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Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty, and the Mad-Doctors in England
The phenomenon of false allegations of mental illness is as old as our first interactions as human beings. Every one of us has described some other person as crazy or insane, and most all of us have had periods, moments at least, of madness. But it took the confluence of the law and medical science, mad-doctors, alienists, priests and barristers, to raise the matter to a level of “science,” capable of being used by conniving relatives, “designing families” and scheming neighbors to destroy people who found themselves in the way, people whose removal could provide their survivors with money or property or other less frivolous benefits. Girl Interrupted in only a recent example. And reversing this sort of diagnosis and incarceration became increasingly more difficult, as even the most temperate attempt to leave these “homes” or “hospitals” was deemed “crazy.” Kept in a madhouse, one became a little mad, as Jack Nicholson and Ken Kesey explain in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.
In this sadly terrifying, emotionally moving, and occasionally hilarious book, twelve cases of contested lunacy are offered as examples of the shifting arguments regarding what constituted sanity and insanity. They offer unique insight into the fears of sexuality, inherited madness, greed and fraud, until public feeling shifted and turned against the rising alienists who would challenge liberty and freedom of people who were perhaps simply “difficult,” but were turned into victims of this unscrupulous trade.
This fascinating book is filled with stories almost impossible to believe but wildly engaging, a book one will not soon forget.
In this sadly terrifying, emotionally moving, and occasionally hilarious book, twelve cases of contested lunacy are offered as examples of the shifting arguments regarding what constituted sanity and insanity. They offer unique insight into the fears of sexuality, inherited madness, greed and fraud, until public feeling shifted and turned against the rising alienists who would challenge liberty and freedom of people who were perhaps simply “difficult,” but were turned into victims of this unscrupulous trade.
This fascinating book is filled with stories almost impossible to believe but wildly engaging, a book one will not soon forget.
498 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 4, 2012
56 people are currently reading
1945 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Wise
3 books47 followersYou can hear me speak about each of my books by going to the following site, and clicking the links sarahwise.co.uk/tvradio.html
You can follow me on twitter @MissSarahWise
Extra stories, pictures and further exploration of the subjects of each of my three books are available to read at www.sarahwise.co.uk
My Psychology Today blog on 19th-century mental health is here
http://www.psychologytoday.com/expert...
As for me: I live in central London and as well as writing my non-fiction books, I am currently working on a screenplay of Inconvenient People.
I did a Master's degree in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London – jumping ship from EngLit to History. A chance discovery while writing my dissertation led to the writing of The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London, which was published in 2004.
I followed this up with The Blackest Streets: the Life and Death of a Victorian Slum in 2008.
My third book, Inconvenient People, came out in 2012.
I also teach 19th-century social history and fiction, and I lecture regularly on London history and the history of 19th-century mental health.
Prizes/shortlistings:
The Italian Boy won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.
The Blackest Streets was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize for evocation of a location/landscape.
Inconvenient People was shortlisted for the 2014 Wellcome Book Prize and was a book of the year in the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Guardian and Spectator.
You can follow me on twitter @MissSarahWise
Extra stories, pictures and further exploration of the subjects of each of my three books are available to read at www.sarahwise.co.uk
My Psychology Today blog on 19th-century mental health is here
http://www.psychologytoday.com/expert...
As for me: I live in central London and as well as writing my non-fiction books, I am currently working on a screenplay of Inconvenient People.
I did a Master's degree in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London – jumping ship from EngLit to History. A chance discovery while writing my dissertation led to the writing of The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London, which was published in 2004.
I followed this up with The Blackest Streets: the Life and Death of a Victorian Slum in 2008.
My third book, Inconvenient People, came out in 2012.
I also teach 19th-century social history and fiction, and I lecture regularly on London history and the history of 19th-century mental health.
Prizes/shortlistings:
The Italian Boy won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.
The Blackest Streets was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize for evocation of a location/landscape.
Inconvenient People was shortlisted for the 2014 Wellcome Book Prize and was a book of the year in the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Guardian and Spectator.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
September 7, 2020
This was a very tough read. I plodded on and on with it day after day, getting no closer to the end...
However, when I did finally finish, I had to sit back for a minute to soak up everything I had learned.
What a fascinating yet devastatingly sad read. Sarah Wise has luckily separated each of the 12 cases into sections, as well as combining pictures, photographs and maps together to break up the text.
I always knew that lunacy was a controversial topic in the 19th century, but I didn't truly realise how bad it was. Some poor people were effectively kidnapped and thrown into the madhouse for : wanting to keep their own money that they earned, for wanting to write, for learning more than one language, for being flamboyant and confident in their mannerisms, for being in the way of siblings/relatives getting their money.. the list is endless. And this happened to men and women. So desperately sad. Although this was a massive chunk of a book and I found it emotionally hard going to read, it has certainly whet my appetite for the subject.
However, when I did finally finish, I had to sit back for a minute to soak up everything I had learned.
What a fascinating yet devastatingly sad read. Sarah Wise has luckily separated each of the 12 cases into sections, as well as combining pictures, photographs and maps together to break up the text.
I always knew that lunacy was a controversial topic in the 19th century, but I didn't truly realise how bad it was. Some poor people were effectively kidnapped and thrown into the madhouse for : wanting to keep their own money that they earned, for wanting to write, for learning more than one language, for being flamboyant and confident in their mannerisms, for being in the way of siblings/relatives getting their money.. the list is endless. And this happened to men and women. So desperately sad. Although this was a massive chunk of a book and I found it emotionally hard going to read, it has certainly whet my appetite for the subject.
October 9, 2014
In the mid Nineteenth century there was a series of panics about sane people being interred in lunatic asylums. This coupled with the rise of doctors who specialised in diagnosing the insane, regardless of actual condition, people felt their very liberty was under threat.
