Also member of the Board respecting Chancery Lunatics]
Q.636 Of what is the Board composed: - It was originally composed of the
chairman,
Dr Phillimore, and the two visiting
physicians.
Q.637 Dr Southey is a visiting physician? Yes
Q.638 You two, as visiting physicians, are members of that Board? - Yes we
are the original members.
Q.639 Are the masters members of the Board? Yes; they are ex-officio
members of the Board.
Q.640 Is there any other member of the Board besides Dr Phillimore, the two
physicians and the two masters? - No other
Q.641 What are the duties of the Board? ... to consider such reports as
have been received at the office since the last meeting, as the general
correspondence of the Board
Q.642 From whom? From the
committees of patients
...
Q.679 Do you see any reason why there should be a divided jurisdiction for
the purposes of superintending the cases of different lunatics, merely
because they happen to be under the authority of the Chancellor in one
instance, and in private asylums in the other? - Quite the contrary. I have
long expressed my wish for the consolidation of the three [?] branches, if
I may so term them.
...
Q.722-724 [Secretary of the Board also Secretary to the Masters]
...
Q.784 Mr Tite ... You have said that the Board is legally constituted by
five gentlemen? - Yes
Q.785
... Do the two Masters ever attend? - Sometimes for a very short period
Q.786 ... Very rarely? - Very rarely: one of them latterly has attended,
and the other attends for a very short period, he being very much occupied
in his office
Q.787 [Full Board: Dr William Phillimore, Dr Bright, Dr Southey, Mr Barlow,
Mr Warren]
Q.793 [Secretary to Board: Mr Henry Enfield]
...
Q.799 Sir Erskine Perry: I suppose that in point of fact the Secretary is
the Board, and acts as the Board? - Certainly
Bright and Southey both
retired as Chancery Visitors in September 1862, taking advantage of
the pension provisions of
1862 Chancery Lunatics Act,
which became law on 7.8.1882. Their replacements had already
been appointed. Dr William Charles Hood and Dr John Charles Bucknill were
appointed on 9.8.1862.
Dr Bright was born 17.12.1782,
so he was actually seventy-nine (not eighty-one as the 1862 Act states)
when he retired. The Act says the older visitor (Bright) had served twenty
years in 1862, which means he was appointed in
1842.
Bright died 1.2.1870, a few days before his 88th birthday, at his
home, 19 Manchester Square.
1881 Census: Four
unmarried children
living together at 23 Sussex Place, London, Middlesex,
England: John E.
Bright, aged 70, born Birmingham. Practising Barrister.
Henrietta C.
Bright, sister, aged 67, born St James West, Middlesex, Mary
Bright,
sister, aged 65, born Eccleshall, Stafford, and Mynors Bright,
Brother,
aged 64, born Eccleshall, Stafford, Clergyman Church Of
England Without
Cure Of Souls. With butler, cook and two nurses.
Bright was the only medical commissioner who did not sign
the 1844
Report. (3S.4.1.TA1).
|
Medical member of the
Metropolitan Commission
and Lunacy
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
M3
John Robert Hume MD (St Andrews), FRCP (Edinburgh),
LRCP
(London) After 1828: Honorary DCL(Oxford) FRCP (London),
CB.
Commissioner 1828-1857.
died in office 1.3.1857
Born 1781 or 1782 (Boase). The eldest son of Joseph Hume, a medical practitioner in Hamilton, near Glasgow. (A.Gl.)
Boas: Medical education Glasgow 1795, Edinburgh 1796-1797, Glasgow 1798- 1799 (Peterkin and Johnston record Hume as entering the army as a hospital mate 28.10.1798 and serving in Holland in 1799)
Scottish Universities were not socially exclusive in the way the English were (2.5.1), so we cannot draw any conclusions about social class from attendance at them. Students usually began a four session course when they were fourteen or younger. It was secondary rather then higher education. No qualification was recorded for Hume in the Glasgow Matriculation Albums (A.Gl.) for this stage.
9.5.1800 Assistant Surgeon, 92nd Regiment of Foot. 1801 Served in Egypt. 9.7.1803 Surgeon, 14th Battalion of Reserve. 25.3.1805: 79th Regiment of Foot. 1808 Served in the Peninsular War. In 1809 he was in the Walcheren expedition, which sailed on July 27th in the hope of attacking Antwerp, but was finally abandoned on December 12th. On 17.8.1809 he was promoted to Staff Surgeon, a designation used for surgeons not belonging to regiments, but employed on the staff of a General in the field, or in a General Hospital.
1810-1814 Resumed Peninsula War. Hume
-
"served with distinction in the Peninsula, and during that
period" was
surgeon to Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington, "with whom he
continued on
the most intimate relations to the last"
(Munk).
March 1815. War resumed. 18.6.1815 The battle of Waterloo. Hume was present with Wellington. He brought up the rear at a famous Ball on the 15th, along with a diplomat and the Duke's chaplain. After the battle he amputated the leg of Wellington's "favourite aide-de-camp", and later woke the Duke with the news that the patient had just died in his arms (Longford, vol 1, p.484)
MD St Andrews 12.1.1816. FRCP Edinburgh 1816. From 1815 to 1818 France was "supervised" by an "ambassadorial conference" under Wellington, and Hume was in Paris as physician to the embassy.
3.12.1818 Made Inspector of Hospitals, but on half pay
until
27.4.1820.
In 1819 hume returned to London with Wellington and
on 22.12.1819
became
LRCP.
He had no intention of "settling" in London at
this time but
must have intended to practise there or he would not have paid
the (high)
fees to become a
licentiate.
He retired as an active officer
on 25.4.1821
either on full
(Peterkin and
Johnston
or half (Boas) pay.
Hume settled in London sometime in 1822/1823 and was private
physician to
Wellington for many years. By 1838 (at the latest) he lived at
9 Curzon
Street (see
Halford
and
Turner), not far
from Apsley
House,
Hyde Park Corner, the
Duke's London residence (Piggots).
