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

[SuspectZero]

Ann Druitt's mother committed suicide while insane (might she also have had diabetes) her sister attempted it and spent time in an asylum. Monty's sister killed herself in old age of course, I believe by jumping from an attic window.

Ann's death certificate states 'melancholia' and 'brain disease, 21 months'. She died in November 1890, didn't she, six months after arriving at Manor House Asylum?

Hi Rosella,
She died 12/15/1890 of presumed heart failure (that's based on the comment in her case file from Tuke). She was 59 I believe.

[Jonathan H]

William Druitt fundamentally misled the inquest into his brother's suicide because he with-held his belief -- whether it was right or wrong -- that Montague killed himself because he was "Jack the Ripper".

I realize this is an extremely unpopular, even 'blasphemous' opinion to voice here, so I promise not to do so ever again.

Thanks to the [anonymous] members of this forum who have bought my book and made it a success in the outside world.

[SuspectZero]

Hi Jon H,
I don't feel that your comments are blasphemous. I think it's an interesting theory worthy of consideration. There are a number of questions surrounding Druitt that have never been conclusively answered. I think to make Montague the definitive suspect though, we need to understand what his motive was. Unfortunately without that and other supporting facts that we can analyze, he doesn't rank higher than many of the others put forth as suspects.
I do tend to lean in support of your belief that William might have not been totally forthcoming about his brother to the authorities. As to why, we will probably never know.
I do intend to buy your book though.

[jason_c]

Good evening SZero,

This would have been a letter from Dr. Joseph Raymond Gasquet. Notice he wrote "I never had any history of her case from the asylum authorities," that being Brooke House, where she was from July 5 until September 1888, when she was transferred on leave to St George's Retreat, Burgess Hill, a private licensed house near Brighton, where he lived and kept an office. Gasquet was the consulting medical officer at St George's although not the licensee, who would have been the mother superior.

So he, Gasquet actually has no written record of her case previously. In summer 1888. Only what he "gathered."

Yet a quick check of JtR A-Z shows she "suffered depression and paranoid delusions (that she was being electrocuted) following the death of her husband in 1885. Attempted suicide in 1888, and in July was sent to Brooke Asylum Clapton, where she was attended by Dr. Williamn Pavy and certified insane."

So yes, Robert, William Harvey Druitt spoke the truth at Montague's inquest when he said "His mother became insane July last."

In any case, thank you for posting this, Zero. Seems like I heard that David Andersen has transcribed all of the Tuke's records in his new Druitt book, but I haven't read it so I can't say. Or maybe what you posted came from his book already.

Roy

Precisely. This is pretty much what I wished to post after reading the imo fairly dubious first page of this thread.

[SuspectZero]

Hi Jason_c
What did you mean when you said dubious first page of my post??

[SuspectZero]

Right, so our doctor appears to be following procedure.

Interesting find, thankyou.

Yes Jon S. I re-read Tukes' family history notes and it says Ann's mother was insane as was her sister (recovered).

[SuspectZero]

Good evening SZero,

This would have been a letter from Dr. Joseph Raymond Gasquet. Notice he wrote "I never had any history of her case from the asylum authorities," that being Brooke House, where she was from July 5 until September 1888, when she was transferred on leave to St George's Retreat, Burgess Hill, a private licensed house near Brighton, where he lived and kept an office. Gasquet was the consulting medical officer at St George's although not the licensee, who would have been the mother superior.

So he, Gasquet actually has no written record of her case previously. In summer 1888. Only what he "gathered."

Yet a quick check of JtR A-Z shows she "suffered depression and paranoid delusions (that she was being electrocuted) following the death of her husband in 1885. Attempted suicide in 1888, and in July was sent to Brooke Asylum Clapton, where she was attended by Dr. Williamn Pavy and certified insane."

So yes, Robert, William Harvey Druitt spoke the truth at Montague's inquest when he said "His mother became insane July last."

In any case, thank you for posting this, Zero. Seems like I heard that David Andersen has transcribed all of the Tuke's records in his new Druitt book, but I haven't read it so I can't say. Or maybe what you posted came from his book already.

Roy

Hi Roy,
You mentioned that the A-Z shows she "suffered depression and paranoid delusions (that she was being electrocuted) following the death of her husband in 1885. Attempted suicide in 1888, and in July was sent to Brooke Asylum Clapton, where she was attended by Dr. Williamn Pavy and certified insane." Can you tell me the source of this information?
Many thanks!

[Roy Corduroy]

Good evening, and thank you again SZero for posting up Dr. Gasquet's letter to Dr. Tuke.

Ripper Legacy by Howells & Skinner reproduced the Lunacy Commision register showing Ann Druitt a patient at Brooke House. Gasquet confirms that in his letter, in which he also states "her certificates were renewed" by him. So she had been certified insane previously at Brooke House.

As to this part: JtR A-Z shows she "suffered depression and paranoid delusions (that she was being electrocuted) following the death of her husband in 1885. Attempted suicide in 1888, ... " no I don't know the source material of that.