Through twelve case histories Wise brings to life the mental state of the middle and upper classes, and the way they treated their relatives who were considered different or odd in some way. She details cases where people were snatched from the street following a diagnosis from two doctors in the pay of the people most likely to benefit from the incarceration of those individuals. She details the frankly disturbing practices of the Commission that was charged with overseeing the law, and the way that the system was run and the reasons behind incarceration. Some of these reasons were so small and could lock people away for decades.
A well written book on the practices, and the reforms that were pushed through as society came to understand exactly what went on in the institutes. Worth a read for anyone interested in the history of mental health.
Through twelve case histories Wise brings to life the mental state of the middle and upper classes, and the way they treated their relatives who were considered different or odd in some way. She details cases where people were snatched from the street following a diagnosis from two doctors in the pay of the people most likely to benefit from the incarceration of those individuals. She details the frankly disturbing practices of the Commission that was charged with overseeing the law, and the way that the system was run and the reasons behind incarceration. Some of these reasons were so small and could lock people away for decades.
A well written book on the practices, and the reforms that were pushed through as society came to understand exactly what went on in the institutes. Worth a read for anyone interested in the history of mental health.
December 30, 2012
A great history of lunacy laws and malicious incarceration in nineteenth-century Britain, with some frightening thoughts on institutionalization in the twentieth century to end on. A great read, with characters and situations sometimes more outlandish than the plots of sensation novels. Also, a great historicized reading of Mr Rochester's decision to keep Mrs Rochester under care in his third storey, rather than committing her to a private asylum.
January 17, 2018
This book is one I read as it made the WellcomeBookPrize shortlist and I am doing a little reading project of some of the shortlisted books with my friend Elena. I am actually very glad I did read this book as it was a very insightful read and it was a topic I didn't know too much about before reading this book, but I did find it to be a bit of a mixed bag at times too.
This book is divided into quite a few different sections, each on focuses on a case of an individual who is wrongfully/badly mistreated and sentenced to an asylum or single-patient care in the house of a lunatic doctor. I think the idea of working chronologically throughout the century, starting with the earlier high-profile cases and following through is a good one, and the chronology of the book worked well for me.
I did find as the book went on that there were many similarities throughout the cases and I felt like there was actually quite a lot that could maybe have been summarised/cut as it wasn't all that essential to repeat or show a very slight difference between the cases.
This book definitely had some very good insights on why things took so very long to change and why today we still struggle with identifying and treating mental health conditions, but I just wish it had been a bit more choppy and fast-paced at times. It was a solid overview that sometimes gave a bit too much detail, but it made for some interesting tidbits and certainly kept me occupied whilst reading. 3*s overall.
This book is divided into quite a few different sections, each on focuses on a case of an individual who is wrongfully/badly mistreated and sentenced to an asylum or single-patient care in the house of a lunatic doctor. I think the idea of working chronologically throughout the century, starting with the earlier high-profile cases and following through is a good one, and the chronology of the book worked well for me.
I did find as the book went on that there were many similarities throughout the cases and I felt like there was actually quite a lot that could maybe have been summarised/cut as it wasn't all that essential to repeat or show a very slight difference between the cases.
This book definitely had some very good insights on why things took so very long to change and why today we still struggle with identifying and treating mental health conditions, but I just wish it had been a bit more choppy and fast-paced at times. It was a solid overview that sometimes gave a bit too much detail, but it made for some interesting tidbits and certainly kept me occupied whilst reading. 3*s overall.
May 19, 2013
Most of us would probably assume that the plight of someone at risk of incarceration for madness in the nineteenth century was a near hopeless one, especially if we had been influenced by reading 'The Woman in White'. Sarah Wise follows the history of the attempt to reform the lunacy laws in Victorian England by way of a well-choosen series of notable cases. They are entertaining and illuminating. I was surprised how many attempted confinements of alleged lunatics were motivated by the desire to get control of their property or dispose of an 'inconvenient person'. Some of the victims managed impressive responses of flight and fight, sometimes destroying the careers of the doctors and madhouse keepers who had attempted to kidnap them. Manifest abuses were rife, but the Victorian regard for personal liberty meant that courts frequents sympathised with those who had had their homes invaded by doctors in disguise attempting to certify them and keepers looking for the chance to bundle them into a coach and bear them off. The book is full of fascinating stories of feisty characters who fought back. Unusual sidelights are cast on Victorian psychology; one that struck me was a lucid attempt to define the unconscious dating from the 1850s. Sarah Wise chooses her subjects well and makes their stories fascinating. I shall look up some of her other books.
March 25, 2020
Review written in 2o12.
Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England is marketed as Sarah Wise’s ‘engrossing and most ambitious work yet’. The book aims to ‘revaluate our image of mental health and society in the nineteenth century’, and is said to be ‘both page turning and scholarly’.
Wise has set out to show twelve true stories from Victorian times, in which sane people were locked away when declared ‘mad’. Those included in Inconvenient People have been ‘selected to highlight the range of people who had to fight for their liberty against the imputation of insanity’. Her preface to the volume is rather informative, and leads incredibly well into the stories which follow.
We learn about the cases of Richard Paternoster, sent to Kensington House Asylum by his surgeon father; a doctor named John Quail, perceived as a ‘dangerous lunatic’ for ‘pestering Whitehall officials about a pension and remuneration he believed he was owed’; eminent Edward Bulwer-Lytton who cruelly confined his wife Rosina to an asylum ‘in controversial circumstances’; and Louisa Crookenden, mother of four babies who died in infancy and who later tried to commit suicide, amongst others. Each case reads like a short story might, and Wise has encompassed all the information available to her and presented it in an accessible format. Whilst the volume sets out to show the reader twelve stories relating to misconstrued lunacy, however, there are only actually ten featured, which is a shame.
As one might expect, Inconvenient People is rather information heavy, and unless being read for scholarly purposes, it is a far more beneficial volume to read one case at a time so as not to get too bogged down with all the facts.