By 1822 Hume was married with a family that included his
"pretty eldest
daughter Elizabeth" who was having a "secret romance" with the
Duke's
fourteen year old son. In 1829-1830 "Society" understood that
the Duke's
son might marry her. Lord Grey referred to him in a letter as
engaged to
"the surgeon's daughter" and the son wrote about "the lady who
dressed
better than anyone else in London" and was an especial friend
of his
mother. The Duke seems to have gently put a stop to the
marriage (Longford,
vol.2 p.83 and pp 100-101).
Hume's only son, John James, was entered at Glasgow University
in 1826.
Hume was described as "Medici Hamilton", so may have lived and
practised in
both London and Scotland at this time. John James graduated MD
and became
LCRS Edinburgh in 1835 (A.Gl). On 28.12.1836 he joined the
army as a Staff
Assistant Surgeon. Two years later, on 4.12.1838, he fell,
unarmed, into
the hands of "400 brigands" who attacked the fort where he was
stationed
during the colonial insurrection in Canada. "His corpse was
found mutilated
and mangled by their knives and axes", and the British
soldiers seem to
have taken equally bloody reprisals against the rebels (1838
Annual
Register p.133).
Hume's brother, William, was also an army doctor, and died in
Barbados
18.11.1827 (A.Gl).
4.9.1822 Hume sent for urgently from Apsley House. Wellington
was
seriously ill after having his ear treated with caustic soda
by a
"distinguished aurist". He seems to have been under Hume's
care, recovering
from this serious illness, for over a year. Longford describes
Hume as
combining "a noisy manner with unremitting anxiety about the
Duke's health
and habits". His "frankness" during this period led to at
least on
estrangement. (Longford, vol.2, pp 100-101).
Wellington Prime Minister January 1828 to November 1830.
| 9.8.1828 HUME METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER (aged about 46) |
1828
|
Saturday 21.3.1829. On Friday he received a message from a cabinet minister to attend a duel the next morning and to bring pistols. The duel was between the Duke and Lord Winchelsea. No blood was shed. Hume loaded the Duke's pistols. (LONGFORD, vol.2 pp 186-189)
15.4.1834 Examined by the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Medical Education
-
Q.2973 You are a
licentiate of the College of Physicians? - I
am.
Q.2974 When did you become so? - when I came over from France with the Duke of Wellington in 1819.
Q.2978 Had you at any time an intention of graduating at Oxford or Cambridge, with a view to becoming a fellow? - No, I had no intention of settling in London till I came here accidentally.
Q.2980 - [answer:] I have found no practical inconvenience from being a licentiate.
Q.2995 [Asked if it was in any way degrading] I have lived in the very best society in London: I have never felt myself at all degarded in any way, nor would I allow myself to be degraded.
Q.2996 - [answer:] I never met with any but the greatest civility from the fellows and licentiates of the College, since I came to London.
Q.2999 - [answer:] I have a very fair practice.... Other men's feelings may be different from mine. I am a scotchman, and was educated in Scotland.
From 1834 Wellington was Chancellor of Oxford University. Hume "as physician to the duke" was made D.C.L. on 13.8.1834 (Munk).
From 1835 to 1845 Hume was Examining Physician to the Military Department of the East India Company. (Post Office Directories)
9.7.1836 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
| 23.8.1842 HUME INQUIRY COMMISSIONER (aged 60) |
|
|
4.8.1845
HUME MEDICAL
LUNACY COMMISSIONER
NAMED IN 1845 ACT (aged 63) |
|
Hume was in a sufficiently poor state of health that his incapacity sometimes put the commission under very severe strain. He was sworn in by the Lord Chancellor on 8.4.1845, but did not attend the Board until 30.9.1845. In 1846, 1847 and 1848 he consistently attended only about two- thirds as many meetings as the other professional commissioners (see table).
October 1847: Inquiry into Haydock Lodge
On 25.5.1848, Mylne
"drew the attention of the Board to the difficulties which existed with reference to the visitation of the Licensed Houses, more especially within the Metropolitan District, in consequence of the long and severe illness of Dr Hume and Dr Prichard's domestic anxiety arising from his son's alarming state of health"
It was probable that neither would be available for London visiting for "some time to come" and the board decided that "during the current statutory year" houses in London, except for pauper houses, should be visited by one or two legal commissioners, instead of a medical and legal commissioner as required by the 1845 Lunacy Act. (MH50/5 pp 69-70)
Prichard was present at this meeting, but Hume was absent all through April and May 1848 and for about half the meetings in the preceding three months.
Hume appears to have recovered in the Autumn as his attendance from October 1848 was on a par with the other professionals
Stimulated by Prichard's death, The Lancet in January 1849 suggested that Turner and Hume should, in honour, resign, given their age and health. They were "men verging on second childhood", hardly fitted to uphold their profession against the three active lawyers". See discussion under Turner
Hume was described as:
"a surgeon wafted into a comfortable berth for cutting of several aristocratic limbs during the late wars. He is, we are told, nearly seventy years of age, and bedridden with gout"
John C. Williams, visiting physician to Nottinghamshire County Asylum, read this editorial of 9.1.1849 and wrote to the editor on 12.1.1849:
"You may judge of my surprise after reading to find Dr Hume in Nottingham yesterday. He visited the... workhouse, where there are ore than forty lunatics... amongst 900 paupers. He afterwards went to Mansfield, fourteen miles from hence, to inspect a private asylum.This morning he went to the... [Nottingham asylum], which contains 251 patients. He inspected every patient... and carefully examined the whole establishment. He was standing and walking more than three hours, and only sat down..., after the inspection, to assist... Mr Campbell, in examining the books.
