Unsworth, Clive, The Politics of Mental Health Legislation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987)
Uruburu, Paula, American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the ‘It’ Girl, and the Crime of the Century (New York: Riverhead Books, 2008)
Ward, Tony, ‘Psychiatry and Criminal Responsibility in England 1843–1939’, thesis, De Montfort University, Leicester, 1996 Welldon, Estela V., Mother, Madonna, Whore: The Ldealization and Denigration of Motherhood (London: Karnac, 2004)
– and Cleo Van Velsen, A Practical Guide to Forensic Psychotherapy (London: Jessica Kingsley, 1997)
Wiener, Martin J., Men of Blood: Violence, Manliness and Criminal Justice in Victorian England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the individual scholars who have come before me in the many fields this volume dips into: Joel Eigen, Gerald N. Grob, Ruth Harris, Allen Norrie, Roger Smith, Nikolas Rose, Tony Ward, Martin J. Wiener, to name but a few. For the case material and help provided, I thank the National Archives at Kew; Mark Stevens of the Berkshire Record Office which hosts the Broadmoor Archives and whose Broadmoor Revealed appeared while I was working on the latter parts of this book; the archivists who guided me through the dossiers of the Prefecture de Paris now held at the Archives de Paris; and the invaluable Kate Elms at the Brighton and Hove Archive. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the many psychiatrists, psychoanalysts and lawyers who have answered my questions along the way, amongst them Estela V. Welldon, Cleo Van Velsen, Frank Farnham, Michael Kopelman, Lisa Conlan, Faisil Sethi, Helena Kennedy and Martha Spurrier.
I am grateful to my editor, Lennie Goodings, and my agent, Clare Alexander, two formidable women, who between them steered me in the direction that eventually became this book. My thanks also to Victoria Pepe, to Zoe Gullen at Virago, and to my fine copy-editor, Sue Phillpott.
As ever, I am also indebted to my now husband John Forrester, who has more facts in his daily repertoire than I can dream of, and my wonderful children Katrina Forrester, Josh Appignanesi and now also Devorah Baum and Jamie Martin, with whom discussion is a constant inspiration.
Lisa Appignanesi was born in Poland, grew up in France and Canada, and lives in London. A novelist and writer, she is Visiting Professor of Literature and the Medical Humanities at King’s College London, Chair of the Freud Museum, and former President of English PEN. She was awarded an OBE for services to literature in 2013. She is the author of Mad, Bad and Sad, All About Love and Losing the Dead.
Index
Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
abortion, 62, 147, 171, 380
Evelyn Nesbit’s appendicitis and, 290, 325, 343
Marie Bière case and, 146-7, 148, 164, 165, 166, 176, 177-8, 180, 186
Acadèmie des Sciences, 209
Acadèmie Franjaise, 163
Action Franf aise, 248
Acton, William, Functions and Disorders of the Reproductive Organs (1857), 50–1
adultery, 14, 60-1, 194, 200, 202-3, 306
in flagrante delicto exception and, 187
Henriette Caillaux case, 238–40, 245
Agadir crisis (1911), 238
Albanel, Louis, 244, 247
alcoholism, 167, 171, 249, 373
alienists see mind-doctors Althaus, Julius, 51–2, 55, 57–8
American Journal of Insanity, 367
American Medico-Legal Association, 312
American Medico-Psychological Association, 344-5
American Neurological Association, 310
American Psychiatric Association (APA), 307, 310, 312, 385
The Credo of Psychiatrists’ concerning crime, 376-7, 378, 381
American Psychoanalytic Review, 311 ‘
American Renaissance’ style in architecture, 256-7
Annales d’hygiène publique et de médecine légale (French journal), 170, 182–3