The book contains a note on the terminology used throughout, ranging from ‘pauper lunatics’ who were unable to pay the fees for their care, to ‘single patient’, which ‘usually implied a wealthy lunatic in non-asylum care’. Informative maps have been included, along with illustrations which go with the text. The only downside is that some of these pictures have not been given captions, and therefore look as though they have been placed haphazardly with paragraphs that do not relate to them.
To conclude, Inconvenient People is an incredibly interesting book, and it is clear that Wise has put a lot of thought into the varied cases she has used and the way in which she has presented her information. It is an informative volume, which is equally as useful to a scholar of Victorian history or psychiatry as to an everyday reader interested in lunacy and social conditions of the nineteenth century.
Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England is marketed as Sarah Wise’s ‘engrossing and most ambitious work yet’. The book aims to ‘revaluate our image of mental health and society in the nineteenth century’, and is said to be ‘both page turning and scholarly’.
Wise has set out to show twelve true stories from Victorian times, in which sane people were locked away when declared ‘mad’. Those included in Inconvenient People have been ‘selected to highlight the range of people who had to fight for their liberty against the imputation of insanity’. Her preface to the volume is rather informative, and leads incredibly well into the stories which follow.
We learn about the cases of Richard Paternoster, sent to Kensington House Asylum by his surgeon father; a doctor named John Quail, perceived as a ‘dangerous lunatic’ for ‘pestering Whitehall officials about a pension and remuneration he believed he was owed’; eminent Edward Bulwer-Lytton who cruelly confined his wife Rosina to an asylum ‘in controversial circumstances’; and Louisa Crookenden, mother of four babies who died in infancy and who later tried to commit suicide, amongst others. Each case reads like a short story might, and Wise has encompassed all the information available to her and presented it in an accessible format. Whilst the volume sets out to show the reader twelve stories relating to misconstrued lunacy, however, there are only actually ten featured, which is a shame.
As one might expect, Inconvenient People is rather information heavy, and unless being read for scholarly purposes, it is a far more beneficial volume to read one case at a time so as not to get too bogged down with all the facts.
The book contains a note on the terminology used throughout, ranging from ‘pauper lunatics’ who were unable to pay the fees for their care, to ‘single patient’, which ‘usually implied a wealthy lunatic in non-asylum care’. Informative maps have been included, along with illustrations which go with the text. The only downside is that some of these pictures have not been given captions, and therefore look as though they have been placed haphazardly with paragraphs that do not relate to them.
To conclude, Inconvenient People is an incredibly interesting book, and it is clear that Wise has put a lot of thought into the varied cases she has used and the way in which she has presented her information. It is an informative volume, which is equally as useful to a scholar of Victorian history or psychiatry as to an everyday reader interested in lunacy and social conditions of the nineteenth century.
March 20, 2017
First, I want to emphasise that unfortunately this pays very little attention to the fate of poorer "lunatics" and pretty much nothing about the public asylum system in general. It focuses instead on a series of cases by richer people involved in the private system and their struggles to change it etc. As long as you're aware of those limitations though it's absolutely fascinating. Every story was incredibly readable and interesting.
One of the most fascinating stories is John Perceval, son of the PM Spencer Perceval, who wrote an account of his time in an asylum he was confined to after a breakdown possibly triggered by his involvement in the Irvingites, a Christian religious sect. After finally being released he founded the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society, which agitated for reform of the lunacy law as well as advocating for those felt to be unlawfully or unfairly confined, a cause he dedicated the rest of his life too. The book gives a good account of his experiences and his ideas, promoting an idea of recovery based on a patient's internal life and understanding that still seems fresh today. He comes across as an impressive character, with an unusual blend of a highly aristocratic sense of hierarchy combined with strong sympathy and material support for those of the "lower orders" treated badly.
One of the most fascinating stories is John Perceval, son of the PM Spencer Perceval, who wrote an account of his time in an asylum he was confined to after a breakdown possibly triggered by his involvement in the Irvingites, a Christian religious sect. After finally being released he founded the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society, which agitated for reform of the lunacy law as well as advocating for those felt to be unlawfully or unfairly confined, a cause he dedicated the rest of his life too. The book gives a good account of his experiences and his ideas, promoting an idea of recovery based on a patient's internal life and understanding that still seems fresh today. He comes across as an impressive character, with an unusual blend of a highly aristocratic sense of hierarchy combined with strong sympathy and material support for those of the "lower orders" treated badly.
February 15, 2021
Eh. I mean, it was okay. Mostly just case studies and very dry at that. I wish the author had spoken a little more generally and a bit less specifically - added to the fact that there was a lot of repetition which made the book feel redundant. That said, I'm glad I read it.
August 20, 2016
Dry as dust. Lots of details crammed into page-long paragraphs, presented in as boring a manner as possible.
Quit after 30 pages and 50 yawns.
Quit after 30 pages and 50 yawns.
November 29, 2024
A non-fiction book that reads like a novel.
“Inconvenient people, lunacy, liberty, and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England” is one of those real-life-is-stranger-than-fiction books. It tells the stories of various people in the 19th century, who were labelled as ‘insane’ and imprisoned against their will.
Some of the more chilling examples were a woman thought unstable because she kept cats indoors, and a doubly incontinent woman who was reluctant to go outside! This was enough fro greedy relatives or those with an agenda to label these women as mentally unstable and get them committed.
What we learn is that the system was rigged. For starters, many of the doctors signing the committal papers actually ran asylums…so they were effectively recruiting patient in the name of self-interest. Then this was a world where men believed intellectual pursuits and study were too much for the female mind. So women of ambition or those who wished to have a career, could conveniently fall into the category of ‘over-excited’ and sent away to recover.
