Insanity Collection

Charcot & Asylum Patient
UNE LECON CLINIQUE A LA SALPETRIERE J M Charcot demonstrates the symptoms of hysteria with a patient under hypnosis

Court room scene, Mr M Naughten trial
A sketch taken of the courtroom at Old Bailey where the trial of Mr M Naughten took place, for the assassination Mr Edward Drummond, secretary to Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel

Possession is nine points of the law by Louis Wain
Illustration by Louis Wain showing a cat occupying a cast-off saucepan or cooking pot during snowy weather. A selection of birds, including a magpie and a blue tit bemusedly face the cat

Virginia Poe
VIRGINIA POE wife of Edgar Allan Poe, died of tuberculosis at age 23, thus hastening her husbands insanity

Hogarth Rake Plate 8
The Rakes Progress 8. A scene in Bedlam asylum

Bethlem Hospital / 1926
or BETHLEM/BEDLAM HOSPITAL The oldest hospital for the treatment of the insane - after the First World War it was moved to Moorfields Date: 1926

Asylum at Hanwell 1843
The Asylum at Hanwell

Joanna of Castile / Mad
Joanna of Castile and Leon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, has her insanity aggravated by the death of her husband, Philip I, archduke of Austria, king of Castile 1506

Bedlam Patient Nicholson
ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT on KING GEORGE III Mrs Margaret Nicholson who, after stabbing attempt, was sent to Bedlam for life

Dr Jean-Martin Charcot, Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, Paris
The neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot in a consulting room of the mental hospital Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris. Patients wait for treatment with an electric current. Date: 1885

15 YEAR OLD CRETIN
15-year old female cretin suffering from complete cretinism. Date: circa 1900

MAD WOMAN / 1906
Mlle Naegle, a passenger on the New Amsterdam to America, throws another womans baby overboard Date: 1906

22-year old mentally-deficient girl (daughter of subject of 10192037) with a light goitre suffering from thyroid deficiency and reduced development. Date: circa 1900

Man with mental disability and goitre
Man with an undetermined mental disability, also suffering with goitre : the two are generally associated, involving thyroid deficiency and impared development. See 10192038 for his daughter

THE GAMBLER C1810
He loses all... till madness seizes on his fevrish brain A gentleman gambler, deep in debt, raises his fist in impotent rage. Date: circa 1810

KLEPTOMANIAC / CA 1890
A kleptomaniac in a glove store Date: circa 1890

BETHLEHEM / MENS GALLERY 1860
The mens gallery: patients chat, play the violin, smoke and play card games Date: 1860

Mentally deficient man - aged 35
A 35-year old French man with an undetermined mental disability. Date: circa 1880

TWO CRETINS
Two cretins : the female is 27 years old, the young man 20 Date: circa 1880

INSANITY HYSTERIA 1881
A patient at La Salpetriere hospital, Paris, depicted in the throes of a demoniac attack Date: 1885

LUNATIC ASYLUM 1877
Asile dAlienes (lunatic asylum) of Sainte-Anne, Paris Date: 1877

Broadmoor - female dormitory 1867
Broadmoor asylum - Female dormitory. Date: 1867

BEDLAM PATIENT NICHOLSON
Mrs Margaret Nicholson who, after attempting to stab King George III, was sent to Bedlam for life. (profile, in hat) Date: 1786

Portrait of Louis Wain taken from an advertisement for Phosferine, a tonic medicine, featuring Louis Wain, the famous cat artist

Lunatic Asylum humour - Upside down wheelbarrow
Visitor to Dottieville Lunatic Asylum which is undergoing structural improvements (to harmless lunatic who is extremely busy wheeling a barrow upside down)

House of Fools of Love by Francisco Quevedo. Illustration
Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas (1580-1645). Spanish writer. House of Fools of Love. Illustration. Printed in 1895. Private collection

UK Prisoner in a Straitjacket Date: 1920s

A case of mistaken insanity: wrongly admitted to the asylum
A cunning lunatic dupes the staff at a mental institution into taking his irate captor into the incurables ward instead of himself. Date: 1838

Hospital of Haydar Pasa, Constantinople
The Gardens of the Hospital of Haydar Pasa with staff and some inmates - Constantinople, Turkey

1881 / Hysterical Patient
Mental patient at La Salpetriere, sitting on her bed in phase gaie

Madman in Mad House
A mental patient, confined in a strait-jacket, is chained barefoot in a small bare cell - a warder opens the door for a visitor to see the wretch, perhaps a one-time friend

The case against the top hat
A page from The Tatler, dated 20th November 1901, featuring an article entitled " The Case Against the Top Hat", by the Scottish MP Lord Ronald Sutherland-Gower

Asylum Pregnant Woman
" I ve noticed you re treating this poor creature more kindly?" " Yes, the chief nurse has got her pregnant." Date: 1904

Hysteria Patient / 1887
Hysteria patient at La Salpetriere lying in an ecstatic state, with her arms crossed over her body. Date: 1887

The mens ward at Bethlehem Hospital, 1861. Several large potted plants are in evidence; perhaps an early example of horticultural therapy. Date: 1861

Georgina Weldon, campaigner, litigant and amateur singer
Georgina Weldon 1837-1914), campaigner against the lunacy laws, litigant and amateur singer. Her interest in spiritualism led her husband to try to prove that she was insane; she resisted being taken

Melancholia patient, Charenton, 1838
A mental patient at Charenton asylum, suffering from melancholia. Date: 1838

Dr. Vigourouxs electro-diagnostic at La Salpetriere
Doctor Vigourouxs electro-diagnostic at La Salpetriere

Forbes Winslow
FORBES BENIGNUS WINSLOW doctor who specialised in insanity, had his own lunatic asylum, a key figure in early psychiatry. Date: 1810 - 1874

Meeting of like minds at the Lnatic Asylum
Dottieville Lunatic Asylum - Inmate to new arrival: " What, you mad too! So gad." Date: 1898

Comic caricature in a lunatic asylum by Phil May
Dottieville Lunatic Asylum Visitor to the Asylum - " Is that Clock Right?" The Dotty One - " O course it ain, or it wouldn t be here." Date: 1900

A Madman Lays Down his Cape for the Infant Saint Francis to Walk Upon. Viladomat i Manalt, Antoni (1678-1755). Oil on canvas

John Wall Callcott
JOHN WALL CALCOTT Musician, performer and composer, best known for his glees. He was liable to fits of insanity, but otherwise his career was fairly successful. Date: 1766 - 1821

CRAZY JANE
A wandering madwoman, doubtless driven out of her mind by some faithless man who trifled with her affections... Date: early 19th century

Hysterical Mental / 1876
Mental patient exhibiting hysterical contraction of the arm, whilst in hospital bed Date: 1876

Snake Charmer - Tangiers, Morocco
An attentive crowd watching a rather wild-looking snake charmer. Amongst the onlookers is (interestingly) a British Naval officer smoking a pipe

Bobby Leach and his barrel - Niagara Falls
British former stuntman Bobby Leach (1858 - 1926) and his barrel, in which he survived passage over Niagara Falls, Canada, at severe detriment to his future health

Khyber Pass - Afghanistan / Pakistan - Mad Mullah
The Khyber Pass - the mountain pass that links Pakistan and Afghanistan. Throughout history it has been an important trade route between Central Asia and South Asia and a strategic military location

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