Ann Druitt's (Montague's mother) Medical Condition in 1890

[Mayerling]

Hi, Jeff,
I read that as referring to the doctor's hobby as a student of classic and modern philosophy-- not as to his primary work as an "alienist" with his patients. I'm sure he did leave notes on his work with them, and they were probably confidential. The author of the obituary was admiring the doctor's brilliance in philosophy, and regretting that he hadn't written more in that field.

Hi Pat,

Actually rereading the passage shows you have a good point there. The author of the obituary was trying to put in a great deal of information about the clinical writer Dr. Gasquet and the student of the classics and philosopher Dr. Gasquet into that last paragraph and the result is a trifle confusing.

Jeff

[Mayerling]

Cragside, the home of Sir William Armstrong, the industrial magnate, seems to have been the first to have had electricity as far as private homes in England were concerned. That was in Northumberland I believe, (sorry Bridewell!) in 1881. Several stately homes like Hatfield House followed but electricity in private homes (or lunatic asylums) seems to have been sparse throughout the 19th century.

Hi Rosella,

Little point of information. Hatfield House was the residence of Robert Gascoigne Cecil, Marquis of Salisbury, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Lord Salisbury was a trifle unusual among British Prime Ministers in that he had a scientific curiosity and conducted experiments, some with electricity, at his estate.

Jeff

[GUT]

Hysteria was, at one time thought to be caused by a particular type of frustration.

Just google "Female Hysteria".

[Rosella]

Thanks, Mayerling. He was indeed a man of many and varied interests. However the electrical system installed at Hatfield was rather eccentric. When the electric lights sparked (as they regularly did) the Cecil children would throw cushions up to the light fittings in an effort to smother them!

[Robert]

Some info here :

http://www.breggin.com/ECT/ElctyHistoryUseTrtmntBritain.pdf

[David Andersen]

This whole point is discussed in my book 'Blood Harvest'.
Not just in the same town but within a few hundred yards of the Manor House. Given Druitts, and the Tuke brothers passion for cricket, and given that they all went to the same University at the same time it is inconceivable that they were unknown to each other.
It is also curious that Montagues brother William should choose the Manor House for his Mother given its proximity to the place where her son had committed suicide just two years earlier.
I discovered recently, from an old map, that the Manor House and the Osiers (Harry Wilsons house) were connected by a direct pathway across a field.

[Pcdunn]

Some info here :

http://www.breggin.com/ECT/ElctyHist...mntBritain.pdf

Fascinating journal article on the history of "electric therapy" in Victorian mental hospitals. In America we're taught this sort of thing was ridiculous quackery, and I was astonished to find the British medical profession valued it as a new, scientific therapy.

Interesting about the inconsistent results.

[GUT]

Fascinating journal article on the history of "electric therapy" in Victorian mental hospitals. In America we're taught this sort of thing was ridiculous quackery, and I was astonished to find the British medical profession valued it as a new, scientific therapy.

Interesting about the inconsistent results.

They still use it for some conditions and actually get some good results

[Roy Corduroy]

A little more about Dr. Joseph Raymond Gasquest (JR) who treated Ann Druitt and was the letter writer from post #1:

His grandfather was a French physician whose family moved to London after the French Revolution. His father was also a doctor, Raymond Gasquet, Esq. F.R.C.S.

JR was born in 1837, the eldest son. After a brief time at Oscott College, he also pursued a medical career and originally practiced in Bayswater. He attended St Mary of the Angels church, where being an enthusiastic lover of Gregorian music, he regularly assisted in the choir. JR married a niece of Cardinal Manning. Then the move to Brighton at age thirty and his position at St George's Retreat private asylum.

His brother, Francis Adian (1846 - 1929) studied at Downside College, became a Benedictine monk and was made Cardinal in 1914.

[GUT]

A little more about Dr. Joseph Raymond Gasquest (JR) who treated Ann Druitt and was the letter writer from post #1:

His grandfather was a French physician whose family moved to London after the French Revolution. His father was also a doctor, Raymond Gasquet, Esq. F.R.C.S.

JR was born in 1837, the eldest son. After a brief time at Oscott College, he also pursued a medical career and originally practiced in Bayswater. He attended St Mary of the Angels church, where being an enthusiastic lover of Gregorian music, he regularly assisted in the choir. JR married a niece of Cardinal Manning. Then the move to Brighton at age thirty and his position at St George's Retreat private asylum.

His brother, Francis Adian (1846 - 1929) studied at Downside College, became a Benedictine monk and was made Cardinal in 1914.

Thanks Roy, something sensible at last.

Can you tell me anything about Oscott College, is it the same as St Maary's Oscott? If you know.

[Roy Corduroy]

This letter is from her physician in Brighton to her new caregiver Dr. Thomas Tuke of the Manor House in Chiswick. In the below letter to Tuke, her doctor lays out his knowledge of her past medical history up until 1890, the year she enters Manor House Asylum:

127 Eastern Rd
Brighton
June 6th, 1890

Dear Mr. Tuke,
I gladly accede to Mr. Druitt’s wish that I should give you a short account of her case, so far as I know it.
She was brought down to Brighton on leave of absence from Brooke House in the summer of ’88, and placed under my care. ...

127 Eastern Road, Dr. Gasquet's address was not far from 51 Clarendon Villas, the Seaside Home where possibly the identification of Kosminski was attempted.

[Roy Corduroy]

A little more about Dr. Joseph Raymond Gasquest (JR) who treated Ann Druitt and was the letter writer from post #1:

His grandfather was a French physician whose family moved to London after the French Revolution. His father was also a doctor, Raymond Gasquet, Esq. F.R.C.S.

JR was born in 1837, the eldest son. After a brief time at Oscott College, he also pursued a medical career and originally practiced in Bayswater. He attended St Mary of the Angels church, where being an enthusiastic lover of Gregorian music, he regularly assisted in the choir. JR married a niece of Cardinal Manning. Then the move to Brighton at age thirty and his position at St George's Retreat private asylum.

His brother, Francis Adian (1846 - 1929) studied at Downside College, became a Benedictine monk and was made Cardinal in 1914.

Can you tell me anything about Oscott College, is it the same as St Mary's Oscott? If you know.

Gut, I believe it is one and the same.

Roy

[GUT]

Gut, I believe it is one and the same.

Roy

Thanks Roy

[Mayerling]

Gut, I believe it is one and the same.

Roy

A side issue of some interest. Cardinal Henry Manning was a leading figure in late Victorian England, and a friend of the insipient organized labor movement. His biography is one of the quartet by Lytton Strachey in "Eminent Victorians". He died on the same day as Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, in January 1892 - a victim of the influenza outbreak at that time.

Jeff

[Cogidubnus]

127 Eastern Road, Dr. Gasquet's address was not far from 51 Clarendon Villas, the Seaside Home where possibly the identification of Kosminski was attempted.

Hi Roy

Back in the day you'd probably have made the (West to East) journey via Western Road, North Street, and Eastern Road (nowadays precluded from journey planners because Western Road is buses only) - Back when I was younger and fitter, I could probably have walked it in about 40 to 45 minutes...the Hove/West Brighton bit is pretty flat, North Street is downhill, Eastern Road uphill...

Cheers

Dave