But as the century progressed attitudes began to change. For one thing, the stories of those unfairly committed began to leak out. People began to fear that they too could be taken advantage of and campaigns started to make the system more just. The final story is of Georgina Weldon, who does sound an exceedingly annoying woman (which is no reason to confine her), who was committed by her daughter. Mrs Weldon was nothing other than an eccentric, and when she eventually convinced doctors she was sane, she mounted a Barnum type publicity campaign to highlight the evils of the asylum system.
All in all, this is a book that flew by, being both informative and entertaining.
“Inconvenient people, lunacy, liberty, and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England” is one of those real-life-is-stranger-than-fiction books. It tells the stories of various people in the 19th century, who were labelled as ‘insane’ and imprisoned against their will.
Some of the more chilling examples were a woman thought unstable because she kept cats indoors, and a doubly incontinent woman who was reluctant to go outside! This was enough fro greedy relatives or those with an agenda to label these women as mentally unstable and get them committed.
What we learn is that the system was rigged. For starters, many of the doctors signing the committal papers actually ran asylums…so they were effectively recruiting patient in the name of self-interest. Then this was a world where men believed intellectual pursuits and study were too much for the female mind. So women of ambition or those who wished to have a career, could conveniently fall into the category of ‘over-excited’ and sent away to recover.
But as the century progressed attitudes began to change. For one thing, the stories of those unfairly committed began to leak out. People began to fear that they too could be taken advantage of and campaigns started to make the system more just. The final story is of Georgina Weldon, who does sound an exceedingly annoying woman (which is no reason to confine her), who was committed by her daughter. Mrs Weldon was nothing other than an eccentric, and when she eventually convinced doctors she was sane, she mounted a Barnum type publicity campaign to highlight the evils of the asylum system.
All in all, this is a book that flew by, being both informative and entertaining.
November 3, 2014
There are a number of interesting and at times horrifying true stories of people being wrongfully held in lunatic asylums, but these details are bogged down by an excess of information on court cases and the evolution of the Lunacy Laws. The more personal info of the cases read well but once each chapter moved towards the more legal aspects, it got very dull very quickly. The only way I could finish the book was to skim read over these pages. The final chapter was the worst offender with 15 pages that held my interest but a whopping 35 that really did not. So, don't think i would be rushing to read any more of Sarah Wise's work.
July 8, 2013
Evidence of insanity in Victorian England: masturbation, loquacity, strange dress, flamboyancy, absence of womanly reserve, belief in spirits, sarcasm, socialism, love of animals, any perceived eccentric beliefs or choices.
People to trust: spontaneously assembled public mobs, perfect strangers, former lunatics.
People to distrust: spouses, parents, children, doctors, lawyers, egomaniacal literary giants
People to trust: spontaneously assembled public mobs, perfect strangers, former lunatics.
People to distrust: spouses, parents, children, doctors, lawyers, egomaniacal literary giants
March 31, 2018
A fascinating insight into Victorian mores and the way they influenced and changed the lunacy laws, and an even more fascinating insight into how those laws were used and abused. We tend to assume that they worked primarily against women, but Sarah Wise's statistics destroy that myth along with a good many others. It's true, many, many women who did not conform to the Victorian ideal of womanhood were incarcerated - women who refused to marry, who stood up for themselves, who were socialists or feminists - but usually there was another more basic reason for having them declared mad - money.
Money, it seems, was at the root of a huge number of the more controversial case studies in this book, cases of relatives wanting to protect their inheritance from a new spouse, wanting to take over businesses, wanting to prevent a person spending their own wealth on things they didn't approve of. What was shocking was how incredibly difficult it was to get out once you were locked in, and how easy it was to abuse the system to get people certified in the first place. Money made many an alienist doctor more than happy to turn a blind eye to dubious cases, if the case in person was headed towards his asylum. Private asylums were big business, and the medical profession were at the forefront of protecting that business by preventing any changes to the law to make it easier for their patients to escape!
This was quite disturbing reading, but the most shocking revelation came right at the end, in the statistics for incarceration post-Victorian times, when the law was seriously abused by eugenicists. There's definitely another book here, I do hope that Sarah Wise writes it.
Money, it seems, was at the root of a huge number of the more controversial case studies in this book, cases of relatives wanting to protect their inheritance from a new spouse, wanting to take over businesses, wanting to prevent a person spending their own wealth on things they didn't approve of. What was shocking was how incredibly difficult it was to get out once you were locked in, and how easy it was to abuse the system to get people certified in the first place. Money made many an alienist doctor more than happy to turn a blind eye to dubious cases, if the case in person was headed towards his asylum. Private asylums were big business, and the medical profession were at the forefront of protecting that business by preventing any changes to the law to make it easier for their patients to escape!
This was quite disturbing reading, but the most shocking revelation came right at the end, in the statistics for incarceration post-Victorian times, when the law was seriously abused by eugenicists. There's definitely another book here, I do hope that Sarah Wise writes it.
July 26, 2017
Firstly this book is good. Really good. It's frightening to think about that some of this could happen today too. This book is about how people where treated by the mental healthcare system of the 19th century. It's about how unjust this system was. How people where committed to asylums by their families and public. It's about how some people who had been committed who fought to be freed. How these people rose up and fought not just for themselves but other people. How they fought to change the system that condemned them to be locked away.
October 13, 2015
Think lunatic asylum and the words will instantly conjure up an image of a Victorian institution with mad-doctors and deranged patients in straight-jackets. This book, pieced together from correspondence and court reports of the time, tells the story of how the asylums got their image today. Mad-doctors indeed, this was just what Victorians called doctors who dealt with the mentally ill; they were also referred to as alienists. Neither term elicits confidence of the profession from a modern mind-set.
I found the subject matter fascinating however it did get a little repetitive. Each chapter deals with a case study, most of which share some similarities, and the writing is quite dense. Yet the historical detail, and unwillingness of Sarah Wise to embroider the truth with modern sensibilities, drives home that fact is stranger than fiction. Some of these plots would be laughed at in a modern day novel, yet these cases did actually happen.
