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Directory of Commissioners
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Biographies of Honorary (Unpaid) Lunacy Commissioners 1828-1912
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Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
H1
Francis Thornhill Baring MA MP
Sir (3rd Bt) 1848 1st Baron Northbrook 1865 or 1866
Metropolitan Commissioner 1828, not listed from 1833
Baring was one of the new aristocrat MPs who took part in the Commission's proceedings as part of his training in Parliamentary business. (Compare Ashley (H3) and Grey (H26).
Born 20.4.1796 Calcutta.
Francis Baring was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Baring, 2nd Bt (born 1772, died 1848) merchant banker (Baring Brothers, London) and landed proprietor of Stratton Park, near Micheldever, Hants. Sir Thomas had been a member of the 1815-1816 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Madhouses. He was a member of the Church Missionary Society
Education: 1807-1811: Winchester. 1812 with Rev John Venn, the Evangelical vicar at Clapham. Venn died in 1813. Baring was a life-long friend of his son, Henry Venn (1796-1873). 1813: a private pupil studying mathematics under Professor Farrish at Cambridge. 18.1.1814: matriculated Christchurch, Oxford University 1817 BA (Double 1st) and admitted to Lincoln's Inn. 1821: MA. 1823 barrister LI.
Married 7.4.1825 by special licence in the Dockyard Chapel at Portsmouth, Jane Grey, the 5th sister of Sir George Grey (H26).
Baring was elected Whig MP for Portsmouth in 1826, and remained the MP until 1865. From his edited journals and letters, published by his son in 1905 (NORTHBROOK 1905) it appears that he was very serious and methodical in his approach. In 1826 and 1827 he spoke little in the Commons, but presented two petitions and served on four committees, including the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics (membership list).
"In the Sessions of 1826 and 1827 Mr Baring faithfully followed the programme which he had laid down for himself". In his Journal for 5.8.1827 he wrote:
"On looking back at the session I neither think very favourably or unfavourably of my steps. As to speaking I merely opened my mouth twice, and twice presented petitions - nothing of a speech. My committee business was very well adapted: The Reading Committee gave me fair experience of an election Committee. The Droxford Bill Committee initiated me into a County Inclosure Bill, and the Friendly Societies and Lunatic Asylums Committees were very suitable to my pursuits and situation. I have not, I think, to accuse myself of neglecting the business which came on in them, and I trust got some information."
About the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics, his son writes:
"Mr Baring worked very hard upon it, examining the books of the different asylums, and made careful notes of the conclusions derived from this examination and from the evidence taken before the committee."
In 1828 he actively promoted Gordon's bills, spoke several times on them in the Commons (none recorded in Hansard) and followed their passage through the Lords carefully. His son writes:
"Mr Baring actively promoted this legislation. He spoke several times in the House of Commons, and when the Bills went to the Lords he was in frequent communication with Lord Malmesbury who had charge of them, beside watching the enquiry before the Select Committee."
9.8.1828: BARING METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER 1828 aged 32.
His son writes:
"When the Act for the appointment of Commissioners was passed he was requested by Mr (afterwards Sir Robert) Peel to serve as one of them."
Baring was one of the eight unpaid commissioners who signed the Commission's report in July 1829. A relatively frequent unpaid visitor. He visited, on average, 1.75 days a quarter. (3.4.2 table two)
In November 1830 Baring's uncle in law, Lord Grey, formed the first Whig Government of the 19th century. Baring was appointed a Junior Treasury Lord (see Vernon Smith). As well as his Ministerial duties baring had responsibilities as a Hampshire JP. He was active in suppression of the agricultural riots at Stratton in 1830.
Baring is not known to have taken any part in proceedings on the 1832 Madhouse Bill (3.4.5). He was not re-appointed in September 1833, but his brother in law, Sir George Grey (H26), was then appointed for the first time. Perhaps Baring persuaded him to take his place? Both were of a serious religious disposition.
From 1839 to 1841 Baring was Chancellor of the Exchequer and from 1849 to 1852, First Lord of the Admiralty. He died 6.9.1866.
His London address in 1826 was 17 Spring Gardens, Westminster. He later moved to Belgrave Square, Belgravia.
Sources:
NORTHBROOK, EARL OF (EDITOR), 1905, JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE FROM 1808 TO 1852 OF SIR FRANCIS THORNHILL BARING, AFTERWARDS LORD NORTHBROOK Compiled and edited by his son, Thomas George, Earl of Northbrook. Printed for Private Circulation.
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Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
H2
Frederick Gough Calthorpe MP
Metropolitan Commissioner 1828, not listed from 1832
Frederick Gough Calthorpe was born 14.6.1790 and died 2.5.1868. He was the younger brother of the then Lord Calthorp (who he succeded as 4th Baron Calthorpe in 1851) and a brother in law of Somerset (H8).
Whig MP for the pocket boroughs of Hindon, Wiltshire (1818-1826) and Bramber, Sussex (1826-1831). Lord Calthorpe was a "prevailing influence" in both (MOLESWORTH 1865 p.113). Both were disenfranchised in 1832 when he ceased to be an MP and a commissioner (n. Sept 1832).
The Calthorpes were to the right of Whigery. Lord Calthorpe was a "waverer" who voted against parliamentary reform in 1831 and for it in 1832. was a JP for Hampshire and Suffolk (PP/1836 JPs). Eltham Park, near Farnborough in North-East Hampshire was one of the principle Calthorpe seats. In 1883 the family owned 1,390 acres in Hampshire (including urban property) and had a total land ownership of of 6,470 acres in various counties. (Only 235 in Sufolk, but 2,559 in Norfolk). Frederick Gough's London address in 1827 was 41 Lower Grosvenor Sqaure, Mayfair (modern map) (IC 1827). (Lord Calthorpe lived at No. 33 in 1840). Calthorpe wealth at this time was largely from urban development. They owned the land on which Edgbaston, "the Belgravia of Birmingham", was built and land near Clerkenwell in London. Thomas Cubitt, the great mass-builder of the 19th century, began his operations by developing the Calthorpe's London estate.
There were two Calthorpe MPs in 1827. One (presumably Frederick Gough) served on the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics. (membership list).
His brother, Lord Calthorpe, was on the House of Lords on the Bills relating to Lunatics and Lunatic Asylums.
9.8.1828: CALTHORPE METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER 1828 aged 38
Calthorpe and his brother in law Somerset were exceptionally regular and frequent visitors. Both visited on average, 3.125 days a quarter, well in excess of most unpaid visitors appointed in 1828 apart from Hampson who visited an average of 4.125 days and Ross who visited an average of 2.375 days. (3.4.2 table two)
not listed from 1832
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Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission and
Lunacy
Commissionand
Lunacy
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
H3
Anthony Ashley Cooper BA MP
Known as Lord Ashley until 1851.. Then 7th Earl of
Shaftesbury.
Commissioner 1828 to death.
"Chairman"
about 1834 to death.
died 1.10.1885
Summary: Born 28.4.1801 Oxford University 1826 MP 19.2.1828 "his first important speech" 1829: initial enthusiasm 1830: romantic distraction July 1830 Dorchester MP Southey 1832 Ten Hours 1833 1834 religion and chair 1838: diaries Richard Paternoster? 1839 1840 1841 Statistics and change 1842 Inquiry Commission 1843 1844 Report Wales Lunacy Commissioner 1846 Board of Health April 1884
Born 28.4.1801 at 24 Grosvenor Square, Mayfair (modern map).
