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ince admitting its first patients in 1863 Broadmoor has acquired a reputation as one of Britain’s most notorious institutions. Now that the Broadmoor archive is open to researchers at the Berkshire Record Office, we can begin to discover the truth behind the negative stereotypes. Before Broadmoor opened in 1863, the question of what to do with those who committed crimes but were mentally ill, was a controversial one. In 1800 James Hadfield attempted to shoot King George III, claiming he was acting on the commands of God. Hadfield’s actions led to the Criminal Lunatics Act of 1800, allowing all persons acquitted of a crime on the grounds of insanity to be detained “until his Majesty’s Pleasure be known” – in other words, indefinitely. Hadfield spent the rest of his life in Bethlem Royal Hospital. Now the problem was finding suitable accommodation for criminal lunatics.
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A Parliamentary Select Committee reported on the subject in 1860, and this led to the Criminal Lunatics Asylum Act. The new legislation allowed the creation of criminal lunatic asylums in England under the control of the Home Secretary. Broadmoor was the first such asylum. Opened in 1863 it was built near the Berkshire village of Crowthorne. Originally it had two walled enclosures, one for females, containing two patient accommodation blocks, and one for males, containing six patient accommodation blocks and a chapel. The annual reports say that in the first year 214 males and 95 females were admitted. By 1870 however, 375 males are recorded, and the wards were full. It is therefore likely that the maximum occupancy was 375 males and 100 females, and though they later added more wards there was still overcrowding at times. Like other asylums of the time, Broadmoor was an isolated, almost entirely self-sufficient community. Patients and staff worked together to produce most of their own food on a 170 acre farm. Other goods were made in its workshops, including those for shoemaking, upholsterery, tinsmithing and carpentery. Uniforms for patients and staff were sewn and repaired by the female patients, and washed in the laundry.
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Berkshire Record Office
Kate Tyte reveals the characters and the stories behind Broadmoor Hospital
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Left, the male dayroom in about 1885.
their time on their wards, in the outdoor “airing courts”, and at work. The wards had dayrooms where newspapers, books and board games were provided, as well as a piano for female patients, and billiard tables for the men. Entertainment and recreation was limited to what could be provided by the staff who formed a band to play for the patients, and put on amateur shows. The patients also played cricket, bowls and croquet. The annual report for 1900 lists the crimes of the women admitted to Broadmoor between 1863 and 1900: murder, manslaughter and attempted murder – 367; larceny and petty theft – 148; and “Other” – 61.
Programmes from 1888 for performances by the staff.
A staff photograph taken in the early 1880s.
Berkshire Record Office
Staff were managed by the Medical Superintendent, an authoritarian patriarch wholly responsible for every aspect of the establishment. He was assisted by two other doctors, meaning there were only three medically trained personnel in the whole institution. A chaplin, matron, steward, and farm bailiff made up the rest of the senior staff. There were about 100 attendants or nurses – roughly one for every three patients – who worked extremely long hours, usually from 6am to 8pm. Once a week they finished early, at 2pm, and they had two days off together every other month. In total they worked for about 79 hours a week. The staff lived under a very strict regime and could be sacked if they were suspected of breaking any of the numerous rules. They even had to ask permission to get married. Staff either lived on site or were provided with cottages to rent nearby. They received wages and a uniform, and had their meals provided. They were not allowed to go to the pub, but had a staff clubhouse, which held dances and had a library. Added attractions were free medical care, a school for children, and the prospect of a pension on retirement. As for the patients, in the period before 1900 they were “treated” with a strict regime of rest, fresh air, a healthy diet, and work. Men and women were kept strictly segregated, spending
Berkshire Record Office
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Richard Dadd
Berkshire Record Office
Above, Richard Dadd at work, and right, one of his portraits of Sir Thomas Phillips.
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he artist Richard Dadd (1817–1886) is one of Broadmoor’s best-known patients. Dadd studied art at the Royal Academy Schools in London. In 1842 he went on a tour of Europe, Egypt and the Holy Lands as the personal artist of Sir Thomas Phillips, and did several paintings of him in local costumes. During the trip Dadd became paranoid and deluded and believed that the Egyptian God Osiris spoke to him and guided his actions. In August 1843 Dadd stabbed and killed his father during a walk in the countryside at Cobham. He believed he had killed the devil in disguise, and maintained this delusion all his life. Afterwards Dadd fled to France but was caught by the police after attempting to cut the throat of another traveller. In his pocket was a list of names of “people who must die.” Dadd was tried and found insane, and sent to Bethlem Hospital in London. He remained there for 20 years, and spent his time painting. In 1864 he was moved to Broadmoor where he continued with his painting until he died in 1886.