I was with him nearly the whole... time... in the asylum and I have no hesitation in saying, that Dr Hume did, 'full efficiently', his important duties, without any, 'physical infirmities' rendering him incapable'.
It is clear you have been shamefully mislead, and I conclude you will be gratified by being so soon enabled to contradict your mis-statement..."
The Lancet printed the letter prominently and apologised fro the critical editorials, which it said had not been written by the editor. They had been printed by "accident" and the Lancet was pleased to have opportunity to state that it
"would not intentionally wound the feelings of Dr Hume or Dr Turner, both of who, we have reason to know, are men of high integrity and nice feelings of honour - Editor" (Lancet 1849, vol.1 p.75)
In 1850 Hume was created a Companion of the Bath (Military). Wellington died 14.9.1852
From Turner's retirement (October 1855), Hume was the only medical commissioner who was not an ex-asylum doctor. Although the asylum doctors Gaskell and Wilkes were mentioned frequently in Procter's published letters, Hume was not mentioned.
1.8.1856 Hume and Wilkes were both elected honorary members of the asylum doctors' association
1.3.1857: Hume died in office (aged 75) at his home, 9 Curson Street.
Nairne was appointed in Hume's place
|
Medical member of the
Metropolitan Commission
and named as a Lunacy
Commissioner
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
M4
Henry Herbert Southey MD (Edinburgh), FRCP (London),
FRS,
Honorary DCL(Oxford) in 1847.
Commissioner
1828
-
1845.
Chancery Visitor
1833
-
1862
Southey was replaced 31.8.1845 by
Prichard
Born Bristol 18.1.1784 (Boase) (DNB and The Medical Times and Gazette give 1783 as the year of his birth).
His father, Robert Southey (born about 1745, probably in Wellington, Somerset) married, 25.9.1772, Margaret Hill (born about 1752 in Somerset, died 5.1.1802 London) in Bedminster Church, Bristol
His father, a linen draper, died about October 1792 [or died December 1792 in Bristol] and his upbringing was overseen by other relatives, including his elder brother Robert Southey
Henry Herbert was sent to private schools in and near Yarmouth:
ROBERT: "Harry is much improved in manner and mind since my visit to Yarmouth. I am, however, uneasy lest he should contract habits of expensiveness..." [he] "is very quick, he has talent enough...the marks of genius are not, I think, to be found in him." (HALL, B. 1965)
Studied surgery at Norwich under Philip Meadows Martineau.
ROBERT 9.2.1803: "Harry is sent off to Edinburgh against my opinion, without my uncle's knowledge and against the approbation of his friends, merely because he was so intolerably idle that Mr Martineau very properly refused to keep him." (Curry, K. 1964 vol. 1, p. 342. Letter to Danvers)
Henry Herbert entered Edinburgh University November 1803. William
Knighton and Dr Robert Gooch were amongst his fellow students and friends.
Munk says that he
"secured" the friendship of Henry Brougham at Edinburgh.
Henry Herbert obtained an MD
24.6.1806 with a
dissertation on the origin of syphilis.
After
Edinburgh he
studied for a winter in London
30.12.1806 Henry Herbert Southey's introduction to Mrs Gonne, mother
of his second wife, Louisa Gonne
(Curry, K. 1964, vol.1 p.433)
1807 settled as a physician in Durham:
17.5.1809 Harriet Sealey married Henry Herbert Southey at
Saint George, Liverpool.
15.6.1809 Robert Southey to Danvers:
29.6.1811 Mary Sealey, died
(Curry, K. 1964, vol.1 p.510 note. Reference
to
Gentleman's Magazine vol 81 (1811) p.682)
"The largest emoluments", obtained in Durham, "were too small
to satisfy
his aspirations" (Munk).
1812 moved to London on Sir William Knighton's advice.
LRCP
22.12.1812.
April 1813 Robert Southey to his publisher re Life of Nelson
refers to "My Brother Dr Southey, 28 Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square".
(Curry, K. 1964, vol.2 p.57) [His address to
about
1824]
1814 published Observations on Pulmonary Consumption.
3.4.1814 Robert Southey: Henry's book on consumption in process of
publication (Warter vol.2 p.348)
11.11.1814 Robert:
8.8.1815 Robert Southey: The Doctor is about to run over to
Waterloo
and Brussels on his marriage, and I mean to go with him (Warter vol.2)
15.8.1815 Robert Southey: Neville has been strenuously aiding him [
Henry Herbert Southey] in a canvas for the Middlesex Hospital (Warter vol.2
p.424-425)
21.8.1815 Louisa Gonne married Henry Herbert Southey at
Saint Leonards, Streatham, Surrey
Physician to
Middlesex Hospital
17.8.1815 to 24.4.1827.
Observer Sunday 3.9.1815 Report of a recent bonfire celebration held
by Mr Southey and Mr Wordsworth, Sir George Beaumont, Lord and Lady
Sunderlin and others on top of Skiddaw, in honour of Waterloo.
5.9.1815 Robert Southey: My brother carried his election, his four
competitors successively withdrawing from the contest. He has married since
to a woman I remember a child in arms at Lisbon. (Warter vol.2)
1.6.1817 Robert Southey, junior born to Henry Herbert and Louisa.
Christened 19.7.1817 at Saint Mary, St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone.
Memoirs of
eminent
physicians and surgeons 1818:
The anonymous author had
no doubts that, given opportunities, Southey's "industry and
abilities"
would gain him a medical reputation: "on a standing with a
Halford, a
Pepys, and other distinguished names".
20.6.1818 Henry Herbert Southey junior born. Christened 30.7.1818
Saint Mary, St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone [Both this, and the 1822
birth, on International Genealogical Index with Henry Herbert Southey and
Louisa as parents]
23.10.1819 Charles Gonne Southey born. Christened: 1.12.1819 Saint
Mary, St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone
7.4.1821 Louisa Mary Southey born. Christened 14.5.1821 Saint Mary,
St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone
6.11.1822 Henry Herbert Southey junior born. Christened 9.12.1822
Saint Mary, St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone
25.11.1822 Robert Southey: congratulations on birth of Henry's son.
(Warter vol.3)
1823: By Knighton's influence, Physician in Ordinary to
George 4th.
