Fair Mile Hospital

Unusual cases

Here are some examples of patients who caused particular problems for the asylum staff, or who had particularly interesting or strange histories. 

Click on the thumbnails for a larger image:

John Hewitt, 1880
John Hewitt was admitted on 15th November 1880, having been found loitering around the bank in Newbury by the police. He remained in police custody for one night, but the police were unable to ascertain any information about him. He claimed to be an illegitimate son of King George III, the governor of the Bank of England, and the brother of Baronet Burdett-Coutts of Coutts Bank, and said that he could draw a cheque for a million pounds. However, information was received that he had previously been turned out of several asylums as an impostor. After questioning he admitted to this fact, excusing himself by saying ‘when I get a little drink I go wrong’. He was discharged on 21st December. 
Document reference: [D/H10/D2/1/6 (part)]

Otto Metzger, 1880
Otto Metzger, a 28-year-old German tramp, was admitted on 29th August 1880. He was found wandering near Newbury by the police and taken to the workhouse, where he remained for four days. He was said to have travelled by ship from America to Bristol, and to have been walking to London. When questioned as to what he was doing and where he was going he indicated with gestures that he would rather cut his throat or stab himself than go to London, and said that he would report his questioners to the mayor who would tell the Emperor. The doctors were uncertain about his mental state, but once they had found someone to talk to him in German it appeared that he had delusions of persecution and believed that the Medical Superintendent would kill him unless he paid a large sum of money. He recovered slightly and was taken to the German consulate in London on 28th December the same year, and was presumably then transferred to Germany. 
Document reference: [D/H10/D2/1/5 (part)]
 
 

John Runcilman, 1877
John Runcilman was a carpenter from Edinburgh, apprehended by the police at Windsor Castle on 2nd January 1877. He said that he was the Son of God, and that he had been commissioned by God to reveal something most important to the Queen. He had also tried to speak to the Queen at Balmoral two months earlier about a vision he had had of things that were going to occur in the next five years. On 18th June 1877 he was removed to another asylum at the request of his friends. He was quiet and appeared contented, although his delusions had not left him. 
Document reference: [D/H10/D2/1/4 (part)]

Eliza Griffin, 1877-1878
Eliza Griffin, a 54-year-old widow, was admitted on 19th June 1877 from Reading gaol, where she had been sentenced to 14 days hard labour for assaulting the matron of Hungerford union workhouse. She became extremely violent in prison, frequently attacking the staff. On admission to the asylum she had bruises on her arms, legs and head, and cuts to her hands, from which she kept trying to remove the bandages. She attacked the nurses, frequently took off her clothes and tore them up, was ‘dirty’ (incontinent), and refused to eat, being force-fed with the stomach pump. She fell ill with Rötheln (German measles) but quickly recovered. Although she was discharged on 6th March 1878, she was readmitted on the 16th March, and transferred to Wiltshire asylum on 11th May 1878. The annual report for this year states that she was one of the most violent female patients that the Medical Superintendent had ever come across. 
Document reference: [D/H10/D2/2/3 (part)]