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Queen Mary and Westfield College London University PhD Thesis ...

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keepe him at home w[i]th any safety to herselfe his family <strong>and</strong> the Neighbourhood' 270. Threats<br />

to the neighbourhood themselves often manifested a breakdown in the solidity of the family<br />

unit, as in the case of the aforementioned Katherine Scudamore, whose churchwardens were<br />

'forced to gett her admitted to... Bethiem' on 'her husb<strong>and</strong>', George, 'refuseing to take care of<br />

her' <strong>and</strong> thus prevent her from disturbing 'the neighbours' 271 . Unruly apprentices <strong>and</strong> fractious<br />

servants also grievously infringed the rigid hierarchies of domestic <strong>and</strong> working life; were liable<br />

to be charged with madness or viciousness for flouting the authority of their masters <strong>and</strong> mis-<br />

tresses, <strong>and</strong> were strongly represented amongst committals to Bethiem <strong>and</strong> Bridewell 272. Merely<br />

the potential threat of a mutinous or disaffected inferior was often sufficient to provoke their<br />

confinement. While, in the 1680s, Sussanah Parsons was allegedly 'putt into the hospitall of<br />

Bethlem for cure of her lunacy' by her widowed mistress, Su8annah Lansdale, more prominent<br />

in Lausdale's mind was 'to prevent any dainger that might come by the keeping of...Parsons in<br />

her house', <strong>and</strong> Lansd ale was soon freeing herself of the responsibility for her former servant's<br />

maintenance273.<br />

Another way of illuminating what sort of individuals were regarded as threatening by society,<br />

<strong>and</strong> liable to be incarcerated in Bethiem, is to ask what kinds of mentally disabled persons were<br />

not normally committed to the hospital. I have already outlined the hospital's own exclusions<br />

of idiots, epileptics/convulsives, consumptives, the palsied <strong>and</strong> the infectious. Parish records<br />

reveal, in addition, that neither the very old, nor the very young, were likely to be sent to<br />

Bethiem. Tile senile, the anile, the demented <strong>and</strong> the doddering, amongst the poorer classes,<br />

tended to be supported in large numbers by outdoor relief, with parish nurses (who were,<br />

themselves, often relatives of the afflicted); or in atmshouses <strong>and</strong> workhouses, or by surviving<br />

members of their families 274 . The young mentally defective were more likely to have families<br />

270 Ibul, 26 Oct. 1666, lol. 14.<br />

271 GLRO LSM.55, 27 April 1685.<br />

272 See e.g. cases of Thomas Leadman, committed to Bethiem in 1664, after 'assazilting his M[is]t(r)is[sJ<br />

& running away from...his master'; & Henry Crispe, admitted in 1670, for 'threatening to kill', 'abuseing &<br />

assaulting his Master', described as 'distracted <strong>and</strong> very outragious'; BCGM, 10 Feb. 1664, 23 Dec. 1670, 19<br />

Jan. & 16 June 1671, fols 89, 92, 256-7, 266 & 310.<br />

273 GLRO LSM.58, 9 May 1687. In fact, the responsibility of masters <strong>and</strong> mistresses for servants was often<br />

deemed to be null & void once they succumbed to illness, while responsibility for the maintenance of sick & mad<br />

appreutkes was more often binding only until the expiration of the term of the indenture.<br />

274 See e.g. cases of <strong>Mary</strong> Lowe/Lole, Elizabeth Eccle, Margaret Skelton, Thomas Fleming, Eleanor Wilson,<br />

Jane Whore, Esther Ludbey, widow Roberts & <strong>Mary</strong> Perks, of St. Botoiph Bishopegate; GIdheIl MSS 525/19-28,<br />

passim.<br />

482

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