25.6.1823 By
George 4th's influence, a
Fellow
of the Royal
College
of Physicians.
Censor 1826, 1832, 1849. Harveian orator 1847, Consilarius
1836, 1840-
1842, 1847-1849. An Elect 3.3.1848.
3.7.1823 Robert Southey: My brother Henry's appointment is owing to
Sir William Knighton. They were intimate at Edinburgh. He is now in a fair
way to fortune. (Warter vol.3)
16.11.1824 William Southey born. Christened 24.12.1824 Saint Mary,
St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone
21.12.1824 Robert Southey:
25.4.1825, FRS
7.3.1826 Mary Southey born. Christened: 26.4.1826 All Souls, Saint
Marylebone [Still alive in
1881. Unmarried. Living with her brother
Arthur, in Devon.
27.3.1827 Emma Southey born. Christened: 5.5.1827 All Souls,
Saint Marylebone
"he became a great favourite both as the companion and as the
physician
of many of the great aristocratic families in the north of
England, and
their favour and support followed him when he afterwards
settled" [in
London]
(Sir Thomas Watson 1866)
13.5.1809 Robert "I expect daily to hear of Harry's marriage with
Mary Sealey"
"
Harry is well settled there [in Durham]. He makes at a rate of 200 a year
now: which for so young a practitioner is very muchþ. And if his wife
outlives her father, she will have enough to enable him to retire from
practice altogether"
(Curry, K. 1964, vol.1 p.510)
"His contributions to medical literature were few... He was a
man of
classical attainment" (Lancet obituary).
"You will be glad to hear that he [Henry] is likely to give me
a new sister, - a very interesting woman, whose mother I have known
nineteen years... They were a Lisbon family, but for some years past have
lived at Champion Hill. The father has long been lingering in slow
consumption from which there is little or no recovery. In point of fortune
the connection, on Harry's part, is exactly what I should wish it to be -
neither ambitious or imprudent"
"Dr
Southey's appearance will gain him friends, which is highly
pre-possessing,
and his knowledge and attention...will secure and extend
them"
"Did I tell you that my brother Henry has
bought a part of Watson Taylor's house in Harley Street, which he is now
dividing off and fitting up, that he may remove into it, having outgrown
the house in Queen Anne
Street?" (Warter vol.3)
| 9.8.1828 SOUTHEY METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER (aged 44) |
1828
|
Physician extra-ordinary to Queen Adelaide 1830. At sometime physician to William 4th. (Respecting the interest of William 4th and Queen Adelaide in lunacy, see Clitherow (H13). See also Turner (M1)
Wrote the "Life of Gooch" in Lives of the British Physicians (18--)
25.11.1828 Edmund Southey born. Christened: 11.3.1829 All Souls, Saint Marylebone. Still alive in 1881, when he was a retired Colonel, Royal Engineers, living with his wife and children in Croydon.
7.1.1830 Louisa Southey junior born. Christened 28.1.1830 All
Souls, Saint Marylebone
January 1830, Henry Herbert Southey's second wife, [Louisa Gonne],
died, leaving seven young children.
3.3.1830 Robert:
12.9.1830 Lord
Ashley at Panshanger to Robert Southey at Keswick
My office has, I dare to believe, given me some weight and personal
interest with the Directors of the East India Company; the Writerships of
that Service lead eventually to important trusts and lucrative emoluments;
if you have any son or nephew whom you wish to advance in an honourable and
advantageous career, I shall be both proud and happy to obtain for him such
a situation. I am fully convinced that a young man imbued with your
principles and instructed by your learning, will prove a public servant
such as we need to superintend the immediate comforts, and gradually to
promote the civilisation of India... "
(Hodder 1892 p.63)
18.9.1830 Robert Southey to Ashley
But I have a nephew, now eleven years
old, for whom I should most thankfully and gratefully accept
your Lordship's proffered kindness. This I could not say till I had
communicated with his father, Dr Southey. He is a promising boy, and has
been well educated, thus far, in the usual course..."
(Hodder 1892 p.63)
15.10.1831 Robert sent congratulations on the marriage of Henry
Herbert Southey to Clara Latham
24.7.1833 Royal Assent to Brougham's
1833 Chancery Lunatics Act
"My sister Louisa's death is a grievous loss to one so
thoroughly domestic in his habits as my brother H. I do not think any man
was ever more happily mated or lost more in a wife."
"... I have derived the greatest benefit from the study of your works, and
I think that the world also is largely indebted to your genius and industry
...
"... nothing more utterly unexpected, or more gratifying, has ever occurred
to me. A like offer was made to me in the year 1816 by Lord Bathurst... It
was proposed through Mr Croker, and upon the supposition that I had a
son... but I had just then seen that
son laid in the grave... There then
appeared no likelihood that I would have another child, but,
after three years, it
pleased God to give me a second son, who is now just beyond the age at
which his brother was removed. My hope is that, if his life is spared, he
may become a Minister in the Church of England, which I believe is the
happiest station in which he could be placed; and with this hope I am
educating him myself.
| 1833 SOUTHEY BECAME CHANCERY VISITOR (aged 49) |
|
Henry Herbert Southey one of the two medical Chancery Visitors. He said in 1859 that he had been a Visitor "ever since the Act passed". He may have been a (non-statutory) visitor before.
"Among his early friends was Henry (afterwards Lord) Brougham... (who appointed him a commissioner in Lunacy)... From that time Dr Southey's practice lay chiefly, though not exclusively, among the insane; and here (his) natural good sense, practical judgement, and kindness of heart, gave him the power of conferring substantial benefits upon his afflicted clients, while he inspired corresponding confidence and comfort among their distresses relations and friends" (Sir Thomas Watson 1866) The quote is as in my notes - which are somewhat ambiguous respecting parentheses.