anorexia, 118, 183
anthropometric correlation, 220
Archives d’anthropologie criminelle, 217
Armstrong, Dr Henry, 45, 81
Arnold, Edward, 90–1, 97
arsenic, 14, 25-6, 27, 28, 33, 36, 39, 40, 74
Asile Sainte-Anne in Paris, 171, 233
Astor family, 256, 257, 286
asylums, 43-5, 46, 81, 83, 311, 320, 349
Bethlem Hospital, 4, 6, 83, 99
Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, 99, 117, 118, 120, 123, 125-33
closure of in 1970s and 1980s, 381
for the criminally insane, 92, 99, 117, 118, 120, 123, 125-33, 358-9, 360, 361, 363, 365, 366-7, 368, 369, 381
dementia praecox diagnoses, 332
growth of in nineteenth-century, 88, 101, 167, 308, 309
Matteawan State Hospital for the
criminally insane, 358-9, 360, 361, 363, 365, 366-7, 368, 369 Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, 55, 208-9, 214, 225, 226, 233
system in France, 170-1, 181-2
treatments at, 43, 83, 126-7, 181-2
Atlantic City, 372
Auclerc, Hubertine, 201
automatisms or altered states see hypnotic states
Bachelier, Le Prèsident, 175-7, 178, 179-80, 192
Baker, Dr, 366-7
Ballantine, William, 76-7, 78-9, 80, 86, 102-3
Ballet, Gilbert, 224, 226-7
Balzac, Honorè de, 139
Banaz A Love Story (Deeyah, 2012), 385
Barker, Albert, 15, 22, 27, 36, 80
Barker, Sidney Albert, death of, 14, 26, 33-4, 76, 79, 80-1, 87, 95, 102
anonymous letters to father, 15, 22, 27, 36
Edmunds charged with murder, 32, 33, 35
inquest on, 15, 20, 21, 25, 29, 35, 36, 37-8, 104, 122
Barrès, Maurice, 215
Barrymore, John, 281-2, 289, 290, 352
Bashkirtseff, Marie, 262
Bataille, Albert, 174, 179, 185, 193, 214
Beale, Truxtun, 267-8
Bear, David, 389
Beard, Dr Charles Izard amorous letters from Edmunds to, 18, 19, 20-2, 25, 28, 35-8, 45, 57, 64, 79, 107, 122
attempts to cool relationship with Edmunds, 18, 19-20, 21-2, 26, 37
biographical details, 17, 54
death of (1916), 133
Edmunds’ obsessive love for, 18-19, 35, 37, 53-4, 57, 59, 78-9, 103, 105-7, 110-11, 116-17, 122, 249, 387
as Edmunds’ physician, 18, 57, 79, 110
informs his wife about the letters, 19, 21-2, 36-7
not mentioned in Gull and Orange report, 119
reports suspicions and letters to police, 16- 17, 22
as signatory to clemency petition, 123, 124
suspicion about September 1870 incident, 19, 20, 35, 36, 69, 102
testimony at hearings (August-September 1871), 25-6, 36-7
as witness at Old Bailey, 72, 80
Beard, Emily
deposition at hearing (18 August 1871), 25
Edmunds forces sweet into mouth of, 18-19, 20, 35, 36, 69, 74, 80, 95, 102, 106, 110, 122, 123, 382
as friend of Edmunds, 18, 21
knowledge of letters, 19, 21-2, 36-7
parcel received on 10 August by, 15, 16-17, 22, 28-9, 33
as signatory to clemency petition, 123, 124
Beck, Abram, 349
Beckwith, James Carroll, 273
Bellingham, John, 92-5, 97
Berkeley, University of California, 383-4, 385
Bernhardt, Sarah, 210
Bernheim, Hippolyte, 210-11, 216, 226, 228-30
Bethlem Hospital, London, 4, 6, 83, 99
Biarritz, 138, 141, 144
Bière, Juliette Claire (daughter of Marie), 150-2, 153, 154, 157, 165-6, 176-7, 184, 189
Bière, Madame (mother of Marie), 141, 144, 146, 150, 156, 158, 197
death of (1882), 198
state of mind of, 184, 185
Bière, Marie
acquittal verdict, 192-3
biographical details, 138, 140-1, 175, 183-4, 185-6
birth of daughter Juliette Claire, 150, 176, 178, 189
buys a revolver, 154, 157
character defence, 164-6, 179-80, 189, 190-2
childhood environment as factor, 185-6
confessional narrative, 145
as confirming to ideals of femininity, 379
continued hopes over Gentien, 148-50
criminal responsibility issue, 184-5
daughter’s wet-nurse, 150, 151, 153, 178, 179
death of daughter Juliette Claire, 153, 154, 157, 165-6, 177, 178, 184, 186, 190
demands lump sum from Gentien, 156, 177
demeanour and appearance at trial, 174-5, 176-7, 190