The eldest son of Cropley Ashley Cooper, brother of the 5th Earl of Shaftesbury, and Anne, 4th daughter of the 4th Duke of Marlborough. When his uncle died in 1811 his father became 6th Earl and he acquired the courtesy title Lord Ashley.
The Shaftesbury seat was St Giles House, Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset.
His father
was
temporary chairman of House of Lords committes 1811-1814, then
permanent chairman until his death in
1851
1st class honours classics, Christ Church, Oxford University
1822.
1826 entered House of Commons (took oaths 16.11.1826)
as Tory MP for
the Duke of Marlborough's
pocket
borough of Woodstock, Oxfordshire. He was
returned with the Duke's son, Lord Blandford.
His London
address in the 1827 Imperial
Calendar
was 43 Duke Street, St James.
On 10.4.1827 he refused
an offer of a
place under Canning.
13.6.1827: Ashley a
member of
the 1827 Select
Committee of
the
House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics
From January/February 1828 to November 1830 a Commissioner of
the
India Board
in
Wellington's administration (Appointment:
Hodder 1888 1,
p.81)
19.2.1828 Made what Hodder described as, "his first
important speech",
(Hodder 1888
1, p.96)
seconding the 1828 Madhouses and County Asylums Bills.
It was "nearly inaudible in the gallery"
(Hansard cols 583-4). His father
was on the
1828 Select Committee of the
House of Lords to consider the Lunacy Bills
17.6.1828 Another
speech that
Hodder
said
was part
of the Lunacy bills debate and which Ashley described
(Diary 18.6.1828) as his first attempt to maintain a long and
important
speech (Hodder 1888 1, p.
102)
9.8.1828:
ASHLEY METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER
1828
aged 27
The evidence suggests he was a
conscientious commissioner during the 1st year. Hodder
records
the
following 3 diary excerpts:
13.11.1828: "Yesterday
at our Lunacy Commission: there is nothing poetical in this
duty".
7.2.1829: "Went on a visitation of madhouses. I can do good
that way if no
other" (Hodder 1888 1 pp
104/5 + 109).
Sunday 24.9.1828. Visiting asylums 11am to
6.30pm. Afterwards studied "a little astronomy".
He signed the July 1829 Report and the
same month spent five days visiting.
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1830 | Ashley file |
After the initial enthusiasm, Ashley, appears to have lost interest for there is only one day recorded visiting during the following two years (3.4.2 table two).
Romance was the most likely explanation of his loss of interest. In the summer of 1829 Ashley diaries were pre-occupied with Emily Cowper, daughter of Lord and Lady Cowper. He married her on 10.1.1830. Between October 1829 and October 1830 he only made one (insignificant) entry in his diary (Best, G.F.A. 1964 pp 25-7)
In July 1830 Ashley was returned as
MP for
the
traditional family seat of Dorchester, but in September/October
1831 there was a
by-
election for the county (Dorset) and he contested that as the
anti-reform
candidate. He won, but a petition against his return meant he
could not
take his seat until March 1832.
On 12.9.1830 Ashley wrote
a letter
to the poet
laureate,
Robert Southey, offering to find a son or
nephew a post in the
East India Company. Southey accepted on behalf of the eleven year old son
of his brother,
Dr Southey (M4).
During 1831/1832, Ashley was in constant
correspondence with Robert Southey. Best suggests this friendship taught
him to be a Tory
only because his views of society concurred with those of the
Tory leaders,
instead of out of sheer party loyalty (Hodder 1888 1, pp 114-5 and 125f., Best, G.F.A. 1964
p. 102)
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1832 | Ashley file |
Affairs in a mess winter 1832-1833
Metropolitan Commission September 1833
Late in 1832, Ashley read about
conditions in
factories
and became interested in the efforts to limit
children's working
hours to 10 a day. He was persuaded in
February 1833
to
sponsor the bill
to
that effect and from then until
1840, when his interests
broadened, this
was his main political concern.
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1833 | Ashley file |
All that Dod's, 1833 said about his politics is that he is a Conservative. Address: 20 New Norfolk St., Park Lane [Mayfair].
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1834 | Ashley file |
October 1833 to April 1834 A 6 month tour of Italy with Lord and Lady Cowper.
1834 His biographers refer to a "growing intensity" of religious feeling, or even an Evangelical "conversion", taking place about this time (Hodder 1888 1, p 197, 1892 p. 106. Best, G.F.A. 1964 p 56). As a result he became active in religious committes.
Diary 2.7.1834:
"Served today for the first time on the committee of the National School Society - education and public worship may set us right, and they will do so, unless 'our iniquity is now full'" (Hodder 1892 p.107)
Diary 3.7.1834:
"To all subjects I prefer theology. Finance, corn laws, foreign policy or poor laws would give me more public usefulness, but they should not give me more private happiness. I shall be content henceforward to float down the stream of time and put ashore at any point whither the Almighty in His wisdom may command me" (Hodder 1892 p.107)
Ashley Chair of the Metropolitan Commission from 1834?
He told the House of Commons in 1845:
Ashley may have
succeeded Robert Gordon in the chair. This
was
not a statutory position on the Metropolitan Commission.
The 1836-1841 Reports were all first signed by him. In 1836,
1839 and 1840
he was the only unpaid commissioner who signed (3.4.1 table one)
26.12.1834 to 8.4.1835 Ashley a Junior Admiralty Lord in Peel's
ministry.
Annual
salary £1,000. Shown as a Wilts and Dorset JP on the
1836
list, but
was
probably not active for there is an entry in Hodder for 6.1.1840 that
indicates he 1st attended a magistrates' meeting on that date.
"Mr Gordon's Act...and [the] Commission were renewed in
1832, and two
barristers were added. ...about 1834, after having been a
member of the
Commission, he (Lord Ashley), became the chairman of the
Commission,
which duty he had discharged up to the present day"
(Hansard
11.7.1845 col. 398)
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1836 | Ashley file |
9.2.1836 Ashley chaired the founding meeting of the Church Pastoral Aid Society.
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1838 | Ashley file |
30.9.1838 Commencement of Ashley's systematic diaries. Biographical material previous to this point is very patchy. It was in the second half of the 1830s that he began to emerge as a significant political figure, although until 1840 almost entirely as an advocate of factory legislation.
3.10.1838 A Diary Entry: R.P. may be Richard Paternoster
"Gave a decision today along with colleagues, in the commission in Lunacy (upon a division of 6 to 4, the first division that has taken place since the institution of the body, now ten years ago), that one R.P. should be set at liberty. It is an unpleasant and responsible office either to detain or discharge a patient. In the first case you hazard the commission of cruelty to the prisoner; in the second to his friends or the public. We can lay down no fixed rules for decision; we must take our course, according to doctor's prescriptions, pro re nata" [According to the circumstances]. "In the instance before us, R.P. (as he is designated in the correspondence of his relatives) had been seized only a few days when we proceeded to inquire into his alleged insanity and the grounds of his detention; a more heartless ruffian, one more course in language, though a man of talent and education, never entered a prison or madhouse. The opposite party, however, could not prove against him one single act of personal violence; his words, his manner, his feelings, were awfully wicked, but had never as yet (although their charge extended over several years) broken out into action. In fact a decision on our part, that he was rightfully detained, would have authorised the incarceration in Bedlam of seven-tenths of the human race who have ben excited to violence of speech and gesture. Three days sitting, myself chairman, of five hours each, and all "gratis"."