It does dispel the myth that Victorian women were more likely to be locked away than men. Figures are actually quite even between the sexes. One of the cases does highlight how the female plight was given more coverage in the press, with one victim making the most of her publicity skills to further the feminist cause. Fiction writers found a female lunatic was much more popular with their readers than a man wrongly confined. Yes, hysteria was coined to refer to “excitable” women but men were at greater risk of being locked away for their money.
The reoccurring theme from both the male and female cases was the fact that the family were after something and the easiest way to get it was to declare their relative insane. There was huge injustice in these cases, where wrongful incarceration was charged to the victims’ accounts. The law just wasn’t on the accused side. Whilst there is a huge list of things that you could be declared insane for doing, it seemed they were usually just an excuse.
There was one case that stood out as different to me, the case where a mother was trying to free her daughters from what I can only call a cult. The lunacy laws were her only tool and I felt sympathy for her. They might have had the right to believe in whatever religious nonsense they liked but there was a distinct whiff of brainwashing to it. It's probably still a grey-area in law, when does something go from harmless to needing state intervention?
The cases are in roughly chronological order and they do show how public and legal attitudes shifted over the years. There’s also a few places which refer to them literature of the time, most prominently Jane Eyre and The Woman in White and Charles Dickens crops up repeatedly in his role as journalist, publisher and friend to many of the men involved. It seems Victorian society was a small world indeed.
Some of it is uncomfortable reading. It it wasn't bad enough to have your liberty taken away, many also had their dignity removed. Whilst some mad-doctors believed a nice, calming stay in the country away from family would help matters, many also believed in restraint and punishment. I would recommend this as research for anyone using a Victorian asylum in their writing, although I think reading it in one go for entertainment isn't such a good idea.
I found the subject matter fascinating however it did get a little repetitive. Each chapter deals with a case study, most of which share some similarities, and the writing is quite dense. Yet the historical detail, and unwillingness of Sarah Wise to embroider the truth with modern sensibilities, drives home that fact is stranger than fiction. Some of these plots would be laughed at in a modern day novel, yet these cases did actually happen.
It does dispel the myth that Victorian women were more likely to be locked away than men. Figures are actually quite even between the sexes. One of the cases does highlight how the female plight was given more coverage in the press, with one victim making the most of her publicity skills to further the feminist cause. Fiction writers found a female lunatic was much more popular with their readers than a man wrongly confined. Yes, hysteria was coined to refer to “excitable” women but men were at greater risk of being locked away for their money.
The reoccurring theme from both the male and female cases was the fact that the family were after something and the easiest way to get it was to declare their relative insane. There was huge injustice in these cases, where wrongful incarceration was charged to the victims’ accounts. The law just wasn’t on the accused side. Whilst there is a huge list of things that you could be declared insane for doing, it seemed they were usually just an excuse.
There was one case that stood out as different to me, the case where a mother was trying to free her daughters from what I can only call a cult. The lunacy laws were her only tool and I felt sympathy for her. They might have had the right to believe in whatever religious nonsense they liked but there was a distinct whiff of brainwashing to it. It's probably still a grey-area in law, when does something go from harmless to needing state intervention?
The cases are in roughly chronological order and they do show how public and legal attitudes shifted over the years. There’s also a few places which refer to them literature of the time, most prominently Jane Eyre and The Woman in White and Charles Dickens crops up repeatedly in his role as journalist, publisher and friend to many of the men involved. It seems Victorian society was a small world indeed.
Some of it is uncomfortable reading. It it wasn't bad enough to have your liberty taken away, many also had their dignity removed. Whilst some mad-doctors believed a nice, calming stay in the country away from family would help matters, many also believed in restraint and punishment. I would recommend this as research for anyone using a Victorian asylum in their writing, although I think reading it in one go for entertainment isn't such a good idea.
March 18, 2013
Title: Inconvenient People
Author: Sarah Wise
Publisher: Bodley Head, 2012
Reviewer: Jane Brown
Description:
These are stories to shock make your blood curdle. The author has written twelve stories from the Victorian times- these are not myth or Halloween stories; but real stories of unfortunate people who did not fit into the stiff upper lipped Victorian society. It is frightening to think that so many people were “put away” because society could not cope or had understanding of the person, better to shut away than deal with the problem.
This is a well researched book and is more of a book of crime short stories of that period rather than the history of this subject.
Highlights:
The title itself is a highlight as it describes in two words the thinking of society at that time.
The author is a historian with a MA in Victorian studies and knows her subject well. It delves into a part of history we thought we knew but were merely scratching the surface.
List strengths and weaknesses:
The author is well read in Victorian history and this is apparent throughout the book. The author will surprise the reader as one normally thinks of the husband or family locking away the mad woman- very much the Rochester’s Bertha Mason in the Jayne Eyre novel. This opens up shady characters who put away people for money, people forcibly kept prisoner in their own home, and shockingly Pauper patients who required only one doctor and a magistrate or a member of the public to certify their lunacy!
The appendix section in fact should be read first as this gives the reader information on acts such as the lunacy legislation. Statistics are included for the certificated insane in England and Wales, but the author guides the reader by advising them to take with a pinch of salt and there is no statistics for those suffering from delirium or some other condition as there are no figures.
Potential Readers:
Anyone one involved in the care of others should read this. For some nurses and clinicians they remember all too well psychiatric institutions. It makes us realise society and healthcare has come a long way in caring for the mentally ill, the title suggesting illness rather than madness.
Readers interested in this part of history will benefit from reading this gripping and fascinating account of Victorian England.
Author: Sarah Wise
Publisher: Bodley Head, 2012
Reviewer: Jane Brown
Description:
These are stories to shock make your blood curdle. The author has written twelve stories from the Victorian times- these are not myth or Halloween stories; but real stories of unfortunate people who did not fit into the stiff upper lipped Victorian society. It is frightening to think that so many people were “put away” because society could not cope or had understanding of the person, better to shut away than deal with the problem.
