A letter to Sir Henry Halford, Bart., K.C.H., President of the Royal College of Physicians, &c. &c. &c. touching some points of the evidence, and observations of counsel, on a commission of lunacy on Mr. Edward Davies / by G. Man Burrows.

  • Burrows, George Man, 1771-1846.
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Sir Henry Halford, Bart., K.C.H., President of the Royal College of Physicians, &c. &c. &c. touching some points of the evidence, and observations of counsel, on a commission of lunacy on Mr. Edward Davies / by G. Man Burrows. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Hands. I was not afterwards consulted, nor received any directions respecting him till the 16th of August, when I received a note from Mrs. Bywater, (Mr. Davies's mother), requesting me to meet Mr. Lawrence the following day at Portland Terrace, to consult on the medical plan of treat- ment to be pursued for the cure of Mr. Davies. Accord- ingly, Mr. Lawrence and I met at these lodgings on the 17th and 18th, as deposed to in our evidence. We could not obtain interviews with him. We there received such intelligence as induced us to believe a forcible attempt would be made on the 19th to remove Mr. Davies from that place; and this information we separately communicated to his family. A communication from Mrs. Bywater was made to me the evening of the 18th, that Mr. Lawrence had recommended, and induced her to consent to Mr. Davies' going to ray asylum, as the best and securest place he could be placed in. I freely acknowledge that I concurred in Mr. Lawrence's opinion, that, under the peculiar circumstance of a threatened Ibrced removal of our patient, an asylum was the safest place for him. But as Mr. Lawrence had never hinted such a proceeding to me, I went the following morning, the 19th, at half-past eight, to meet him at Mr. D.'s lodgings. I there ascertained that this was his actual advice. The certificate of insanity being legally signed by the two above-named medical gentlemen, and the order by Mrs. Bywater, I gave it to the keeper, and immediately quitted the house, leaving the hackney-chariot in which I came there to convey Mr. Davies to Clapham. On my return home, through the Regent's Park, Mr. Lawrence overtook me, and informed me, that he had fully explained to Mr. Davies where he was going, and that he had promised to go quietly, provided his servant might accompany him. This Mr. Lawrence said he had acceded to; and I learnt that he went away without any force being used, and without the slightest personal control. I the more readily acquiesced in this step, because I con- sidered it merely a temporary measure; for I had been g-iven to understand that a petition for a commission of lunacy was either presented, or about to be so, having myself made an