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1839 | Ashley file |
7.3.1839: A member of the 1839 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Hereford Lunatic Asylum Ashley's name was listed second to the chairman's (Barneby H34)
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1840 | Ashley file |
During the 1840s, Ashley's name became associated with a large number of social questions, instead of just the factory question. The Metropolitan Commission was unpopular amongst lunacy reformers. As Ashley acquired his image as the aristocratic champion of the poor, they increasingly blamed the professional commissioners for the deficiencies and appealed to the unpaid chairman to exert a more positive influence. Whilst Ashley clearly responded to these appeals it is impossible to say to what extent the creation of the Inquiry Commission in 1842 was due to his influence.
Monday 29.8.1840 "One who stilleth the madness of the people"
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1841 | Ashley file |
1841 Address in Dod's : 49 Upper Brooke St. Mayfair.
Statistical Society of London: "Viscount Ashley" proposed a member 15.3.1841, elected 9.4.1841, and a member of its council the following year. (Proceedings of the Statistical Society 1840-1841, 1841-1842) (See 3.11)
Change of political objectives The General Election in August 1841 led to the formation of Robert Peel's Conservative Government. Ashley had hoped for high office, but because of his 10 hours commitment was not offered anything acceptable. He:
"stepped into the curious position he was to continue to hold for the next ten years or so, as a kind of unofficial, part-time member of the administration, working occasionally from the back benches, lending respectability to the administrations he thus supported and saving the, a good deal of trouble by seeing to the introduction and management of motions and Bills they approved. He was pleased to do this, for it fitted his notions of good government and implied the pettiness of party rivalries. But he retained a perfect liberty to judge the governments and measures on their merits." (Best, G.F.A. 1964 1964 p.108)
21.9.1841 Introduced 1841 Madhouse Continuation Bill
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1842 | Ashley file |
17.3.1842 Co-sponsor Licensed Lunatic Asylums Bill
Friday 18.3.1842 Diary:
"Spoke again last night on the Lunacy Bill: I seemed to myself to do it without force or point, and with difficulty; half left unsaid and the other half said ill. This is humbling and despairing, because I plough not in hope. How can I look to success in the great measures I propose if I am so weak in the smaller? The House will despise schemes so brought forward". (Hodder 1, p.410) [See also Ashley and Hanwell
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Visit to
Hanwell Lunatic Asylum
Tuesday 17.5.1842 Diary:
"This day I have visited Hanwell, in company with Serjeant Adams and well may I ... heartily thank God for all that I saw there. Could any man, who has the least regard for his fellow man, as created and redeemed by the same Blessed Lord, behold such triumph of wisdom and mercy over ignorance and ferocity and not rejoice, and give God the glory? These things cannot be expressed, no, nor felt, by any but the spirit of Christian love, of the love of that dearest Lord, whose very essence is the indivisible, necessary, and single principle of goodness itself. What sufferings mitigated, what degradations spared, what vices restrained, what affections called forth!" (Hodder 1, p. 410)
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23.5.1842 Revised Bill (The Inquiry Bill) introduced
5.8.1842 Lunacy Inquiry Act received Royal Assent.
| 23.8.1842 ASHLEY INQUIRY COMMISSIONER (aged 41) |
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Ashley was in Dorset in August 1842, on a tour of the factory districts in September, and visiting various places (including "Wilton") in October. He cannot have had a great deal to do with the initial planning of the Inquiry.
11.11.1842 Diary entry:
"Have been to London to transact business in Lunacy. This is a mighty subject, and one on which authority and power could be extensively and beneficially exercised" (Hodder 1, p.410)
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1843 | Ashley file |
""I have undertaken", wrote Lord Ashley in 1842, "more than I know how to accomplish". In 1843 three more gigantic questions - National Education - The Opium Trade, and RaggedSchools - were to be added to those which already occupied his time." (Hodder 1, pp 449-50)
20.1.1843: McNaughton
30.1.1843: Ashley wrote to Peel from St Giles's House expressing his
condolences at the death of Edmund Drummond:
31.1.1843: Peel replied from Whitehall:
28.2.1843:
Address on Education.
20.7.1843
Ashley drew the Home Secretary's attention to the
detention of
lunatics in workhouses
27.7.1843 to 20.10.1843. Abroad (Carlsbad) with his wife for
the sake of her
health (Hodder 1 pp
496-514)
"He was to you so true a friend and so valuable an assistant... his
melancholy end fills me with horror... to fall by the blow that was, no
doubt, intended for another. I cannot believe it is a disconnected act; it
is the beginning of sorrow. Sursom corda;" [uplift your hearts]
"these events must prove to us... that in the everlasting arms is the only
safety..." (Hodder 1890, p.241).
"What human precaution can be availing? The assassin of my poor friend had
no grievance that we ever heard of. He never preferred a complaint. He was
ten times more affluent than the vast majority of his class in life"
(Hodder 1890, p.241).
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1844 | Ashley file |
July 1844 The 1844 Lunacy Report published. Diary entry 2.7.1844 refers to it being finished "after many sittings" (Hodder 2 p.61).
July 1844 speech
23.7.1844
Ashley moves an Address to the Crown on the Report
24.7.1844
Diary:
"He had been unwilling to bring forward the subject at all,
but his
colleagues in the Commission had thought that the novelty of
the
subject, the great expense incurred and the vast numbers who
were
subject to this jurisdiction, would justify him in calling
the attention
of the House to it"
(Hansard 23.7.1844 cols
1257-1258.)
"Last night motion on Lunacy - obtained indulgent hearing.
The speech did its work so far as to obtain a recognition from the
Secretary of State that legislation was necessary and should be taken in my
sense of it. Sheil made a neat allusion, by way of compliment, to my great
grandfather's works. He added, too, `the noble lord's speaking is a
sursum corda
kind of eloquence'; this is the most agreeable language of praise I
have ever received, it is the very style I have aimed at". (Hodder 2 p.66)
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Single Lunatics:
Ashley said, at the beginning of his speech, that
there were three ways in which lunatics were lodged: in single houses, in
public or county asylums, or on private asylums (some of which received
paupers).
Single lunatics were a (very) minor issue in the 1844 Report. They were really not the commission's business. Pauper lunatics maintained singly (a different issue) were a major issue in the section of the Report on Wales and in the subsequent Welsh Report. Ashley began with single lunatics, proceeded to public asylums and moved on to private asylums. (The terms being used are ambiguously used by different speakers). Some of what he said about single houses had a strong personal content:
"
With respect to the first class there
were no returns, the commissioners were excluded by the statute from any
interference in such circumstances, and he must take this
opportunity of saying that he thought this a most unfortunate enactment,
not that he wished to claim for the Board the invidious and burthensome
power of examining and censuring the neglect of private families, but
because he believed that a power of this kind ought to be confided to some
hands that would hunt out and expose the many horrible abuses that at
present prevailed. No doubt there were many worthy exceptions, but the
House had no notion of the abominations that prevailed in those asylums. It
was the concession of absolute secret and irresponsible power to the
relatives of lunatics and the keepers of asylums, and exposing them to
temptations which he believed human nature too weak to resist. There were
many patients in these single houses for whom were paid £500 per
annum. This was a temptation to keep such a patient in perpetual
confinement, because with the returning health of the sufferer the
allowance would be discontinued. So strong was his opinion of the bad
effect of this, that, if Providence should afflict any near relative of his
with insanity, he would consign him to an asylum in which there were other
patients, and which was subject to official visitation."
(Hansard
23.7.1844
col 1258)
Single Lunatics was the one major issue on which the Home Secretary said he disagreed with Ashley:
"Though he did not doubt the accuracy either of the statements or of the
deductions made by [Ashley]... it was only necessary for him to remind the
house of the caution necessary to be exercised in this respect, as the
rights of relatives in these matters deserved some consideration, and that
secrecy which was occasionally essential, and indispensable, would be
violated by the commission having the power to inspect such private houses.