26.12.1833 Arthur Southey born. Christened: 24.1.1834 All Souls, Saint Marylebone
15.9.1835 Reginald Southey born at 4 Harley Street. 5th son (alumni oxon) of Henry Herbert Southey. Boas says youngest son. Christened 28.10.1835 at All Souls, Saint Marylebone.
24.12.1836 Clara Southey junior born. Christened 3.4.1837 at All Souls, Saint Marylebone.
Henry Herbert Southey was at 1 Harley Street by 1838.
28.3.1838 Frances Ellen Southey born. Christened 9.5.1838 at All Souls, Saint Marylebone.
4.6.1839 Robert Southey married Caroline Bowles. The severity of his mental decline became evident to her within three months of her marriage. [DNB]
29.9.1839 Edith Southey born. Christened 11.11.1839 at All Souls, Saint Marylebone.
20.6.1840 Caroline Southey, Robert's new wife, wrote to Lord Ashley to explain why "one, if not two, of your Lordship's letters" had not been answered for "ten or twelve months"
"It is more than probable that public rumour has conveyed to you something of the sad truth - that serious indisposition of the most afflicting nature has for many months incapacitated Mr Southey from all use of his pen, all literary application, all continuance of his extensive correspondence. No specific disease of any kind having manifested itself unequivocally, his brother and physician, Dr Henry Southey, encouraged me to hope that, as the debilitating effects of repeated attacks of influenza wore off, his constitution would gradually right itself, and the mind (then affected only by sympathetic languor) recover its healthful tone.On this hope I lived till within the last few months - till the sad conviction pressed itself upon me, that all rational ground for it was giving way. That 'the night when no man can work' was closing on my husband's life of moral usefulness, and that though, with care, his existence may be many years prolonged in this state of being, I must look heavenward only, beyond 'the pale and grave of death' for the restoration which will then be perfect and indestructible"
1840-1841 Drs Southey and [Thomas] Mayo [1790-1871] carried out, for the Home Secretary, an investigation into allegations against Bethlem. The Lancet described them as very respectable physicians who had the leisure to become learned, but whose qualifications for the investigation were entirely unknown to the medical profession.
"Neither... has evinced the slightest disposition to reform abuses"
As staunch anti-medical reformers they might be expected to make common
cause with "that hot-bed of corruption" the Bethlem Hospital Committee.
Their report was not an impartial, judicial document, but a one-sided,
ex parte piece of special pleading. The home Secretary was urged to
institute a real inquiry, instead of one "by two convicted whitewashers"
(Lancet
editorial 23.1.1841)
| 23.8.1842 SOUTHEY INQUIRY COMMISSIONER (aged 58) |
|
|
4.8.1845
SOUTHEY MEDICAL
LUNACY COMMISSIONER
NAMED IN 1845 ACT (aged 61) |
|
On 27.8.1845 the Secretary informed the Board that, Prichard, had been appointed in place of Southey, who had resigned.
1859 SCHC 21.3.1859: Dr Henry Herbert Southey called in:
"You are one of the Medical Visitors in Lunacy?" "Yes"
"Have you been so long?" "ever since the Act passed". (p.129)
Southey and Bright both
retired as Chancery Visitors in September 1862, taking advantage of
the pension provisions of
1862 Chancery Lunatics Act,
which became law on 7.8.1882. Their replacements had already
been appointed. Dr William Charles Hood and Dr John Charles Bucknill were
appointed on 9.8.1862.
Dr Southey was born 18.1.1784,
so he was seventy-eight (as the 1862 Act states) when he retired. If he was
appointed immediately the 1833
Act was passed, he
had just served twenty-nine years when he retired.
28.1.1864:
Reginald Southey married
13.6.1865 Henry Herbert died at 1 Harley Street. He was
buried in Highgate Cemetery. 1 Harley Street became
Reginald Southey's address
26.3.1866 Sir Thomas Watson's obituary Address to the College of
Physicians [Quoted in
Munk)]
|
Medical member of the
Metropolitan Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
M5
Thomas Drever MD (Edinburgh)
LRCP (London)
Commissioner 1828-1830
Born about 1773 in the Orkney Islands. [Drever appears to be an
Orkney name]
His general education was at
Marischal College, Aberdeen.
Drever commenced the study of medicine under Dr
Livingstone of Aberdeen before moving to Edinburgh. from which he
graduated MD 12.9.1798 with a thesis on Pneumonia - Dissertatio
medica
inauguralis, de pneumonia; : quam, ... pro gradu doctoris, ... eruditorum
examini subjicit Thomas Drever, Scotus Orcadensis. Printed by Alex
Smellie,
Edinburgh, 1798. 34 pages.
Drever first practised in Buxton and Macclesfield and the
five page
biography of him in Memoirs
of eminent
physicians and surgeons 1818 explains that he built up a
fashionable cliental at the Derbyshire spas as the basis for becoming a
society physician in London.
Licentiate of the Royal College of
Physicians, London 12.4.1813. Shortly afterwards he moved to London.
Address 1818 Lower Grosvenor Street.
See under Hume about Scottish education
| 9.8.1828 DREVER METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER (aged about 55) |
1828
|
In 1841 (Court Directory?), a "Dr Drever" was listed at 29 Park Street, Grosvenor Square. However, I could not find a Drever listed as a physician in the commercial directories (from 1837?) or in the medical directories (1845 following). It appears, therefore, that he retired from practice in the 1830s.
There was no listing at all in the 1846 Post Office Guide.