This is a well researched book and is more of a book of crime short stories of that period rather than the history of this subject.
Highlights:
The title itself is a highlight as it describes in two words the thinking of society at that time.
The author is a historian with a MA in Victorian studies and knows her subject well. It delves into a part of history we thought we knew but were merely scratching the surface.
List strengths and weaknesses:
The author is well read in Victorian history and this is apparent throughout the book. The author will surprise the reader as one normally thinks of the husband or family locking away the mad woman- very much the Rochester’s Bertha Mason in the Jayne Eyre novel. This opens up shady characters who put away people for money, people forcibly kept prisoner in their own home, and shockingly Pauper patients who required only one doctor and a magistrate or a member of the public to certify their lunacy!
The appendix section in fact should be read first as this gives the reader information on acts such as the lunacy legislation. Statistics are included for the certificated insane in England and Wales, but the author guides the reader by advising them to take with a pinch of salt and there is no statistics for those suffering from delirium or some other condition as there are no figures.
Potential Readers:
Anyone one involved in the care of others should read this. For some nurses and clinicians they remember all too well psychiatric institutions. It makes us realise society and healthcare has come a long way in caring for the mentally ill, the title suggesting illness rather than madness.
Readers interested in this part of history will benefit from reading this gripping and fascinating account of Victorian England.
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May 6, 2013History of the Lunacy laws in Britain which held sway from the 1840s until 1890. The law allowed anyone with the opinion of two doctors to appeal for certification of insanity on a suspect relative. Doctors in this system were highly compromised by the money they were paid for interviews and also that many were owners of asylums. Wise covers this history through analysis of twelve cases. Many people charged with lunacy were antisocial, eccentric or in the way of some money-making scheme. It speaks well of the British public that when certification went to trial juries voted in favour of the beleaguered individual and against the medical profession. Several former inmates of asylums were important reformers of the system including John Percival (son of a prime minister) Louise Lowe and Georgina Weldon.
April 4, 2013
Definitely a sipper, not a glugger. It's a fascinating insight to the containment of mental illness from not that long ago, rather worryingly. It seems that stigma and discrimination, isolation and disrespect have been reluctant to disassociate themselves from society's attitude toward the mind (as opposed to the body). Glad I got to the end, but more importantly, I'm glad I stuck with it. It wasn't the easiest book to read, which is a testament to the amount of research, attention to detail and painstakingly accurate retelling of this history apparent throughout; it is by no means a criticism of the author's writing style - which is great.
March 9, 2013
Engrossing and insightful. An incredibly absorbing collection of real-life stories of the lunacy of both patients and doctors in asylums in Victorian England. Sarah Wise has a wonderfully informative voice and adds touches of warm humour even to such uneasy subjects.
April 12, 2018
Inconvenient People is an interesting, and at times quite funny, book that details the advent, progress and effect of so-called 'Lunacy Laws' in 19th century England. Wise augments her research of the laws with numerous case studies - stories of people whose lives were either impacted by these laws, or whose experience with the mental health system led to changes in the laws.
I found the focus of the book too narrow. By and large the stories are of middle-upper class individuals, and there is little exploration of the way in which class affected the treatment of 'lunatics' or rates of incarceration.
Even more disappointing is Wise's dismissal of feminist research on mental health institutions. She dispels the idea that more women than men were locked up as lunatics during this time, and quite adroitly reveals how and why the myth arose in the first place. But in so doing seems to dismiss feminist critiques of madness altogether. Men and women may have been incarcerated at equal rates, but it remains true that the psychiatric community pathologized mental health in distinctly gendered ways. Wise alludes to this fact in the final chapter when she briefly mentions the fate of women who were incarcerated for being 'subnormal' or 'morally defective' for having children out of wedlock.
Overall, it's a good and interesting read with a host of interesting characters, particularly the irrepressible Mrs Georgina Weldon. It can get a bit repetitive because the stories can seem quite similar (drawing on stories from different classes might have helped here) but this isn't a deal breaker.
I found the focus of the book too narrow. By and large the stories are of middle-upper class individuals, and there is little exploration of the way in which class affected the treatment of 'lunatics' or rates of incarceration.
Even more disappointing is Wise's dismissal of feminist research on mental health institutions. She dispels the idea that more women than men were locked up as lunatics during this time, and quite adroitly reveals how and why the myth arose in the first place. But in so doing seems to dismiss feminist critiques of madness altogether. Men and women may have been incarcerated at equal rates, but it remains true that the psychiatric community pathologized mental health in distinctly gendered ways. Wise alludes to this fact in the final chapter when she briefly mentions the fate of women who were incarcerated for being 'subnormal' or 'morally defective' for having children out of wedlock.
Overall, it's a good and interesting read with a host of interesting characters, particularly the irrepressible Mrs Georgina Weldon. It can get a bit repetitive because the stories can seem quite similar (drawing on stories from different classes might have helped here) but this isn't a deal breaker.
September 24, 2023
Incredibly well researched and thorough. Didn't have a strong narrative pull though and was quite a dry read, but great level of detail about the highlighted cases.
January 24, 2025
Such an insightful and at times shocking read. A great historical account of policy around mental health and uncesseary barbaric incarceration .
November 29, 2021
Amazing social history
August 11, 2013
They have become two of the most recognisable stereotypes of women in the Victorian age, thanks to novels such as Jane Eyre and The Woman in White: the madwoman in the attic and the innocent heroine wrongfully imprisoned in a lunatic asylum. In this book, Wise sets out not necessarily to expose those stereotypes, but to explore the society that created them and uncover the reality of the lunacy system in Victorian England.