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Of the 367 killers, the majority of them had killed their own children, and most of these women were probably suffering from what is now known as post-natal depression. They had a good chance of being discharged: the annual report showing that 127 had been released. One such patient was Ann Nicholls, a married woman with three children, from Hartlepool. A newspaper report of her trial states that on 17 July 1871 she killed her eight-month-old son Samuel by pouring sulphuric acid into his mouth. Her husband kept the acid in an outhouse, because he was studying chemistry. At her trial neighbours said that she had been very low-spirited since the birth of the child. Shortly after she killed her son they found her in the house crying. She said “I do not know what came over me all in a minute this morning.” She told the doctor that she had had a sudden urge to destroy the child, and thought it was the right thing to do at the time. The doctor explained to the jury that: “The suckling of children sometimes has a weakening effect on mothers and produces low spirits and a weak mind. The tendency of such weakness is to produce a feeling in the mother to destroy her children, and there are instances of mothers, whilst labouring from weakness of that kind, having taken the lives of their children…On recovering strength the mind would recover.” Ann Nicholls was admitted to Broadmoor on 30 December 1871. Her husband Richard petitioned for her release on several occasions. He wrote to the Superintendent in March 1873 saying “should my leaving this country for a number of years have any influence in getting an earlier release for my wife I am prepared to make that sacrifice.” He went to Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. The petitions were eventually successful. Ann was discharged and sailed to New York in March 1878. Richard wrote to Broadmoor to inform them of her safe arrival, thanking the Superintendent, and staff for caring for her, and saying: “She is now in the best of health and it will be my greatest earthly aim to keep her so.” There was far more variety amongst the male patients. The annual report for 1900 shows the types of crime committed by male patients admitted since 1863: murder, manslaughter, attempted murder – 915; sexual crimes (including rape, indecent assault and unnatural crimes) – 95; burglary – 151; larceny and theft – 324; arson – 120; other (including desertion or insubordination in the armed forces, vagrancy, one count of endangering railway passengers, one count of sending indecent
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postcards, and eleven attempted or threatened suicides) – 263. Male patients were more likely to have killed a relative than a stranger. Statistics for 1904 (there are none before this) show that 171 patients had killed a relative, and 107 had killed other people (although many of these must have been people well known to them, such as fellow residents or staff in workhouses, prisons or asylums). One extraordinary example of a male patient killing a relative is 13-year-old Robert Allen Coombes who murdered his mother, Emily. He hid her body in a cupboard, where it remained for over three weeks. According to The Times on 18 September 1895, Robert told the police: “I did it. My brother Natty got a hiding for stealing fruit, and ma was going to give me one. So Natty said that he would stab her, but as he could not do it himself he asked me to do it. He said ‘When I cough twice you do it.’ He coughed twice and I did it. I am sorry I did it.” Witnesses at the trial said that Robert was very intelligent but also very excitable, obsessed by criminals, and read sensational novels about crime. While awaiting trial he had been very destructive, and had to be put in a padded cell on one occasion. Doctors noted that he had scars on his head, complained of headaches, and heard voices. They diagnosed “cerebral irritation” caused by the use of forceps during his birth. Robert was discharged in February 1912, at the age of 30, to the care of the Salvation Army Land and Industrial Colony at Hadleigh in Essex. The Salvation Army accepted many exBroadmoor patients, who they housed and found work for, until they were ready to return to the community. In 1913 Robert expressed his wish to move to New Zealand, and was granted an absolute discharge, though it is not known whether he eventually did emigrate. An example of a patient who killed a virtual stranger is described in The Times on 14 January 1898. On 16 December 1897 William Terriss, a distinguished actor, was stabbed three times with a butcher’s knife while entering the Adelphi Theatre in London. Terriss cried out “Oh, my God, I am stabbed”, and died shortly afterwards. His attacker made no attempt to escape. He was identified as Richard Archer Prince, an aspiring actor who had once had a walk-on role in a play with Terriss. Prince had attempted acting for some time, but was unable to learn his lines, and was regarded as being “ridiculously dramatic” and impossible to work with. He falsely believed that he was a great actor, and blamed his failure on Terriss. He told his friends that Terriss was a
Richard Dadd’s portrait of Broadmoor’s Medical Superintendent Dr William Orange painted in 1875.