8.9.1849 Drever died, aged seventy six, at St James's Square. (1850 medical directory p.473)
|
Medical member of the
Metropolitan Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
M6
Edward James Seymour MD FRCP
Commissioner 1830-1839
Physician to His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex
Born 30.3.1796
The third son of William Seymour of 65 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, an "attorney at law", at some time resident in Brighton for thirty years and chairman of Sussex Quarter Sessions. (DNB). Munk uses the term "a London solicitor" instead of attorney at law.
Edward Seymour was educated at Richmond School, Surrey and Jesus College, Cambridge. BA June 1816, MA 1819
4.9.1817 Married Maria Searancke of Clapton. They had ten children: six sons and four daughters. Their eldest son was Charles Frederick Seymour
He sometime studied medicine in London, Edinburgh and Paris (DNB)
"He spent some years in Italy, chiefly at Florence, where he was extensively consulted and made many influential English friends, who were afterwards of great service to him" Munk
DNB: He began his career in Italy because physicians could not, by law, practise in London under the age of twenty- six. He made a large income in Italy and formed a [my emphasis] connection that was of advantage to him in later life.
30.3.1822 Seymour twenty-six.
1822 Licence to practise from Cambridge University
1823 Seymour returned to England
Inceptor candidate, Royal College of Physicians, 22.12.1823
He established himself at 23 George Street, Hanover Square
(1830 map),
and soon
acquired a good practice.
[Link to modern map, Hanover Square]. The
earliest directory I checked was 1837. This showed Seymour at 13
Charles Street, Berkley Square,
Mayfair
- Which is the address he died at.
(1830 map). Charles Street runs parallel to
Curzon Street, where
Halford lived.
28.11.1828 Elected physician to
St George's Hospital. He held this post until
1846 or 1847 and rose to be senior physicain.
| 7.8.1830 SEYMOUR METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER (aged 34) |
1830
|
He made his first five visits with two other metropolitan commissioners, which was such an unusual pattern (see 3.4.2 table two) as to suggest he was being trained.
May 1831 Croonian Lecturer Royal College of Physicians: On these lectures he based Observations on the medical treatment of insanity, published in 1832. This was principally concerned with organic causes and physical treatments. Seymour opposed the tendency to send all insane patients to madhouses and believed a substantial minority would benefit from a return to their home surroundings . He complained that this "department of science" was left to doctors
"who resign the care of other disease" and "lose the power of investigating the abberations of intellect in conjunction with the other functional diseases of the human frame".
In his own practice, he
"devoted much of his time and attention to insanity". "He was one of the first who used opium freely in the treatment of disease". (Munk)
Munk says that he specialised in the domestic treatment of insanity following his appointment as a commissioner. (Which Munk wrongly dates September 1836)
1835 Seymour published an article on "...some cases of mental derangement, successfully treated by the acetate of morphia . Morphia (Morphine) is the alkaloid of Opium which may be an acetate, a sulphate or a muriate. It was isolated from opium in 1803, by a German apothecary, Serturner, who named it after Morpheus, the god of dreams.
1836-1839 3.6.2 table: He was far less often employed than other Metropolitan Commissioners.
1840: Not re-appointed as a Metropolitan Commissioner
Cornwallis Hewett appointed
in his place.
17.8.1842 Robert Peel returned to London in the midst of anxiety about the plug riots, and consulted Dr Seymour
"about pains in his head from which he had been suffering and on his advice had been immediately cupped, with beneficial results" (Gash, N. 1953 p.346)
Nick Hervey says (1996 pages 145-146, no reference) that "E.J. Seymour was privately caring for Sir Robert Peel's mad brother" in single lodgings.
1847 Thoughts on the Nature and Treatment of Several Severe Diseases of the Human Body included a chapter (one quarter of the book) "On Mental Derangement". Major themes of this were that doctors should attempt treating insanity at home before resorting to an asylum, and that returning asylum patients home before full recovery often led to recovery.
1849 A dispute became public in which Seymour was accused of sending anonymous letters to Dr W.E. Chambers and his daughter. (See Lancet 9.4.1849)
1859 Seymour published a letter addressed to Lord Shaftesbury on the laws which regulate Private Lunatic Asylums in which he included a comparison of the writ De lunatico inquirendo in England with the law of "Interdiction", in France, as well as observations on the causes of insanity and improvement in its treatment during the last twenty-five years.
"Broken health and broken fortunes obscured his latter days. He died after an illness of great suffering from organic disease of the stomach and liver on 6th April 1866, aged 70" Munk
1881 Census: Edward Seymour, Rector of Bratton Clovelly, Devon, possessed a lithograph and a wax bust of his father Edward James Seymour. (DNB). (Rev) Edward Seymour was born about 1825. [Christened?] St George's, Hanover Square.
|
Medical member of the
Metropolitan Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
M7
Cornwallis Hewett MD FRCP
Commissioner 1839-1840
Born about 1789 in the East Indies.
"After a good scholastic education" he entered Trinity College, Cambridge. BA 1809. He was elected to a fellowiship of Downing College (founded 1800) and removed there. MA 1812
A Topological Dictionary of England, Samuel Lewis, 1831
13.9.1812 Christening at Saint Mary-St Marylebone Road, Saint Marylebone, London, of his half brother, Prescott Gardner Hewett (1812- 1891): Father William Hewett, Mother Sarah
14.7.1814 Cornwallis Hewett appointed Downing Professor of Physic. In 1841 he was still shown as having Medical Lodge, Downing College, Cambridge as his address, as well as his London address. His London address (by 1838 was 17 Bolton Street (off Curzon Street), Mayfair.
26.12.1815: Inceptor candidate, Royal College of Physicians.