He therefore would recommend the House to approach the subject of private
treatment of lunatics with great caution; for, notwithstanding the practice
was open to abuse, yet it did not appear that such prevailed to any great
extent". (Hansard
23.7.1844
col 1274)
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Wales 25.7.1844 Visiting commissioners "proceeded into North Wales" (1844 Welsh Report p.2).
3.8.1844 Diary:
"hurried up to town to be sworn in as a Commissioner in Lunacy - heard and resolved to expose some shocking Welsh cases". (Hodder 2 p.69)
25.8.1844 Welsh Report published
" Good deal of business. No repose. Sittings renewed in Lunacy. What a scene of horrors! If such be the condition of things under all our inspection, law, public opinion, and the whole apparatus of 'philanthropy' (what a sad word!), what must it have been formerly, and what would it be again in a state of pure principle of non-interference?" (Hodder 2 p.69)
18.11.1844 Diary:
"Visited Peckham Asylum on Saturday last. Long affair - six hours. What a lesson! How small the interval - a hairs breadth - between reason and madness. A sight, too, to stir apprehension in one's own mind. I am visiting in authority today, I may be visited by authority tomorrow. God be praised that there are any visitations at all; time was when such care was unknown.What an awful condition that of a lunatic! His words are generally disbelieved, and his most innocent peculiarities perverted; it is natural it should be so; and we place ourselves on our guard - that is, we give to every word, look, gesture a value and meaning which oftentimes it cannot bear, and which it never would bear in ordinary life. Thus we too readily get him in, and too sluggishly get him out, and yet what a destiny!" (Hodder 2 p.77)
21.11.1844 Home Secretary asked Ashley to undertake Lunacy Bill
" Graham has asked me to undertake the Lunacy Bill, promising to treat it as a Government measure. Prodigious work! but cannot refuse to lighten the burden on a Minister's shoulders. Agreed on condition of full Government support in every respect. Oh that I might prosper and do something for those desolate and oppressed creatures!" (Hodder 2 p. 78)
28.11.1844 Diary:
"Will it be given to me to prosper in my three works - Time Bill, Print-Works Bill, Lunacy Bill? Shall I by God's blessing, taste the fruit of these labours? I fear not. Thoughts of a great scheme for relief of people pass through my mind. Would it be a measure of relief, or an aggravation of distress? repeal duty on tea to one-sixth of present amount: sugar the same; repeal the malt tax totally, and the Corn Laws at the end of five years; keep on the income tax, raised to five per cent for ten years. I like the scheme very much." (Hodder 2 p. 78)
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1845 | Ashley file |
4.8.1845 1845 Lunacy Act receives Royal Assent.
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4.8.1845
ASHLEY UNPAID
LUNACY COMMISSIONER (aged 44)
NAMED IN 1845 ACT |
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Therefore ex-officio Private Committee member (see law)
See attendance at meetings
Friday 8.8.1845 1845 County Asylums Act receives Royal Assent.
On the same day, doctors Turner and Hume, with Mr Mylne, were sworn in before the Lord Chancellor at the House of Lords and (also the same day) they administered the oath to Mr Procter at the Lunacy Commission's office, and the Secretary was also sworn in. (Minutes 14.8.1845)
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MINUTES
First Meeting of Commissioners under
8 + 9 Vict. C. 100
The Commissioners met by agreement this day for the first time
Present
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Lord Ashley
Mr Gordon Dr Turner |
Mr
Procter
Mr Mylne Mr Hall |
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Lord Ashley, Mr Gordon and Mr Hall were sworn in -
Upon the motion of Mr Gordon, Lord Ashley was elected permanent Chairman of the Commission |
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20.8.1845 Diary entry:
"Have been reading in snatched moments of leisure, Life of Cowper. What a wonderful story! He was, when he attempted his life, thoroughly mad; he was never so at any other time. Yet his symptoms weer such as would have been sufficient for any 'mad doctor' to shut him up, and far too serious for any 'Commissioner' to let him out, and doubtless both would be justifiable. The experiment proved that Copwer might safely be trusted: but an experiment it was, the responsibility of which not one man in three geerations would consent, or ought, to incur. We should, however, take warning by his example, and not let people be in such a hurry to set down all delusions (especially religious delusions) as involving danger either to a man's self, or to the public. There are, I suspect, not a few persons confined whom it would be just as perplexing, and just as safe, to release as the poet Cowper." (Hodder 2 p.113).
from 12 Abingdon Street to 19 New Street
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1846 | Ashley file |
31.1.1846 to 30.7.1847: Ashley not in Parliament
Lord Ashley resigned his Dorset seat (31.1.1846) because he was convinced that Peel was right to propose repeal of the Corn Laws which he (Ashley) believed he had been elected to defend. To God he would owe a vote for Peel, to his constituents he owed his resignation. Two days before his resignation he re-introduced ten hours (factory) legislation into the House of Commons.
During this period, Ashley continued as Permanent Chairman of the Lunacy Commission, but its spokesman in the House of Commons was Lord Seymour. Whilst Ashley was travelling abroad, Lord Seymour also acted as Chair of the Commission.
Wednesday 18.6.1846: Lord Ashley chaired the memorial meeting for Elizabeth Fry
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1847 | Ashley file |
30.7.1847 Ashley elected as MP for Bath
August 1847: Set off on a "round of visits" from which he seems to have returned in late October, although he attended Lunacy Board meetings on Thursday 19.8.1847 and at 12pm on Friday 10.9.1847. This second one was unfortunate "The Medical and Legal Commissioners were all absent on Circuit. No other commissioner being present by 2 o'clock - Adjourned"
6.11.1847, 10.11.1847 and 13.11.1847 Ashley chaired meetings on the sanity of the honourable Mrs Henry Howard, confined as a single lunatic at 16 Addison Road, Kensington. (A relative of Henry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk?). Case involved Dr Winslow. This was Private Committee business referred by Ashley to the main Lunacy Board. The Private Committee may have ceased meeting separately in November 1846 - Its last minutes are dated 17.11.1846
This is Hodder's account, presumably based on Ashley's diaries:
"A lady, Mrs H, had been shut up as a lunatic, but, as far as Lord Ashley, and three other Commissioners, could judge, she was as sane as any woman in England; and he was pained and alarmed to find how, with all the safeguards of the law, there were still facilities for incarcerating a victim. He spared no pains in sifting the evidence on both sides, and prosecuted the investigation day by day until he had proof indisputable that the lady was the victim of a cruel conspiracy, and was perfectly sane. It need not be added that she was set at liberty with the least possible delay." (Hodder 2 p.228).
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1848 | Ashley file |
September 1848 to 1854 Ashley was a commissioner at the new Board of Health
15.5.1849 (Diary) "Made a night visit to Hoxton Lunatic Asylum, having suspicions of misconduct; found, I rejoice to say, things far better than we expected; our system therefore, of inspection, may be considered successful, and our terrors salutary. Ventilation of apartments very bad..."