Roy

[SuspectZero]

Good evening, and thank you again SZero for posting up Dr. Gasquet's letter to Dr. Tuke.

Ripper Legacy by Howells & Skinner reproduced the Lunacy Commision register showing Ann Druitt a patient at Brooke House. Gasquet confirms that in his letter, in which he also states "her certificates were renewed" by him. So she had been certified insane previously at Brooke House.

As to this part: JtR A-Z shows she "suffered depression and paranoid delusions (that she was being electrocuted) following the death of her husband in 1885. Attempted suicide in 1888, ... " no I don't know the source material of that.

Roy

Thanks and you're very welcome. I think it's important for us to keep adding factual material to the site here to help our fellow researchers going forward.
I wondered about the source material on the suicide attempt in 1888 because the Brooke records are lost to history, so not sure how they can be quoted in the A-Z. The electrocution paranoia part is accurate as Dr. Gasquet states it as a first person fact.

[jason_c]

Hi Jason_c
What did you mean when you said dubious first page of my post??

I simply meant some of the replies to your opening post. I meant no criticism of your actual posting of this letter.

[Mayerling]

Good evening, and thank you again SZero for posting up Dr. Gasquet's letter to Dr. Tuke.

Ripper Legacy by Howells & Skinner reproduced the Lunacy Commision register showing Ann Druitt a patient at Brooke House. Gasquet confirms that in his letter, in which he also states "her certificates were renewed" by him. So she had been certified insane previously at Brooke House.

As to this part: JtR A-Z shows she "suffered depression and paranoid delusions (that she was being electrocuted) following the death of her husband in 1885. Attempted suicide in 1888, ... " no I don't know the source material of that.

Roy

"As to this part: JtR A-Z shows she [I]"suffered depression and paranoid delusions (that she was being electrocuted) following the death of her husband in 1885."

What the hell does that mean? Anne was claiming somebody was trying to electrocute her? That was a very odd type of murder device in the 19th or even 20th Century. Had she almost been electrocuted? How, by a lightning bolt? How far had the electrification of Great Britain spread in the years 1875 to 1885 in the far distant area of Wimborne? I can see the telegraph lines and railway lines having some electrification - especially the telegraph, as the railways were steam driven. But there were no telephones (it was just being pushed by Bell and Watson in America) and few homes lit by electric lights (the White House had electricity in the early 1890s, but President Benjamin Harrison and his wife distrusted it). The real push for electrical gadgetry in the home would not come until about 1920 or so.

And she feared this was being done to her just after her husband died in 1885. Was there something about her husband's demise that set her off? I thought he died from natural causes.

Jeff

[GUT]

"As to this part: JtR A-Z shows she [I]"suffered depression and paranoid delusions (that she was being electrocuted) following the death of her husband in 1885."

What the hell does that mean? Anne was claiming somebody was trying to electrocute her? That was a very odd type of murder device in the 19th or even 20th Century. Had she almost been electrocuted? How, by a lightning bolt? How far had the electrification of Great Britain spread in the years 1875 to 1885 in the far distant area of Wimborne? I can see the telegraph lines and railway lines having some electrification - especially the telegraph, as the railways were steam driven. But there were no telephones (it was just being pushed by Bell and Watson in America) and few homes lit by electric lights (the White House had electricity in the early 1890s, but President Benjamin Harrison and his wife distrusted it). The real push for electrical gadgetry in the home would not come until about 1920 or so.

And she feared this was being done to her just after her husband died in 1885. Was there something about her husband's demise that set her off? I thought he died from natural causes.

Jeff

I must say I had assumed the electrocuted referred to electro shock therapy, but of course it hadn't been used yet in '88 so I will have to think a tad more about this.

I am surprised that the term electrocuted was even in use in 1888 when I think about it.

[GUT]

It seems the first accidental death by electrocution was only a few years earlier.

[Wickerman]

That was a very odd type of murder device in the 19th or even 20th Century. Had she almost been electrocuted? How, by a lightning bolt? How far had the electrification of Great Britain spread in the years 1875 to 1885 in the far distant area of Wimborne?

Hi Jeff.

Rudimentary electrical therapy, by means of the capacitor, has been available since 1800.
I can't explain what the sentence about Ann is intended to mean, but shock therapy using stored energy was available at the Middlesex Hospital, and Guys Hospital, since 1800 and before.

[Rosella]

How I read the entry in the A-Z was that a twentieth century writer (ie Begg, Fido or Skinner) put in the bit about imagining that Ann Druitt believing she was being electrocuted. I doubt that any person would have used the expression in the 1880's.

Perhaps Ann imagined that someone was applying some sort of a devilish machine to her hands and feet and she was feeling painful tingles. She could have thought that lightning was striking her.

Perhaps earlier in life she and her husband had attended popular scientific lectures and demonstrations of electricity and it all came back to her in her deluded state? Original documents don't use the expression with regard to Ann do they?