Blog post written by Aleksa Kostadinovic (7 May 2020)
On April 21st 1820, Richard Josiah Pope, “about 45 or 46 years of age”, was admitted to St. Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics. The hospital was founded in London in 1751 for the treatment of mentally ill paupers. It was the second hospital of the kind to be established. The founders were concerned about the abuse of inmates within the nearby Bethlem Royal Hospital and wanted to treat them more humanely. Lunacy was believed to be a temporary and curable condition, and treatment consisted of a large cold, plunge bath “to shake the lunatics out of insanity”.
From the letter we learn that it was not the first time that Mr. Pope had a psychological disorder. Written by a friend of his, the letter mentions that “after having been exceedingly reduced in his circumstances from continued ill health”, he lost his wife and was left in charge of four young children. The situation worsened his precarious health condition. The writer of the letter believes that Mr. Pope asked for relief from Bitton parish in Gloucestershire, but eventually had to place his three elder children “out in service” in Bath, whereas the youngest one was taken into care by the letter writer. Therefore, Mr. Pope would be assuaged from the discomfort of asking for further financial assistance from the parish.
Mr. Pope was literate and was soon engaged as “a Writing Master in an academy for young gentlemen at Walthamstow near London”. He held the position “for about three quarters of a year” when unfortunately, the Master of the School died and he soon became unemployed. The loss of his job brought about “great grief and vexation” and “in a very short time afterwards he became perfectly Insane, and was found wandering about Bow, in Middlesex, totally unable to give any account of himself…”.
A letter that was found in his pocket pointed to the writer of the letter, Mr. William Clift, who previously financially helped Mr. Pope. Finding him “in a most deplorable state of mind” he tried to cure him at “a private House at Bethnal Green”. The treatment seemed successful for “he appeared to be so much better”, expressing “an intention of returning to Bath to see his children and endeavour to get employment”. However, Mr. Pope soon relapsed and was sent to St. Luke’s Hospital.
After almost a year, the time by which he would have been removed from the hospital, Mr. Clift asked the parish for relief, to accommodate the ill man in a “house for the reception of such poor unfortunate people”. Although, as in many cases, we do not know if the relief was granted, further research in the manuscript archives of St. Luke’s Hospital showed that Mr. Pope was discharged from the hospital on April 27th 1821 and his health condition was labeled as “Uncured”.
References
Curable patients book (indexed), London Metropolitan Archives, Reference: H64/B01/008, pp. 48-49.
https://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b21999697#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=124&z=-0.6158%2C0.8836%2C2.2804%2C1.4324 (accessed on May 5, 2020)