William Hardcastle, a patient at West Riding Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield, Yorkshire. Photograph attributed to James Crichton-Browne, 1872.

  • Crichton-Browne, James, 1840-1938.
Date:
[1872]
Reference:
35106i
Part of:
West Riding Asylum, Wakefield, Yorkshire: photographs of patients.
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About this work

Description

A bald man with a beard, identified as William Hardcastle, from Commercial Street, Morley, West Yorkshire. He was admitted to the West Riding Asylum in November, 1871, as a 42 year old married labourer. Several weeks earlier he had been knocked unconscious by a blow to the head from another man. His behaviour since had been erratic but it was his "doing his family duty" by beating his wife "for her own good" that appears to have triggered his committal to the Asylum. He was discharged recovered in June, 1872 shortly after this photograph was taken. -- records in the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Wakefield, Yorkshire, identified by David Scrimgeour, op. cit.

Publication/Creation

Wakefield : West Riding Asylum, Photographic Studio, [1872]

Physical description

1 photograph : photoprint, albumen ; sheet 9 x 5.5 cm

Lettering

Mono-mania of pride Lettering hand-written in black ink on mount

Creator/production credits

The photograph may have been taken by James Crichton-Browne (1840-1938), the medical superintendent at West Riding Asylum 1866-1876. Crichton-Browne sent a similar set of photographs to Charles Darwin in or around 1869

References note

David Scrimgeour, 'Wellcome Library's "Anonymous patients" become proper people', David Scrimgeour blog http://www.davidscrimgeour.co.uk , 22 September 2016

Reference

Wellcome Collection 35106i

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