For a start, the majority of 'lunatics' incarcerated were male, whether they were held in public asylums, private care homes or within their own homes;the myth of the damsel in distress proving to be just that. Some undoubtedly were insane and were held for their own safety and the safety of others. But a great number were not insane, were guilty of little more than the kind of eccentricities and personality quirks that we today would scarcely blink at. It is these cases Wise uncovers in this book - individuals were dared to go against society's norms, who wished to 'marry beneath them' or not marry at all, who held unconventional religious beliefs, who stood in the way of economic progress of their husbands, wives or families.
The burgeoning field of psychologists and psychiatrists, known then as 'alienists', do not come across well in this book - that said, they were at the forefront of a new and uncharted field of human medicine, and it cannot be entirely held against them when there was indeed so many disagreements about what even constituted lunacy and how one could recognise it. But there were enough alienists, 'mad-doctors' and asylum keepers who were prepared to sign anything for money that it is no wonder there was so much concern and public outcry over the ease with which a British citizen could be deprived of their liberty, with no appeal, no trial, no right to know who had signed the order or why.
Ironically, as Wise points out in her conclusion, despite the fact that we consider the 'sane lunatic' a stereotype of the Victorian age, with every family having not just a skeleton in the closet but a relative in the attic, it was the middle of the twentieth century that really took things to extremes, with young women held for decades simply for bearing an illegitimate child, teenagers held under middle or old age for rebellious youthful antics. And really, she asks, have things changed so much? The stigma of mental illness remains, and the public seem much less concerned about the erosion of civil liberties than they were a century or more ago.
For a start, the majority of 'lunatics' incarcerated were male, whether they were held in public asylums, private care homes or within their own homes;the myth of the damsel in distress proving to be just that. Some undoubtedly were insane and were held for their own safety and the safety of others. But a great number were not insane, were guilty of little more than the kind of eccentricities and personality quirks that we today would scarcely blink at. It is these cases Wise uncovers in this book - individuals were dared to go against society's norms, who wished to 'marry beneath them' or not marry at all, who held unconventional religious beliefs, who stood in the way of economic progress of their husbands, wives or families.
The burgeoning field of psychologists and psychiatrists, known then as 'alienists', do not come across well in this book - that said, they were at the forefront of a new and uncharted field of human medicine, and it cannot be entirely held against them when there was indeed so many disagreements about what even constituted lunacy and how one could recognise it. But there were enough alienists, 'mad-doctors' and asylum keepers who were prepared to sign anything for money that it is no wonder there was so much concern and public outcry over the ease with which a British citizen could be deprived of their liberty, with no appeal, no trial, no right to know who had signed the order or why.
Ironically, as Wise points out in her conclusion, despite the fact that we consider the 'sane lunatic' a stereotype of the Victorian age, with every family having not just a skeleton in the closet but a relative in the attic, it was the middle of the twentieth century that really took things to extremes, with young women held for decades simply for bearing an illegitimate child, teenagers held under middle or old age for rebellious youthful antics. And really, she asks, have things changed so much? The stigma of mental illness remains, and the public seem much less concerned about the erosion of civil liberties than they were a century or more ago.
June 30, 2013
A great overview of the wrongful imprisonment of those claimed to be mentally ill during the sixty odd years of Victoria's reign. Each semi-chronological case study contains a fascinating, usually feisty and sometimes eccentric character who fought back against the system. Wise expertly moves the bigger picture along while giving glimpses into the worlds of these characters and a situation in which it was only too easy to sign a family member into the 'care' of a private asylum or single patient set up. A system that was as equally reluctant to let them leave again whether because they brought in a healthy sum for the doctors involved or because their family simply didn't want them to return to society and control of their own finances. Both the slow changes in attitude within the medical profession, government and the public and the increasingly prescriptive ideas of what constituted sanity and insanity are well covered and Wise's mention at the end of the increasingly moral angle moving into the twentieth century with its far larger scale incarceration of those with learning disabilities and unwed mothers is chilling.
Everything from simple money grabbing, to revenge, escape from unwanted marital set ups, social embarrassment, fear of abuse or a desire to save your children from the hands of a religious cult or dangerous suitor is covered. With 'dangerous' suitors covering the gamut from social equals who would loosen your grip on finances, maids, charismatic cult leaders and a man who prayed on a rich young woman with learning difficulties leaving her to die while he spent her inheritance. Her choice of cases (particularly as the source material appears to give her more to go on in the later years) makes the men and women involved come alive and the fact that most are passionately fighting for their freedom and often at war with family or friends makes each case an engaging one.
Everything from simple money grabbing, to revenge, escape from unwanted marital set ups, social embarrassment, fear of abuse or a desire to save your children from the hands of a religious cult or dangerous suitor is covered. With 'dangerous' suitors covering the gamut from social equals who would loosen your grip on finances, maids, charismatic cult leaders and a man who prayed on a rich young woman with learning difficulties leaving her to die while he spent her inheritance. Her choice of cases (particularly as the source material appears to give her more to go on in the later years) makes the men and women involved come alive and the fact that most are passionately fighting for their freedom and often at war with family or friends makes each case an engaging one.
October 2, 2013
What if, one day, you found yourself walking down the street and suddenly, you were dragged into an awaiting coach by people you didn't know waving a piece of paper in your face that certifies you as insane?
In this brilliantly research and written book of medical history, Sarah Wise tackles just that question. She sets about telling the stories of different patients who find themselves confined to asylums on "lunacy orders" procured by relatives. Wise lays out the history of English lunacy laws and paints a bleak picture of the asylums run by the "Mad Doctors" of the time. She presents each story without bias and asks whether the patient in question was indeed insane, was temporarily without their faculties or was maliciously detained on the order of someone seeking their money, property or accounts. Presented in this wonderful book are stories of angry husbands, conniving families and corrupt keepers of the lunatics. Each story is wonderfully researched and presented in full for the reader to ask "Was this fair?". Wise seeks to outline the ways that Victorian society dealt with their secrets and how law, medicine, jealousy and corruption blended together to form the perfect storm around the nations liberty.