deposition, 140, 145, 149, 150-1, 158, 159
despising of courtesans, 138-9, 140
family health history, 183-4, 185
Gentien’s courtship of, 141-3, 175-6, 191
Gentien’s paying of money to, 155-6, 157, 158.177.190
Gentien’s uncle refuses visit from, 152, 198
grief and guilt over dead daughter, 153, 54, 157, 158, 177, 178, 382
ignorance of homme flalant code, 143-4, 387
investigating magistrate (Guillot), 142-3, 146.147, 152, 157, 159, 163-6, 180
journal of, 148-9, 152, 154, 155, 157, 158, 175, 177
letters to from Gentien, 141, 142, 145, 146, 147.148, 149, 150, 155
life after acquittal, 196-8
loss of singing voice, 145, 152
medico-legal experts, 181-8, 189
meets Robert Gentien, 138, 175-6
mother finds out about Gentien liaison, 144
move from Bordeaux to Paris, 141, 167
obsessional need for revenge, 156, 158, 184-5, 382-3
petty-bourgeois values of, 144, 180, 387
pregnancy, 145, 146-7, 148, 149, 164-5, 176
pre-trial inquiry (instruction), 141, 147, 164-6, 183, 190
propensity to ‘hysteria of the heart’, 141
receives money from Gentien, 145, 179-80
on remand at Saint-Lazare, 159, 163-4, 183
restores relationship with mother, 146
sense of ‘specialness’, 397
shooting of Robert Gentien, 137-8, 139, 158-9, 175, 189-90
singing career, 138, 145, 175, 197-8
stalks Gentien, 137, 157, 158, 175
threatened suicide scene, 154-5, 177
threats to life of Gentien, 177, 179
trial dossier, 142, 147, 159, 180
trial of (April 1880), 142-3, 144, 167-8, 174-80, 181-8, 189-93
tryst with Gentien (16 October 1877), 142, 143, 164, 176
unsent letter threatening suicide, 151
vows to kill Gentien, 157, 158, 177, 186
vows vengeance on Gentien, 153, 154
as well liked person, 138, 179-80, 189
Bière, Philippe (father of Marie), 140, 144, 152, 198
Bingamon, Charles F., 316
Binghampton State Hospital for the Insane, New York, 319
Black, Donald, 396
Black, William, 6
Blackstone, Sir William, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765-9), 89, 90, 360-1
Blakely, David, 112, 379, 380
Blanche, Émile, 181, 182, 183-6
Blanche, Esprit, 181
Bleuler, Eugen, 309
Bobbit, Lorena, 5
Bompard, Gabrielle, 219-29, 230-1, 232
Bordeaux, 140-1, 144, 167
Boudesco, Constantin, 198
Boulanger, General Georges, 173, 207
Bourget, Paul, 214, 239
Bowater, Alexis, 395
Box Hill estate, Long Island, 257
Boys, Mr and Mrs, 15, 22
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth, 39
Lady Audley’s Secret (1862), 74-5
Brady, Ian, 219, 360
Bravo, Charles, 62-3
Bravo, Florence, 61, 62-3
Briggs, Thomas, 77-8
Brighton, 13-14, 15-17, 18-22, 66, 74, 125, 133
courthouse, 27
nineteenth-century development of, 24
Prince of Wales and, 15, 24
signatories to clemency petition from, 124
Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, 99, 117, 118, 120, 123, 125-33
Brouardel, Paul, 224-5, 226, 230-1
Brougham, Henry, 94
Browne, Sir Thomas, 345
Bruce, Henry Austin (Home Secretary), 111-12, 116, 117-20, 123
Brudi, Paul, 262
Brussels, 145, 146, 165, 176, 179
Bureau of Crime Statistics, US, 392
Burghölzli hospital, Zurich, 309
Burns, Robert, ‘On the late Captain Grose’s Peregrinations Thro’ Scotland’, 37-8, 45
Bush Sr, George, 388
Byron, Kitty, 249-50, 380
Bywaters, Frederick, 65
Caillaux, Henriette, 235, 237-41, 247-8, 251, 383, 387
sense of ‘specialness’, 397
trial of (July 1914), 236, 241, 242, 243-7, 250
Caillaux, Joseph, 237, 238, 240, 241, 243-4, 247
‘ton Jo’ letter, 237-8
Calmette, Gaston, 237, 238, 239, 242, 243, 245, 247, 383
camera technology, 209
Canada, 369-70
Canterbury, Kent, 46, 125, 126
capital punishment see execution, judicial Capote, Truman, In Cold Blood, 378
Carnegie, George Lauder, 263, 266
Cather, Willa, My Mortal Enemy, 255
Central Criminal Court Act (Palmer’s Act, 1856), 66
Chambige, Henri, 212-16, 217, 218
Chancery Lunatics, 83