25.6.1851 death of his father. Ashley became 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. This meant he moved to the House of Lords and could no longer represent the Lunacy Commission in the House of Commons. The commissioners still MPs were Lord Seymour , who resigned from the commission shortly after this and Vernon Smith. The appointment of Henry Morgan Clifford may have been to provide the Commission with an active House of Commons representative. Dudley Fortesque could have continued this but, from his leaving the House of Commons in 1874, there was no MP commissioner for a few years. [see chart]
16.7.1857 One page letter from Shaftesbury at 24 Grosvenor Square to Dr Browne; informing Browne that he has not been consulted, nor is he likely to be, on the subject of the Scotch Commissionship in Lunacy. (from John Wilson Manuscripts Ltd online catalogue, offering for sale)
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1868 | Ashley file |
1877: see Phillips on honorary commissioners
1881 Census: Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury, widower, aged 79, Peer of the realm (No occupation) living with his son Anthony L. Ashley, widower, aged 43, Director of Life Office, and daughter Edith Ashley, unmarried aged 34, plus lots of servants, at 24 Grosvenor Square. [note also ...de KRAUSE Governess, married, aged 61 born Prussia]
April 1884 A motion of Lord Milltown (H41) for an inquiry into the administration of the Lunacy laws was carried in the House of Lords. This lead in 1885 to the introduction of the Lunacy Amendment Bill by Lord Chancellor Selbourne. Shaftesbury tendered his resignation as Chairman:
"I could not go down to the Lords and sit through the passing of such a measure, and be thus a party to its enactment; I could not while holding office under the Chancellor, oppose him by speech and division. He offered me permission to do so, but he knew, as well as I did, the indecency of such a course." (Diary 25.5.85)
In June 85 the Bill was shelved and he consented to resume his office. (Hodder 3, pp 503-4)
died 1.10.1885
Shaftesbury was succeeded as Chair of the Lunacy Commission by
Thomas Salt
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Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission and
Lunacy
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
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H4
Robert Gordon MA (Ox) Liberal MP 1812-1841
Commissioner 1828 -1864 Ceased to be a Member of Parliament 23.6.1841 |
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Born 1786. The only son of William Gordon (born 6.1.1758), the eldest son of a Bristol merchant, who had estates in the West Indies and Scotland; and Anna, the daughter of another Bristol merchant and heiress to the estate of Leweston, Dorset. William died in Bristol 10.5.1802, when Robert was only 16, and was buried in the chapel at Leweston. Anna re-married (29.1.1804) but her new husband, John Berkley Burland, a Somerset JP and MP for Totnes, died the same year (1.11.1804). Anne died 14.3.1809 and Robert inherited Leweston.
Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He matriculated 24.10.1804, "aged 17"; BA 1808; MA 1824. Married 11.7.1809 his cousin, Elizabeth Anne Coxe. His father's only sister had married (10.12.1789) Charles Westley Coxe, heir through his father of the estate of Kemble, and through his mother to half the fortune of a Lord Mayor of London. Coxe had died 10.3.1806 and Elizabeth, as the elder of his two daughters inherited his estate. Through his marriage Robert came into a "large fortune" (Dod's, 1833). Their only daughter, Anne, was born in the year of their marriage (Burke, L.G.).
Liberal MP from 1812 to 1841. He represented Wareham in Dorset from 10.10.1812 to 10.6.1818; Cricklade in Wiltshire from from 27.6.1818 to 17.3.1837 and Windsor, Berkshire, from 25.7.1837 to 23.6.1841. A firm supporter of reform (1830-1832) but "a disappointed candidate for office" (Le Marchant, D. 1876 p.-). Although he was Commissioner at the India Board from 28.7.1832, then Joint Secretary at the India Board from 1833 (or 22.4.1834) to November 1834 and again (with Vernon Smith) from 21.4.1835 to 30.9.1839. From 6.9.1839 to 9.6.1841 he was Joint Secretary at the Treasury.
LUNACY
Whilst his friend Lord Lyndhurst was Lord Chancellor (see 3.1.4) Gordon moved for the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics and later brought in the 1828 Madhouse and County Asylums Acts. (3.1.2) He did so, it seems, as a member of one of the west London select vestry's that sent paupers to east London madhouses and wanted Middlesex to construct its own County Asylum.
ST GEORGE'S VESTRYMAN
A number of London addresses were given for Robert Gordon from
1827 until
his
death in 1864 at 32 Hill Street, Berkeley Square, but all were
within a
quarter of a mile of Berkeley Square, then one of the most
exclusive
corners of aristocratic Mayfair. (The house he lived in 1827
was later the
home of the Marquis of Anglesey, a gentleman in line to
inherit 25,,000
acres).
Robert Gordon was a member of the select vestry of St
George's, Hanover
Square,
the
Mayfair
parish.
(Hansard 19.2.1828 col.576).
The "parish"
had
about
60,000 inhabitants. The vestry, which was probably the most
powerful in
London, was its local government. Until 1832 it consisted of
a group of
principle inhabitants selected by nomination.
One of Gordon's fellow vestrymen was William Sturges Bourne
(1769-1845), who was
Home Secretary when Gordon moved for the
1827 Select
Committee of the
House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics.
Bourne had
been concerned
"at the way in which in neighbouring open vestries, such as
that of St Pancras, the many small ratepayers could outvote
the large
property owners" Sheppard, F.H.W. 1971 p. 29
and so in 1818 and 1819 he had procured two parish vestry
Acts, one of
which gave electors in open vestries votes proportional to the
rates they
paid, whilst the other allowed a committee to manage poor
relief to be
elected in select vestries by the same system.
(Redlich, J. etc 1958 1958
p.167)
St George's was one of the West London parishes that sent pauper lunatics to Warburton's private madhouses in Bethnal Green. In moving for the Select Committee, Gordon told the Commons that:
"When the overseers of the parish of St. George visited Dr Warburton's asylum, they found, in a room eighteen feet long, sixteen cribs, with a patients in each crib, some of them chained and fastened down, and all of them in a state of great wretchedness." (Hansard 13.6.1827 col 1262)
Sturges Bourne was in favour of moving for a bill at once, rather than a Select Committee. He said that Gordon's information was "of the best description" and "in fact he could himself confirm part of it". Gordon, however, preferred to pursue his original plan and promised to submit to the Select committee the outline of a bill he wished to introduce. (Hansard 13.6.1827 col 1264)
13.6.1827: Gordon chaired the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics
Gordon introduced the 1828 Madhouse and County Asylums Acts. (3.1.2).
| 9.8.1828: METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER 1828 aged 42 |
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Rose, Ashley, Gordon and Ward are four MP Commissioners who visited - but not very often.
Co-sponsored the 1829 Madhouses Law Amendment Act (see list), brought in a bill in February 1830, brought in 1832 Madhouses Act (see list), served on the committee on the bill and reported from the committee.
Affairs in a mess winter 1832-1833
Metropolitan Commission September 1833
Gordon's role: I suggest (See 3.4.8) that Somerset was appointed to manage the Metropolitan Commission in cooperation with Gordon, and that Gordon had an especially legislative role. Gordon was possibly chairman between November 1830 (when Peel left the Home Office and Somerset's suggested role must have altered) and about 1834 when Ashley became chairman. Gordon appears to have been in poor health at about the time that Ashley became chair
28.7.1832 Gordon at the India Board
November 1834 Out of office (India Board) during the Wellington/Peel Ministry
Hansard 10.3.1835 A debate on the repeal of the Malt Tax. Gordon was
strongly in favour of repeal as he thought there was a "necessity of doing
something for the landed interest". Comments being made on his position by
Sir James Graham,
21.4.1835
Gordon returns to the India Board
Gordon was one of the few commissioners to sign a report
between 1836 and
1841 - He signed the 1837 and 1841 Reports.