I LOVED the research in this book! Well written and presented in a way that kept me turning the pages deep into the night. I also love the way that Wise presents each story and full and asks the reader to decide what happens. In some cases it is clear jealousy and an innocent person was put into confinement for malicious reasons, sometimes the line is much more blurry. Presented alongside the history of Mental Health treatment, this is a great book of medical history that takes on the issue of liberty and patient rights; a conversation we're hearing more and more of today. I highly recommend this to anyone seeking to learn more about the underbelly of the highly secretive and class driven Victorian society.
In this brilliantly research and written book of medical history, Sarah Wise tackles just that question. She sets about telling the stories of different patients who find themselves confined to asylums on "lunacy orders" procured by relatives. Wise lays out the history of English lunacy laws and paints a bleak picture of the asylums run by the "Mad Doctors" of the time. She presents each story without bias and asks whether the patient in question was indeed insane, was temporarily without their faculties or was maliciously detained on the order of someone seeking their money, property or accounts. Presented in this wonderful book are stories of angry husbands, conniving families and corrupt keepers of the lunatics. Each story is wonderfully researched and presented in full for the reader to ask "Was this fair?". Wise seeks to outline the ways that Victorian society dealt with their secrets and how law, medicine, jealousy and corruption blended together to form the perfect storm around the nations liberty.
I LOVED the research in this book! Well written and presented in a way that kept me turning the pages deep into the night. I also love the way that Wise presents each story and full and asks the reader to decide what happens. In some cases it is clear jealousy and an innocent person was put into confinement for malicious reasons, sometimes the line is much more blurry. Presented alongside the history of Mental Health treatment, this is a great book of medical history that takes on the issue of liberty and patient rights; a conversation we're hearing more and more of today. I highly recommend this to anyone seeking to learn more about the underbelly of the highly secretive and class driven Victorian society.
July 27, 2015
Wow, what a tomb of a book. It started getting interesting about half way through in the chapter 'The Woman in Yellow' referring to Rosina, Edward Bulwer-Lytton's wife and the circles of friends he hung around with, including Charles Dickens, who all snubbed Rosina and her literary works. Interestingly, at the same time as reading this book I find myself reading 84 Charing Cross Road, where Helene Hanff refers to Dicken's work as boring. I tend to agree. The more I read about this fellow and his followers, the more I dislike the man. I'm going off course here but these were the very people that had influence on the system.
The point being that Sarah Wise includes a comprehensive background and reasons for the way people were manipulating the system through ease of chance, influence, status and politics. This book read very much as a thesis for a Masters Degree at first and I was tiring of it until this chapter 6. I became enthralled in the way people thought at the time - including how spiritualism fitted into all of this and is a wonderful example of how the Victorian's started to change it's mind on certain aspects of religion, acceptance and tolerance.
I really liked this book and would have no hesitation to read a follow-up on the way the health system has treated mental health patients in the 20th Century - a follow-up is implied in the last few words which makes you want to read more.
The point being that Sarah Wise includes a comprehensive background and reasons for the way people were manipulating the system through ease of chance, influence, status and politics. This book read very much as a thesis for a Masters Degree at first and I was tiring of it until this chapter 6. I became enthralled in the way people thought at the time - including how spiritualism fitted into all of this and is a wonderful example of how the Victorian's started to change it's mind on certain aspects of religion, acceptance and tolerance.
I really liked this book and would have no hesitation to read a follow-up on the way the health system has treated mental health patients in the 20th Century - a follow-up is implied in the last few words which makes you want to read more.
September 29, 2014
This is a fascinating book covering the lives of lunatics and alleged lunatics in Victorian England. Mental illness was little understood and feared. Many people found it shameful to have a lunatic relative and so often such people were hidden away. The book covers several persons who, although eccentric, were misdiagnosed as insane, hauled away to either 'private' asylums or larger establishments, with little or no recourse to law.
The author often mentions fiction in which this occurs - namely Jane Eyre and Women in White but the truth was often not far, or sometimes even worse than fiction.
The reasons for incarceration ranged from relatives wanting control of finances; inconvenient wives; women who spoke out and behaved against the rigid, masculine status quo, and in one of the case studies a group involved with a cult. Each case is discussed in depth, sympathetically and the changes
in law (if any applied) mentioned.
It is a good insight into the world of Victorian England, the rules governing the role of women, the sick, the upper-classes and how the populace reacted. Ignorance, spite, greed and misdirection fill these pages, along with love gone sour, obsession and most importantly - courage.
For anyone interested in Victorian history, the history of mental illness treatment or psychiatry might find this book a good read.
The author often mentions fiction in which this occurs - namely Jane Eyre and Women in White but the truth was often not far, or sometimes even worse than fiction.
The reasons for incarceration ranged from relatives wanting control of finances; inconvenient wives; women who spoke out and behaved against the rigid, masculine status quo, and in one of the case studies a group involved with a cult. Each case is discussed in depth, sympathetically and the changes
in law (if any applied) mentioned.
It is a good insight into the world of Victorian England, the rules governing the role of women, the sick, the upper-classes and how the populace reacted. Ignorance, spite, greed and misdirection fill these pages, along with love gone sour, obsession and most importantly - courage.
For anyone interested in Victorian history, the history of mental illness treatment or psychiatry might find this book a good read.
April 9, 2015
An eye-opening and interesting look at Victorian attitudes to mental health. Sarah Wise has thoroughly researched her book but it is not a dry, worthy text book. She has chosen to focus on 12 people who were put into an asylum - some of the patients were definitely not mentally ill - and tells their stories. Well worth a read.
March 8, 2021
Excellent book on the history of asylum care and controversy in the Victorian era, through a series of landmark cases. Compelling for anyone with an interest in mental health, particularly the ongoing debates around liberty, society and the anti-psychiatry movement. A very readable book, with fascinating characters inhabiting it - highly recommended.
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