Charcot, Jean-Martin, 46, 51, 194, 208-10, 211, 216, 225, 226, 227-8
charlatans, 208, 227
Chase, Robert H., 349
chastity, 53, 61, 139, 215-16, 264, 295, 326
Chenu, Maitre, 245
child custody and protection, 382
childhood
affects on of insanity in family, 42, 44, 45, 46
Anna Freud and, 382
of Chambige, 215
of Evelyn Nesbit, 271-2, 280
of Gabrielle Bompard, 222, 223, 225
of Henry Thaw, 284-5, 316, 319, 349, 350
hereditarian explanations of insanity, 42, 45-6, 81-2, 84, 86, 103-4, 111, 116, 119, 169, 183-4, 185, 204
implications for future mental health, 6, 7, 185-6, 284-5, 316, 319, 349, 350, 396
memory trials in the US (1990s), 229
rights of children, 163, 201
sexual abuse, 7, 8
Sigmund Freud on, 397
chocolate, 14-15, 40
Chocolate Cream Murders
arrest of Christiana Edmunds, 22-3
Borough of Brighton £20 reward notice, 13-14
Brighton Gazette’s reporting of, 13-14, 25
charge against Edmunds rises to murder, 32, 33, 35
Christiana Edmunds as ‘victim of poisoning’, 15-16, 20, 21, 22, 31
Inspector Gibbs’ investigation, 15, 16-17, 22-3, 27, 31, 74, 80
Maynard’s (confectioner) and, 14, 15, 19, 27, 29, 32, 33, 35-6, 80, 104, 122
parcels received on 10 August, 13-14, 15, 16-17, 22, 28-9, 32, 33
preliminary hearings (August-September 1871), 25-34, 35-8
verdict and death sentence, 105-8, 115
see also Barker, Sidney Albert, death of; Edmunds, Christiana; Old Bailey trial of Christiana Edmunds
Civil War, American, 312
Clare tie, Léo, 240
Clemenceau, Georges, 243
Clérambault, Gaëtan Gatian de, 8, 64, 171, 386, 387
Clifford, Jack, 371
Clovis-Hugues, Jeanne, 245
Cobb, Irvin S., 340
Cockburn, Alexander, 54, 60-1, 95-6, 97-9
Colas, Lucie (mistress of Gentien), 137, 156-7, 158
Cole, M
rs (greengrocer’s wife), 29
Cole, Revd Thomas Henry, 82, 102
Collins, Joan, 258
Collins, Wilkie, 39
Armadale, 28, 75
The Woman in White, 71-2
Commission in Lunacy, New York State, 312, 331
Commissioners on Lunacy, Britain, 45
Complete Suffrage Association, 77
Comstock, Anthony, 258, 268-70, 274, 275, 287, 299, 351
Comstock’s law, 268, 302
Concord, New Hampshire, 370
confidentiality, medical, 59, 349, 367, 383, 384, 385-6
Conservatoire in Paris, 138, 141, 175
Corn Laws, 97
Cornell University, 309, 312, 329
Cornier, Henriette, 168-9
County Asylums Act (1808), 92
Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes,
17- 18, 19, 50, 60-1
Court of Common Pleas, 93, 100
courtesans in belle époque France, 138-40
Courtis, Hélie, 169-70, 250-1
Crichton-Browne, J., 49-50
Crime Survey, British, 392
Criminal Lunatics Act (1800), 92, 120, 126
Criminal Lunatics Act (1884), 127
criminal responsibility, 5, 121-2, 375, 377
Baron Martin’s summing up on, 104-5
in France, 171-2, 183, 184-5, 204, 210
hypnotic states and, 183, 210, 219
John Hinckley Jr case, 389-91
legal precedent and, 90-9, 102, 103
in Marie Bière case, 184-5
M’Naghten rules, 100-1, 105, 307, 333, 357, 388
use of neuro-images in court, 389-90
the criminally insane
asylums for, 92, 99, 117, 118, 120, 123, 125-33, 358-9, 360, 361, 363, 365, 366-7, 368, 369, 381
Criminal Lunatics Act (1800), 92, 120, 126
Criminal Lunatics Act (1884), 127
execution of as immoral, 88, 89, 111-12, 121
legal definitions of, 3, 4, 8, 68, 81, 84, 85, 88-101, 102-3, 104-5, 121
legal precedent and, 90-9, 102, 103
sent into ‘care’ of their families, 1, 92
Curtis, William, 15
cyber-world, 386, 392-3
Czolgosz, Leon, 312
Dadd, Richard, 118, 127
Darach, Mrs, 272
Darwin, Charles, 83, 161
Debes, Officer Anthony L., 262-3
Delafield, Lewis (‘the Traitor’), 302-3, 310, 329
delirium, 2, 8, 19, 36, 52, 169, 204, 367
Delmas, Delphin Michael
first Thaw trial and, 316, 317-19, 322, 324, 325-30, 336, 337, 352
reputation of, 303-4, 305, 316
second Thaw trial and, 348
Trials of Passion Page 44