When one’s King is considered mentally ill, one might think there was be some sympathy for the populace, but there assuredly was not.
First, let us look to King George III. King George III was subject to periods of mental illness, especially during the latter years of his reign. The condition is now believed to be porphyria, an inherited disease that presents itself in periods of delirium and hallucinations. Porphyria is NOT insanity. In November 1788, George III suffered his first bout of madness. The government was thrown into a Regency crisis.
The Mayo Clinic tells us, “Porphyria (por-FEAR-e-uh) refers to a group of rare disorders that result from a buildup of natural chemicals called porphyrins in the body. Porphyrins are needed to make heme, a part of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells. It carries oxygen to the body’s organs and tissues. Symptoms of porphyria vary, depending on the specific type of porphyria and how severe it is. Porphyria is usually inherited. One or both parents pass along a changed gene to their child.”
It is likely that George III’s brother William, Duke of Gloucester, suffered from the same illness as he exhibited similar symptoms. Though I have not read any works of research that proves this idea, it has also been suggested that possibly George IV and even his daughter Princess Charlotte may have inherited the disease too.
Let us look at the case of Lord Portsmouth as an example of the time. John Charles Wallop, 3rd Earl of Portsmouth (18 December 1767 – 14 July 1853), styled Viscount Lymington until 1797, was a British nobleman and lunatic.
Portsmouth’s estate was placed under the control of four trustees, for many knew of his bizarre and sadistic behaviors. He was know to beat his servants, as well as his horses, until they bled. He reportedly killed cattle with an axe. He took pleasure in attending funerals and insisted on tolling the bells at Hurstbourne.
In November 1799, Portsmouth married Grace Norton, the sister of his trustee, William Norton, 2nd Baron Grantley. Another in favor of the marriage was Portsmouth’s brother, Honourable Newton Fellowes, the heir to the earldom. As Grace was 47 at the time of the marriage, she would likely produce an heir to replace Newton. For a period, Grace “managed” to keep Portsmouth’s eccentricity from common knowledge and to control his “fits” when they happened. However, in 1808, Portsmouth’s behaviors had worsened, and one of Grace’s relations was added to the household to keep the mania in tact. That relation was one Dr. John Combe.
At first the Lord Chancellor who deals with the insane, infants, and rich orphans– refused to consider the matter, but the brother kept pushing. First a commission was appointed to investigate Portsmouth’s mental health. No health privacy laws existed at the time, so the investigation and witnesses were heard in a public room of a pub. It took more than 5 years for the commission to declare that the earl had no more idea of marriage than his dog did.
Grace died in 1813, and one of Portsmouth’s solicitors, John Hanson, took the opportunity to arrange a marriage of his daughter, Mary Anne, to the earl. None of the other trustees were aware of this until after the fact. Lord Byron gave the bride away. However, when Portsmouth’s brother Newton attempted to have Portsmouth declared insane, Bryon’s affidavit was instrumental in having the charge dismissed. That did not mean Mary Anne did anything to assist her husband in his mania. Instead, she carried on an adulterous affair with William Alder, who fathered three children with her.
A second petition to declare Portsmouth insane came at his nephew Henry Wallop Fellowes’s hand. This was in 1823. The new commission de lunatico inquirendo proved how badly Portsmouth had been treated by Mary Ann and her lover, who gone so far as to beat the earl. Portsmouth was judged to have been insane since 1809. Mary Anne’s marriage was annulled and her children declared as “bastards.” Moreover, a judgment for the £40,000 cost of the trial was issued against her, and she fled abroad.
Portsmouth died in 1853; his brother Newton succeeded him for less than half a year before his own death.
Other Articles on Lord Portsmouth
One of the reasons I took on this post is because I am often asked if mental illness could be used in the court system of the time as evidence. Here is what I know with some certainty …
If the person committed a murder, a coroner’s inquest would be required and then a proper trial. Unless the person is raving at the time so that she couldn’t be tried, it is the judge and jury that would be required to declare the person who committed the crime as innocent by reason of insanity.
If such would occur, then the person’s relatives would be required to pay for a private asylum. The person accused of the murder would have to be guarded so most families would have a house they owned turned into a prison/asylum for their relative and employ guards and attendants to care for the person.
The government did not really have a decent place for the criminally insane.
Sanitariums were a later development.
A coroner’s inquest had to be held over all dead bodies that presented as other than normal — a man on his sick bed with doctor in attendance – even if it was an accident.
Most crimes had to be prosecuted by the individual victim or the family. Murder would be a crown case. If a peer was dead and murder was suspected, all the government agencies would be urging investigation.
Finally, let us take a quick look at the case of Mary Lamb. Mary Anne Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847) was an English writer. She is best known for the collaboration with her brother Charles on the collection Tales from Shakespeare (1807). Mary suffered from mental illness, and in 1796, aged 31, she stabbed her mother to death and seriously injured her father during a mental breakdown.
She was confined to private mental facilities for most of her remaining life. Her father would not have her in the house so she was placed in a private asylum until he died and then she went to live with her brother. They lived together until he died. They wrote books together and fostered a child together. If she felt an attack of madness coming on, she would return to the asylum for a short stay.
Her rank isn’t important. What he can afford is. He wouldn’t want her in Bedlam where the treatment was terrible.
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Every Woman Dreams... 