(3.4.1 table one)
"Mr Roberts Gordon... confessed that he did not expect that any attack on
him would have proceeded from a Gentleman with whom he had been in habits
of intimacy, and the less so when his present state of health was known"
(columns 817-818)
| 7.3.1839: Gordon a member of the 1839 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Hereford Lunatic Asylum |
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6.9.1839 Gordon moves to the Treasury
9.6.1841
Gordon leaves the Treasury
23.6.1841 Robert Gordon retired from the House of
Commons
| 23.8.1842 GORDON INQUIRY COMMISSIONER (aged 56) |
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4.8.1845
GORDON UNPAID LUNACY
COMMISSIONER (aged 59)
NAMED IN 1845 ACT
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Gordon was present and sworn at the first meeting. He moved the motions for Ashley's election as chairman and, at the adjourned meeting of 15.8.1845 he moved the motion on the Commission's organisation. At the same meeting, Gordon was delegated to procure a letter stamp for the commission and arrangements were made for a night visit:
Saturday 23.8.1845: Gordon, Dr Turner and Procter made a night visit to Kingsdown House, Box, Wiltshire. This had been arranged at the meeting on 15.8.1845, when Hall (not Procter) was to have been the legal commissioner. Procter wrote the report on this visit. Gordon, Turner and Procter also visited Bath to swear in James Cowles Prichard as the new medical commissioner.
March 1847
Gordon brought the Lunacy Act's provisions for visiting workhouses to the board's attention, which lead to the commission reforming its procedures. (MH50 18.3.1847, p.98; 23.3.1847, p.9)
July 1847
Ordered on Gordon's motion that "arrangements be made for procuring and binding up for reference" plans of all asylums, lunatic hospitals and licensed houses. It was referred to Gordon and the Secretary to carry out the arrangement.
1848
16.3.1848 Gordon secured the daily examination of parliamentary papers for lunacy issues by Edward DuBois
17.5.1848 Presented drafts for two circulars respecting the execution of deed etc by patients under certificate.
1849
11.1.1849: Plans for Lincolnshire County Asylum were referred to Gordon, Campbell and the Secretary to examine and report.
1.2.1849: Gordon made a special report on the burial ground adjacent to St Luke's Hospital
1859
Procter 8.11.1861: "We
had a
Board on Wednesday - a long one, which we were obliged to
adjourn to this day. Lord S. was not there - but Mr
Gordon (who embroils the fray) - was. We sate till past 5
o'clock"
Robert Gordon and slavery
Gordon's ancestors had left Scotland (where he still owned
estates) to established themselves as merchants in Bristol.
His paternal grandfather, who may have been the first to
settle in Bristol, was sheriff of Bristol 1757,
Mayor 1773 and alderman from 1777 until his
death in 1784.
Robert Gordon was described by Stephen Lushington MP
(abolitionist) as "a large West
India proprietor" (Hansard 21.3.1825 col.1126), but Gordon
said he was not one of the "great body of proprietors"
connected with the West Indies, although he "possessed some
property in them" (Hansard 20.2.1824 col.282).
His property in the West Indies may have been part of a larger
family interest. His aunt and uncle, John and Catherine Gordon
of Clifton, Bristol, and his cousins, James and Robert William
Gordon of Montego Bay, Jamaica, were compensated for over 200
slaves on County Cornwall, Jamaica, after
liberation. Philip John Miles, the son
of his cousin Catherine, was compensated for over 1,000 slaves
in the same county (including the interests of a partner,
however). (PP/1838 Slaves See p.303 claim 223;
p.68 claim 419; p.71 claim 150; p.306 claims 60, 61 + 86; p.66
claims 28+37; p.67 claim 218; p.68 claims 402+404; and p.69
claim 578)
Robert Gordon was against the immediate abolition of slavery
(Dod's1833). In parliament he
denied that the West Indian proprietors opposed amelioration
of the [conditions of?] slaves in the colonies
(Hansard 21.3.1825 col.1126) alleging that the proprietors
were the "object of indiscriminate abuse" (Hansard 20.2.1824
col.282). Stephen Lushington commented that
Gordon kept a watching brief over the interests of the
colonists during abolition (see Hansard 31.7.1833 col 217) and
in 1841 obtained leave for a bill "to make further provision
for facilitating and completing the distribution and payments
of compensation for claims upon the abolition of slavery
(Hansard 27.4.184 col.1165)
Robert Gordon as land owner
Leweston
Kemble
Politics
Religion
Mr Gordon died in 1864. In their Report of that year, the
Commissioners
"deplore the death of their colleague, Mr Robert Gordon, whose
name has
been prominent, during the greater part of the last half
century, in
connection with efforts to ameliorate the condition of the
insane" and add
"Down to the present time, Mr Gordon has given to our labours,
constant and
valuable personal aid; and his unwearied and disinterested
service, closed
only by death, we must remember always with respect and
gratitude"
(Tuke, D.H. 1882 p.203)
"he could not help doubting the judgement,
although he could not suspect the heart, of his hon. friend"
(Hansard 21.3.1825 col.1126)
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Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
H5
Thomas Barrett Lennard MA (Ca) MP
Metropolitan Commissioner 1828, not listed from 1830
Born 4.10.1788. Died 9.6.1856
Eldest son of Sir Thomas Barrett Lennard, first baronett (died 1857) of Belhus, Essex and large estates in County Monaghan, Ireland (Stenton) who was an Essex JP (PP/1836 JPs) and MP for Essex South from 1832 to 1835.
Thomas Barrett Lennard was MP for Ipswich, Suffolk from 1820 to 1806 and for Maldon, Essex from 1826 to 1837 and 1847 to 1852. Ipswich and Maldon had large electorates, so were not pocket boroughs, but they were corrupt. One bought voters directly. Even in 1841, individual votes were sold openly at Ipswich for £15 (Wright D.G. 1970 p.52). Maldon lost no seats in 1832, but was originally on schedule B.
13.6.1827: Lennard a member of the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics
9.8.1828: LENNARD METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER 1828 aged 42
No record of activity. (See 3.4.2 table two and 3.4.6)
His London address (IC 1827, RK 1828) was 8 Hereford Street. Had this been the one now called so in Bethnal Green, he would have been the only Metropolitan Commissioner with a home in east rather than west London, and the only one living in the area where the pauper houses were concentrated.
But, on Greenwoods 1830 map, this street east of St Mathew, Bethnal Green is called Abbey Street, but there are two Hereford Streets in St Marylebone, west London. The most likely, south of Portman Square. The other to the west.
He later moved to 9 Hyde Park Terrace, South Kensington (Stenton 1833)
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Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
H6
George Henry Rose (Sir) MA (Ca) MP
Metropolitan Commissioner 1828, not listed from 1832
| George Henry Rose was the eldest son of George Rose: |
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George Rose (born 1774, died 13.1.1818) was on the 1807 Select Committee of the House of Commons, co-sponsored the 1808 County Asylums Bill with Wynn (H10), introduced (unsuccesfully) Madhouse Bills in 1813, 1814, 1816 and 1817, and moved for and chaired the 1815-1816 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Madhouses (See 3.1.3).
George Rose was of obscure origin. In 1774 he left the navy, "finding he had no chance of promotion". He was befriended and a place found for him as a clerk in government service. He progressed remarkably rapidly to charge of the records of proceedings in the House of Lords. Offices were created for him rather than him simply filling offices. By 1807 he was MP for Christchurch, Treasurer of the Navy and Clerk of Parliaments. "The profits which he and his sons derived from various offices were large". In Cobbett's reckoning, something over £10,000 a year (DNB).
