Abstract
Puerperal insanity has attracted significant academic attention in cases of Victorian child killing when mothers killed their young children. This article expands the focus of the puerperal insanity narratives in order to address how, or whether these discourses influenced the wider realm of female insanity. By using the Constance Kent case as an exemplar the article explores how medical and legal ‘tests’ translated into a social conception of female insanity. The preponderance of press reports and the decisions reached suggest insanity came to be a ready social answer when women killed children.
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Notes
8 E.R 718 (1843).
Such a provision encompasses those who may be suffering from a temporary imbalance, such as those who commit offences whilst sleep walking, in the throes of an epileptic fit or suffering from hypoglycaemia. That juries should not be given the duty of deciding whether a person is mentally capable or not is an issue that was raised by the Victorians, most notably by a correspondent to The Times who pointed out the jury may not understand what was being asked of them. 18 March 1878.
Windslow (1983, p. 75).
Particularly that of Marland (2004).
In the field of socio-historical criminology see the essays within the Criminal Conversations text, many of which draw upon the print press as a primary source (Rowbotham and Stevenson 2004).
The Times 28 July 1861.
Ibid.
The Morning Chronicle 28 July 1960.
The Times 26 April 1865.
The Times 22 July 1865 To which statement Constance was heard to utter ‘not jealousy’. The Times 24 July 1865.
Aside from female baby farmers who occupied a very particular place in Victorian crime narratives. For further discussion see Greenwood (1869) at chapter three Baby-farming.“Baby-Farmers” and Advertising “Child Adopters.”—”F. X.” of Stepney.—The Author’s Interview with Farmer Oxleck.—The Case of Baby Frederick Wood. For further discussion of the public disquiet and legislative responses to the baby farmers see Bentley, D. ‘She-Butchers: Bay-Droppers, Baby-Sweaters and Baby-Farmers in Rowbotham and Stevenson (2004) Criminal Conversation.
22 July 1865.
The Times 23 July 1860.
She did not receive compassion from all quarters of the press—for example in a strongly worded editorial the Saturday Review savagely rebuked the press and the public for exuding sympathy. Cited in the Glasgow Herald 4 September 1865. Reynolds Newspaper also makes strong remarks concerning her ‘cold-blooded’ character. Reynolds Newspaper 3 September 1865.
Cited in a number of reports. For example Lloyds Weekly Newspaper 3 September 1865.
This justification continues in the modern day. The defense of diminished responsibility would be available to a defendant who murdered while suffering from pre-menstrual syndrome. Intriguingly the matter of hereditary insanity appears to have only been relevant to Constance. Her siblings, Mary Anne, Elizabeth and William appear to have avoided being tainted.
The Times 27 April 1865.
Cited in the Glasgow Herald 4 September 1865.
For example the baby farmers although female were understood to be evil. These women were understood to be without the ‘normal’ maternal instincts and driven to kill by economic motivation. For further discussion see footnote 12.
This is not to say that attempts were not made to catego rise forms of insanity. For example see Prichard (1837).
The Times 9 March 1877.
26 January 1862.
The Times 9 September 1933.
Although the press references this incident as Constance seeking to run away the Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser replicated the article printed regarding this 1856 incident in the July following the murder of Saville. In this article Constance is said to be accompanying her brother who wished to be taken on as a cabin boy at Bristol. Moreover Constance was hailed as a ‘hero’ for playing her part as a young boy so well. Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser 25 July 1860.
The Times 23 July 1860.
Rodgers (2003).
Cited in Windslow, F. The Plea of Insanity in Criminal Cases, p. 64.
Leeds Mercury 22 July 1865.
Marland (2004, p. 3). For further discussion see Chapter 6.
See the discussion of George Man Burrows, M.D. (1828, pp. 364–369).
Op cit.
The Times Parliamentary Intelligence 14 March 1843.