1818 Memoirs of eminent physicians and surgeons states that he is resident in Cambridge, not London.
1822 MD Cambridge
19.8.1822 Candidate, Royal College of Physicians.
12.4.1824 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
25.2.1825: Physician to St George's Hospital, London - As was Seymour from 1828 - But Corwallis resigned in 1833
11.1.1827 A Cornwallis Hewitt married Julia Anne Bosanquil Franks at Hatfield in Hertfordshire.
20.1.1832 Gazetted Physician Extraordinary to William 4th
| 1839 HEWETT BECAME CHANCERY VISITOR |
|
| 10.9.1839 HEWETT METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER (aged about 52) |
|
3.6.2 table: He did not visit much
13.9.1841 Died (still "of Bolton Street") at Brighton, aged 54. (The Gentleman's Magazine October 1841, page 444 and Munk)
1877 Prescott Gardner Hewett made serjeant-surgeon extraordinary to Queen Victoria
1881 Census: Entry clearly Prescott Gardner Hewett, even though names and dates differ.
|
Medical member of the
Metropolitan Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
M8
Thomas Waterfield MD FRCP
Commissioner 1841-1845
Born 1789. Died 5.3.1871
Admitted fellow commoner, Christ's College, Cambridge. Matriculated Lent 1820.
1825: MB
Licence to practise from Cambridge 12.6.1826 according to the RCP Annals for 4.5.1827, but 1827 according to A.Ca..
1831 Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. 1833: Censor
London Addrees from 1841 or earlier to his death in 1871: 17 South Terrace, near Thurloe Square, Brompton, South Kensington.
| 14.9.1841 WATERFIELD METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER (aged about 52) |
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| 23.8.1842 WATERFIELD METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER (aged about 53) |
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At least from 1848, Waterfield was one of two consulting physicians to the Public Dispensary for the Relief of Sick Poor at their Homes, 4 Bishops Court (and/or) 6 Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn (modern map - 1830 map)
The dispensary, established in 1782, gave medical and surgical advice and dispensed medicine to the sick poor from all parts. It had over 5,000 patients a year, although less than one in five were relieved in their own homes. In the early 1850s its income was about £890, but it owed £500 to the bank. As well as the consultant physician, it had two physicians, a surgeon, consulting surgeon, apothecary, secretary and treasurer (Low's Charities 1854)
By 1851, Waterfield was also consulting physician to The Reliance Assurance Office. (medical directory)
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Medical member of the
Metropolitan Commission
and Lunacy
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
M9
James Cowles Prichard MD (Edin), FRS, MD (Ox)
Inquiry Commissioner 1842-1845
Lunacy Commissioner
(in place of Southey)
1845-1848
A specialist in insanity
Prichard died in office 22.12.1848. He was replaced by Samuel Gaskell, an asylum
superintendent
Born Ross, Herefords 11.2.1786. The eldest son of Thomas and Mary Prichard, both members of The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). His father was "engaged in commercial life with a firm of iron and tin-plate merchants in Bristol".
with information from other sources about James Cowles Prichard's relations.
In 1793 James was sent to school in Bristol for a short time, but his early education was mainly at home under a series of tutors supervised by his father. The emphasis seems to have been on languages, particularly French. Quakers at this time were encouraged to protect their children from education by "worldly" books and tutors and to encourage the study of the Bible and Quaker authors. Modern languages, however, were encouraged by the Society.
At some time his family moved to Bristol (DNB). Mat(t?)hew's Bristol Dir. 1799-1800 shows two Thomas Prichards, one in Park Street, the other a "Brush-maker" at 21 Bridge Street.
1802: Became a student of medicine in Bristol (DNB). Leigh: Attended a series of lectures by Dr Thomas Pole, an American Quaker, whose course included surgery, botany, chemistry, physics, the use of the globe, midwifery, optics and astronomy, and was called "The Economy of Nature". In the summer he continued his medical education (A.Ca.) under Mr Tothill and Dr Pope, also Quakers (Leigh).
September 1804: Attended St Thomas's Hospital (London?) (See Lancet obituary).
Edinburgh and Anthropology
September 1805: Edinburgh University where, according
to a student
friend,
speculation about the varieties of the human race became the
"continual
occupation of his mind" (Leigh). MD 1808.
Prichard's 150 page thesis, De Generis Humani Varitate,
was
about three
times the
length of the average Edinburgh thesis. Over the years he
re-wrote and
expanded it into successive editions of: Researches into
the Physical
History of Man
(1813); 1826: 2 vols with plates, 1838: 3
vols; 1841
Illustrations for; 1841-18477: 4th edition, 5 vols with
coloured plates,
maps etc).
Leaving the Quakers
Admitted pens, Trinity college
Cambridge
13.10.1808.
Matriculated Lent
1809
(A.Ca.).
Cambridge, unlike Oxford, allowed dissenters to study there
(although not to graduate). Whilst at Cambridge he left the
Quakers and
became an Anglican. He probably studied mathematics and
theology at
Cambridge. (Leigh) (See Lancet obituary). In 1809 he studied
at Oxford,
residing first at St. John's, then at Trinity (Leigh). He matriculated
from St John's 3.6.1809
(A.Ox.)
BRISTOL PHYSICIAN, ETHNOLOGY, ST PETERS.
Practised as a Bristol physician from 1810, devoting his spare
tome to
ethnology (DNB).
In Bristol Dir shown (Red Lodge, Park Row) as one of 24
Bristol Physicians;
one of 3 physicians to
St Peter's Hospital,
Peter St., and one of four to
the Infirmary, Marlborough St., St James's. Leigh says it was "many
years
before his practice amounted to anything". (Leigh p 154)
Married Anne Maria Estlin 28.2.1811 (DNB). They had 10 children.
On 11.8.1811 elected physician to
St Peter's Hospital
described in the Dir.
as the General Hospital for the poor of the whole city. It
had,
After the publication of the
Researches
(1813) his medical practice
began to build up. Eventually he had a very considerable
private practice
purely as a physician on consultations. He drew a strict line
between the
work of surgeons and the consultative work appropriate to
physicians (Leigh
p.154).