George Henry Rose (born 1771, died 17.6.1855) was MP for Southampton 1794-1813, British Minister in Munich 1813-1815, Berlin 1815-1818. On his father's death in 1818 he succeded to his estates, clerkship of parliaments, and seat as Christchurch MP (1818-1844). He retired from the diplomatic service to take up his new role, enetering the House of Commons on 6.3.1818.
13.6.1827: a member of the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics
9.8.1828: ROSE METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER 1828 aged 57
He was one of the eight unpaid commissioners who signed the Commission's report in July 1829 (3.4.2 table two) .
Rose, Ashley, Gordon and Ward are four MP Commissioners who visited - but not very often.
Rose visited on 6 days in 1829-1831. (3.4.2 table two). At least three of his visits were to large pauper houses in Bethnal Green and Hoxton. On each of these visits he appears to be the senior commissioner. On 26.5.1830 he visited the White House with (Drs) Bright and Southey and a young MP, Francis Baring. On 13.7.1830 he visited Hoxton House with (Drs) Hume and Bright. On 14.7.1830, with Byng, Hume and Bright, he visited Bethnal House. On these visit the entry on religious observance appears more positive and more searching than is usual. There is a contrast, for example, between the entry when Rose visits Bethnal House and finds in the surgeon's report that patients "are very quiet while it lasts and more so than at other times and behave very well during the service so that it appears for a time to have a calming effect" and the other entries, including those when Ashley visits: "No effect beneficial or otherwise seems as yet to have been produced by it", and the entries when the Reverends Campbell and Shepherd are present: "Divine service is performed regularly twice a week but with no apparent effect" ... "without advantage".
He was on the
committee on the
1832 Madhouse bill. One of the group of MPs not
re-appointed
in September
1832.
Religion: "In his later years.. actively interested.. in evangelical and missionary work" (DNB). In 1823 he published A LETTER ON THE MEANS AND IMPORTANCE OF CONVERTING SLAVES IN THE WEST INDIES TO CHRISTIANITY. (His mother was from Antigua and he may have had property there). In 1836 he was a Vice President of the Prayer Book and Homily Society at Exeter Hall (IC 1836) and, along with other commissioners and ex-commissioners, a Vice President of the Church Missionary Society
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Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
H7
Charles Ross MP
Metropolitan Commissioner 1828, not listed from 1833
Born 1799. Died 21.3.1860
The only son of a General Alexander Ross.
He married, 1825, the daughter of Charles, 2nd Marquis Cornwallis. Later, Ross edited the correspondence of the 1st Marquis (3 volumes 1859)
Residences at Lamer, Hertfordshire; St Germans Cornwall; and 60 Portland Place, St Marylebone. This was his London residence from 1828 or before. He died there.
Tory MP 1823-1826 for Orford, Suffolk and from 1826 for St Germans. Both of these were pocket boroughs dienfranchised in 1832. Orford belonged to the Marquis of Hertford (nephew of Robert Seymour (H14), St Germans belonged to Earl St Germans. These two Tory peerages weer recently created (1793 and 1815) as a reward for party services through the control of such boroughs. (See Annual Register 1820, pages 591, 594 and 596)
9.8.1828: ROSS METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER 1828 aged 29
Ross was one of the eight unpaid commissioners who signed the Commission's report in July 1829. (3.4.2 table two)
He was one of only three of the MP Commissioners who had not been on the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics (The others being Bouverie, who was a Middlesex magistrate, and a Ward, who was a London MP. See 3.3.6)
I could trace no interest in lunacy before or after 1828-1833, but as a commissioner he was exceptionally active. In one quarter he enabled the visiting to take place in the absence of most of the other visitors (3.4.2 table two) and he was also active in the House of Commons where he co-sponsored the 1829 Madhouses Law Amendment Act, (see list). In 1832 he served on the committee on the 1832 Madhouse bill.
I suggest that Ross, Somerset and possibly Freemantle had a special responsibility to Robert Peel for the commission.
Party organiser: As an assistant whip, Ross visited Peel at Drayton in 1831 (Gash, N. 1976 pp 144 + 88).
Political Office: A Junior Admiralty Lord 31.7.1830 to 25.11.1830.
Ross was not re-appointed as a Metropolitan Commissioner on 12.9.1833, the year after Somerset and Freemantle ceased to be commissioners. (See Brougham's changes)
Tory MP 1832-1837 for Northampton (borough). He contested the borough in the autumn of 1832. There were two Tory and two Whig candidates in a close contest. Ross and one of the Whigs was elected - The Whig being a sitting member, Robert Vernon Smith (H22). The same happened in 1835.
Political Office: A Junior Treasury Lord 26.12.1834 to 18.4.1835.
Ross was a West India Proprietor (slave owner) and would have been compensated for the emancipation of slaves in 1833
He voted against the 1834 Poor Law and made opposition to the new poor law part of his platform at Tiverton (below) (Ridley, J. 1970 p.279)
In July/August 1837 Ross lost Northampton to two Whigs. He contested Tiverton, Devon, in 1841, but withdrew at the hustings.
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Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
H8
Granville Charles Henry Somerset (Known as Lord)
MA (Ox) MP
Metropolitan Commissioner 1828, not listed from 1832
Chair?
Somerset and his brother in law Calthorpe (H2) were exceptionally regular and frequent visitors. Both visited on average, 3.125 days a quarter, well in excess of most unpaid commissioners appointed 1828 apart from Hampson (H15) who visited an average of 4.125 days and Ross (H7) who visited an average of 2.375 days. Somerset was one of the eight unpaid commissioners who signed the Commission's report in July 1829. (3.4.2 table two)
Born 27.12.1792, died 23.2.1848. The 2nd of two sons of Henry Charles, 6th Duke of Beaufort. The elder, Henry (known as the Marquis of Worcester) succeeded as 7th Duke 23.11.1835 and died 17.11.1853. The Beaufort estates in 1883 totalled 51,085 acres in Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire, Breconshire, Glamorganshire and Wiltshire. (EVANS 1909 p.264) The family were noted for the extent of their inter-marriages with other noble families (EVANS, J. 1853 p. 7) Somerset had 8 sisters. The eldest married Calthorpe (H2) and another Farquhar (H33). A cousin was aunt of G. Clive (H25) and sister in law of E.B. Clive (H30) and a great aunt had been 1st wife of the father of Wynn (H10). Somerset married (27.7.1822) Emily, 5th daughter of 1st Baron Carrington (uncle of John Smith H28) whose 4th daughter was married (1813) to the younger brother of Wynn (H10) (BURKE and BURKE L.G.)
Educated at Christ Church, Oxford. BA 4.11.1813 (2nd Class Classics). MA 29.3.1817. DCL 10.6.1834
Town address: 8 Clarges Street, Picadilly, Mayfair. (IC 1827; 1846 Post Office Guide) and he had a home in Monmouthshire (Stenton), but died in London (DNB)
His father was Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire, Breconshire (from 1803) and Gloucestershire (from 1810) (GEC).
He was JP for these counties, and also for Lancashire. Rather a lot of his relatives were on the bench with him.
Tory MP from 25.5.1816 to his death. (Stenton). A Junior Treasury Lord (*) under Liverpool 25.3.1816 to 3.4.1827, under Wellington 26.1.1828 to 24.11.1830 (Stenton?).
A PARTY ORGANISER. Gash to him as the "brusque but efficient aristocrat who had served his apprenticeship under Lord Liverpool", who was now Peel's "unofficial chief of staff".. "a party manager".. the chief of the party's small staff of organisers". (GASH 1976 pp 164, 180 and 209).