Berkshire Record Office
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dirty dog who had been blackmailing him and had ruined his career. In fact, Prince had written to Terriss several times asking for help, and Terriss had responded with good references, enabling Prince to get money from The Actors’ Benevolent Fund. Prince, however, said “Mr Terriss would not employ me, and I was determined to be revenged.” Witnesses at the trial gave overwhelming evidence that he was of unsound mind. Prince had a family history of mental illness and had behaved strangely for some time, saying that his mother had poisoned his tea and that he was the second Jesus Christ. His neighbours nicknamed him “mad Archer”. The jury found him guilty but insane, and he was sent to Broadmoor where he remained until his death in 1937. In most cases the patients admitted were obviously mentally ill, but some admissions were more controversial. The Revd Henry Dodwell was fired from the Brighton Industrial School where he was a chaplain, and took legal action for unfair dismissal against his employers. He was frustrated by the slow progress of his case, and decided to draw attention to himself by firing a pistol, loaded with blanks, at a court official. He was tried and found guilty but insane, and sent to Broadmoor in 1878. While at Broadmoor he wrote hundreds of letters to influential people, complaining that his trial had been unfair. He also continued to demand an apology for his dismissal from the school. His case was widely discussed in the
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Dr Orange, disagreed. He noted that Dodwell believed that there was a widespread conspiracy against him by the government and government officials. Dr Orange stated that given the nature of his delusions, Dodwell would be very dangerous if discharged. In 1882 he was proved right. Dodwell attacked Dr Orange, hitting him over the head with a large stone wrapped in a handkerchief. Dr Orange suffered severe head injuries from which he never fully recovered. Dodwell tried to justify his actions, writing “having reflected that a man may escape by any means from brigands, I with very great sorrow and reluctance plead that I may by dire necessity raise my hand against the Superintendent.” He remained in Broadmoor where he died from heart disease in 1900. In 1948 Broadmoor became part of the new National Heath Service and its name was changed to the less judgemental Broadmoor Institution. Inmates were now known as Broadmoor “patients” instead. The Mental Health Act of 1959 changed the way that patients were admitted and discharged, allowing “civil patients” to be admitted. These were people who had not been accused of any crime, but needed to be cared for in a secure environment. Kate Tyte is an archivist currently working at the National Portrait Gallery. She has just completed a project working on the records of psychiatric hospitals.
TAKING IT FURTHER The Broadmoor archive can be consulted at Berkshire Record Office, 9 Coley Avenue, Reading, RG1 6AF; telephone 0118 9015132; www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk.
Top, one of the many letters written by the Revd Henry Dodwell while at Broadmoor. Above, the opening paragraph from his pamphlet The Case of the Rev. Mr Dodwell.
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newspapers and even in the House of Commons, and he managed to persuade many people that he was the victim of injustice. The Royal Psychological Society even published a pamphlet called The Case of the Rev. Mr Dodwell, which claimed that “The case of this unfortunate gentleman has justly excited much sympathy.” It pointed out that no medical evidence was given at the trial. The pamphlet also printed the report of doctors employed by Dodwell and his friends, which stated that “he is of sound mind, and there is nothing to justify his detention as a criminal lunatic.” It concluded “we…trust that the authorities will soon liberate Mr Dodwell and permit him to return to his family.” Broadmoor’s Medical Superintendent,
Patient records are closed for 100 years, but access to information from restricted records may be granted to close family members at the discretion of Broadmoor Hospital. There are no access restrictions on other types of record, except where there are security concerns. All enquiries should go through Berkshire Record Office in the first instance, not through the hospital directly. An exhibition on The Secret World of Victorian Broadmoor is on display at the Museum of Reading until 22 February 2009. Museum of Reading, The Town Hall, Blagrave Street, Reading, RG1 1Q; telephone 0118 939 9800. Simon Winchester’s book The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness, and the Oxford English Dictionary (Penguin, 1999) describes the life of Broadmoor patient William Chester Minor, and gives further descriptions of Broadmoor in the Victorian period. There are a few Home Office, Treasury and Ministry of Health files about Broadmoor at The National Archives which are mainly about the administration of the asylum or allowances paid to patients and staff.
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