On 29.2.1814 elected physician to the Infirmary. This was one
of a number
of medical charities in Bristol. It admitted casualty cases
"immediately", "without regard to country, colour or dialect".
Those
labouring under acute or chronic disorders required a note
from a
subscriber (1830 Dir).
1819: 1st edition An Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology
(2nd: 1823;
3rd: 1838; each enlarged)
1822: Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System. Part One.
Convulsive
and Maniacal Affections (Part 2 never published)
FRS 1827 (A.Ca.)
1829 Review of the Doctrine of a Vital Principle "A
small octavo
work, dedicated to the patrons of the Bristol Philosophical
Institution, of
which he was one of the founders, and where he frequently gave
lectures"
(Lancet
obituary). It
was an expansion of a lecture given to the Bristol
Literary and Philosophical Society and maintained that only
the presence of
a divine Intelligence could account for the life principle (Leigh). He was
a frequent lecturer at the Bristol Institution. Leigh reproduces a
handbill for a series of 3 lectures in 1834 undertaken when an
Egyptian
Mummy was made available to be publicly opened.
1831: On the Treatment of Hemiplegia, and Particularly on
an Important
Remedy in some Diseases of the Brain published in the
Medical
Gazette. It dealt with the treatment of insanity by a
scalp incision
kept open by peas. Dr J.A. Symonds read a paper by Prichard
on the same
subject at a meeting of the British Association for the
Advancement of
Science held in Bristol in 1836.
(Tuke, D.H.
1891 p24 and DNB)
MD (Oxford), by diploma from Trinity college 3.7.1835. He had
delivered
the
address at the 3rd annual meeting of the Provincial Medical
and Surgical
Association, held in Oxford. The President that year was the
Regius
Professor of medicine who handed the diploma to Prichard at
the conclusion
of the address (Leigh p.157)
1833: 1st volume (A to ELE) of The Cyclopedia of
Practical
Medicine
published, edited by John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie and
Conolly
(4.4.2)
with 67 contributors, all physicians. The final volume was
published
1835
(Hunter and
MacAlpine's
Conolly, vol.1, pp 12 + 14).
Tweedie and Conolly
were friends of Prichard (Leigh) who wrote the articles on:
Delirium,
Hypochondriasis, Insanity, Somnambulism
and
Animal Magnetism, Soundness and
Unsoundness of Mind, and Temperament. He wrote
several chapters
on similar
subjects in a work called the Library of Medicine (Lancet
obituary).
Whilst engaged in writing these articles, Prichard became
convinced of a
need for
a comprehensive treatise on the contemporary treatment of
insanity (Leigh).
Published 1835 A Treatise on Insanity and Other
Disorders
Affecting the
Mind 500pp. This was dedicated to the French
psychiatrist, John
Etienne Dominique Esquirol and drew mainly on French sources.
In it he
elaborated his concept of
"moral
insanity"
which he had first
described in the Insanity article in the Cyclopaedia.
(Hunter, R.A. and Macalpine, I. 1963
pp 836-7).
GERMANY
Prichard had learnt German to study German history and
philosophy. In 1815
he and a friend had published a translation of Muller's
General
History. (Leigh p. 202)
Prichard
and Samuel Hitch
Prichard was one of the Gloucestershire medical visitors for
licensed
houses (Lancet
obituary).
He was also a correspondent of Samuel Hitch, the Resident
Superintendent of
Gloucestershire County Asylum,
who strongly
supported his concept of moral
insanity (See
Leigh, D.
1961
p.183). Prichard was one of the first members of
Hitch's
"Association of
Medical
Officers of Asylums and Hospitals for the Insane",
founded at
Gloucester in July 1841
(Tuke, D.H.
1891
p.24). He
attended the York conference in 1844 and may have attended
earlier ones.
PRICHARD
INQUIRY COMMISSIONER 23.8.1842
(AGED 56)
Prichard
is believed to have remained
a resident of Bristol during the Inquiry and to have
maintained his
positions and activities there. Besides his extensive
engagements in
Bristol he had a large consulting practice in the surrounding
counties and
South Wales (Lancet
obituary). Dr Hitch (see above) was at this time
agitating the cause of Welsh pauper lunatics who, he said,
were without any
asylum. In a footnote to an article in The Lancet he added, however:
"Since this was written, Dr Prichard, of Bristol, has informed
me, that
there is a lunatic asylum near Haverfordwest" (Lancet 5.10.1842 p. 103).
"a ward for lunatics. Vagrants and beggars are taken up and
sent
thither, and conveyed to their respective parishes. It is
supported by
an annual assessment on all houses and land in the city."
EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY, BRISTOL INSANITY AND VITALIST
PHILOSOPHY
"It was based on the experience he had gained during ten
years at St
Peter's hospital. Among his patients there were many
lunatics, whose
maladies especially interested him" (DNB)
"The books is largely a collection of cases, with an attempt
at a broad
classification which owes most to Sauvages, the French
nosographer, and
to Pinel" (Leigh)
During 1826 he refused to consult with Dr David Davies
FRCP on the
grounds that as Davis was a surgeon on the staff of
St Peter's
he should
not consult as a physician. Davies published a pamphlet
maintaining a
physician was perfectly entitled to act as a surgeon. (Leigh p.155)
A Treatise on Insanity
1837 A German translation of Analysis of Egyptian
Mythology.
Through mutual interest in Egyptology, he and the Prussian
diplomat,
Christian Karl Josias (Baron) Bunsen, became "great friends"
(Leigh)
Bunsen came to London in 1841 on a special mission concerning
the proposed
Anglo-Prussian bishopric in Jerusalem. Ashley (H3) was a
central figure in
the negotiations for the bishopric which was established in
the autumn. In
1842 Bunsen became Prussian ambassador in London. In 1843
Prichard
published his Natural History of Man. He dedicated it
to Bunsen,
beginning the dedication "My Dear Friend".