THE METROPOLITAN COMMISSION
Somerset's first involvement in lunacy matters seems to have been in 1827, possibly as the agent of Peel. I could trace no participation in the attempted Madhouse legislation of 1816-1819. He was one of thirty-one MPs on the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics along with the then Home Secretary (Sturges Bourne) and his Under Secretary (Perceval H21) and George Dawson who had been Peel's Under Secretary at the Home Office from 1822 to April 1827. Robert Peel was not a member. (membership list)
9.8.1828: SOMERSET METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER 1828
Somerset was 35 when Robert Peel, once more Home Secretary, appointed him a Metropolitan Commissioner. As I have said, he was an exceptionally regular and frequent visitor. The evidence (3.4.4) suggests that he was Chairman of the commission. In 3.4.4. I give reasons for believing that he was appointed to manage the Commission in co-operation with Gordon and that he and Ross were responsible to Peel for seeing that it worked.
In March 1829 Somerset, assisted by Gordon and Ross, brought in and carried through the Commons the 1829 Madhouses Law Amendment Bill. (See list)
Peel left the Home Office in November 1830
Gordon brought in a bill in February 1830 and was the main sponsor of the 1832 Madhouses Act. Somerset was his co-sponsor (see list) and served on the special committee on the bill. (See 3.4.5)
Somerset was not re-appointed after the passage of the 1832
Madhouse Act. (3.5)
However, he appears to have remained Peel's specialist for attending to lunacy issues, serving on the 1839 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Hereford Lunatic Asylum and bringing in the 1842 Licensed Lunatic Asylums Bill
PARTY PROGRESS
When Peel returned to England in December 1834 to become Prime Minister (for a few months), he saw only two people before he attended on the King: Wellington, who had been holding the fort for him, and Somerset. (GASH 1976 pp 164). Somerset's importance was as a party organiser, but he was also a junior minister. He was sworn is as a Privy Counsellor on 20.12.1834 and was Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests (*) until 7.5.1835 (Stenton, M. 1976). In 1835 a small permanent committee was set up under his chairmanship to supervise elections, provide money and candidates, and collect information on the state of registration in the constituencies (GASH 1976 pp 164).
(*) Two Commissioners were appointed in 1810 to regulate Crown lands exchanged by George 3rd for the King's Civil List. They were responsible for works and public buildings from 1832 to 1851 when a separate Board was established.
7.3.1839: Somerset
was
member of the
1839 Select Committee of the House of
Commons on
Hereford
Lunatic Asylum
PEEL's
SECOND
MINISTRY. Somerset was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
3.9.1841 to 6.7.1846 (Though not in the Cabinet until May
1844). (COOK)
Somerset (with Ashley) brought in the 1842 Licensed Lunatic
Asylums bill
(4.3.1). The Home Secretary, Graham, had promised to assist
such a measure
(4.2) and Somerset said he brought in the bill in consequence
of
communications with the Home Secretary and the Lord Chancellor
(Hansard
20.4.1842 col 888). Any doubts that he was acting as a
government minister
seem to be removed by a procedural dispute recorded in
Hansard.
Before
going into Committee on the Bill, two MPs objected to
proceedings on
government measures on an evening the previous administration
had left free
for private members bills. One referred to the Licensed
Lunatic Asylums
Bill as "virtually a government Bill". Somerset said he could
not agree to
members of the Government taking their chance with other
members and
proceedings on the bill continued
(Hansard
20.4.1842 cols 885-886)
After 1842 I can trace no activity in relation to lunacy
legislation apart
from a vote in the committee on the 1845 Lunacy Bill
(Hansard
11.7.1845 col
417).
Somerset voted with Peel on the Repeal of the Corn Laws in
1846. He
died
in London on 23.2.1848.
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Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
H9
William Ward MP
Metropolitan Commissioner 1828, not listed from 1831
Born July 1787. Died 30.6.1849
The second son of George Ward, a London merchant who died in 1829. William Ward was a financier and, from 1817, a Director of the Bank of England.
His mother and his wife were also from City families. His mother's grandfather and father (Henry Sampson Woodfall, 1739-1805, printer journalist) were masters of the Stationers's Company. Alexander Cruden, alleged lunatic, had been employed by Henry Sampson Woodfall. Her grandfather had been a common councilman of the city for many years. His wife's father was a city alderman.
William's uncle, Robert Plummer Ward (1765-1846), as well as being a lawyer was a novelist and a Tory politician. He had been on "intimate terms" with Spencer Perceval, the Prime Minister assassinated by an alleged lunatic in 1812.
Tory MP City of London 9.6.1826 to 1831
The other three City MPs elected in 1826 were Whigs.
William Ward was not on the 1827 Select Committee of the House of Commons on Middlesex Pauper Lunatics, but William Thompson, a Whig member for the City who became Lord Mayor in 1828, was (membership list).
As Elaine Murphy has shown, City of London parishes (like West London parishes) were major clients of the East End madhouses. We can surmise that some City MPs, like West London MPs, would have personal knowledge of the houses. In the debate on the Select Committee:
"Mr Alderman Thompson" [City MP] "was desirous, if possible, that the report of the committee might be made in the present session. The rumours afloat, many of which, he had no doubt were exaggerated, demanded inquiry""Mr S. Bourne" [St George's vestryman] "believed that some of the reports respecting Mr Warburton's establishment were much exaggerated"
"Mr R. Colborne" [Financier Nicholas William Ridley Colborne 1779-1854] "while he admitted that some of the reports in circulation were perfectly true, must say that others were much exaggerated. Mr Warburton had always been ready to give every information in his power. He believed the only effective way of remedying the evils complained of would be by building a county lunatic asylum"
"Mr M.A. Taylor" [Middlesex magistrate who gave his name to an Act providing for paving London streets] "declared that, in his opinion, there was not a chance for an individual confined in these asylums becoming convalescent. Many of them were sent to them by overseers of parishes, who bargained for the cheapest terms: and in some cases gave only 8 shillings a week. The hon. gentleman" [Robert Gordon] described the state of destitution in which some of these unfortunate creatures were left. A more horrible sight he had never witnessed. He trusted that some humane legislative provision would be adopted with a view to remedy the evils"
(Hansard 13.6.1827 cols 1264-1265)
9.8.1828: WARD METROPOLITAN COMMISSIONER 1828 aged 41
Rose, Ashley, Gordon and Ward are four MP Commissioners who visited - but not very often.
Ward's only recorded activity (3.4.2 table two) was three visits:
9.10.1829: Ross, Ward, Dr Turner and Dr Hume to Hoxton House2.11.1829: Ross, Ward, Dr Turner and Dr Southey to Bethnal House
All of these were houses just outside the City of London, to the east and north. Hoxton House and Bethnal House were pauper houses with many paupers from London parishes. Sidney House and Pembroke House were high class private houses, where Ward might even have met personal acquaintances.
5.11.1829: Ward, Dr Turner and Dr Southey to Pembroke House and Sidney House
July 1831 General Election: "discontented at the spirit of reform, he declined to stand again for parliament" [He stood unsuccessfully in January 1831]
Not re-appointed a Metropolitan Commissioner in August 1831.
A main source of background information above is his entry in (DNB).
|
Honorary member of the
Metropolitan
Commission
Click on the index number to see the relation to other commissioners |
|
H10
Charles Watkin Williams Wynn MA (Ox) MP
Metropolitan Commissioner 1828, not listed from 1833 |
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Family roots in Wales
and
London
Parliament
The
Grenvilles
Spencer and
Wynn at
the Home Office
County asylums
and
madhouses
Politics in
opposition
1822: Back in
government
Born 9.10.1775, died 2.9.1850.