The Times 15 March 1843. This was such an important issue that The Times took it upon themselves to draft questions to the judiciary to address how they understood the current state of the law—the answers to which were published 21 June 1843.
The Era 10 February 1856.
Cited in The Leeds Mercury 21 May 1867.
Insanity had in fact been a popular finding for suicide cases since the eighteenth century.
Women who had killed their new born children were commonly found guilty of concealment of birth—this was largely a fiction in cases where it was evident that the child had been killed by the mother but a valuable alternative for the jury where murder could not be proven.
The Times 20 February 1811.
The Times 7 March 1856.
11 July 1862. A letter to The Times on 12 July from a doctor who examined Mrs Vyse suggested that there was evidence that she was suffering from ‘cerebral disease’ which lead to the sudden impulse. The Times 12 July 1862.
The Times comment that this case illustrated that if an insanity defence could be sustained on such weak evidence then no murderer could be brought to justice. The Times 11 August 1854.
The Annual Register make an even more surprising claim as to why Anne would be found to be insane. She had served as one of a number of nurses to the Prince of Wales. They suggest that a finding of guilty would have been something of a slur upon the Price and the verdict was thus unsurprising. The Annual Register of 1854 (London; various publishers 1855) at p. 97.
Pall Mall Gazette 25 August 1865.
The Warwick Advertiser likewise suggested this case would be resolved by reference to insanity. Warwick Advertiser 2 September 1865.
Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 01 June 2009), September 1865 trial of Esther Lack (t18650918-915).
The Times 28 October 1869.
Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, 01 June 2009), November 1869 trial of Adelaide Freedman (t18691122-36).
The Times 18 March 1843.
Pall Mall Gazette 13 May 1871.
The Times 17 May 1875.
The Times 22 July 1871.
This situation is clearly one which would be embraced under The Times broader definition of insanity which they asserted should include a ‘temporary excitement of sense’. The law governing insanity has not embraced this as a sufficiently debilitating condition and neither would this be considered for the partial defence of provocation. This condition could however fall within the partial defence of diminished responsibility.
The Times 29 June 1875. Likewise, Mary Anne Payne killed her 2-year-old son while four months pregnant and then attempted to poison herself. There appeared to be little evidence she was insane at the time of the offence, she recounted her actions to the responding police officer and the best evidence that could be brought as to her mental state was that she suffered from insanity. The suicide attempt and the effect the laudanum she swallowed would have had upon her mind was given credence by the court and a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity was returned. Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org (11 July 2009), July 1863 trial of Mary Anne Payne (t18630713-890).
For discussion of the case see The Times 1, 8 September; 23, 30 December 1872; 1,5,6,9,10,11,12,16,20,25 January 1873.
The case raised a number of questions including the supremacy of the jury, the power of the print press and the availability of poisons.
For example see Reynold’s Newspaper who headlined this a ‘Miscarriage of Justice’ 28 January 1872 and The Pall Mall Gazette 25 January 1872 who discussed the ability of two doctors to overturn the decision of a jury who had listened to evidence from six doctors.
Ibid.
The Times 10 August 1854.
Medical Times and Gazette Vol 9 (new series) Vol xxx (old series) July 1st–Dec 30th (London: John Churchill 1854) at p. 193.
Here they take the case of the Duchess of Manchester who suffered from delusions, including that she had delivered a baby. The issue of her sanity was raised in relation to her capacity to make a will and was thus a civil law matter.
The Times 16 December 1847.
The Era 10 February 1856.
Ibid. This case however maintains a clear distinction between intoxication and insanity that has been upheld in the modern period albeit moderated by way of the defence of diminished responsibility.
Cited in The Pall Mall Gazette 26 April 1865.
Medical Times and Gazette op cit. p. 194.
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Pegg, S. ‘Madness is a Woman’: Constance Kent and Victorian Constructions of Female Insanity. Liverpool Law Rev 30, 207–223 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10991-010-9065-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10991-010-9065-x