The 'Insanity" Of Robert East

Distressing content.

Mental illness was of course not well understood in the past and the suffering of those considered -rightly or wrongly - to be suffering from it could be immense.

Several male members of the East family of Great Marlow suffered mental health crises in the 1830s and 1840s. This post focused on one of them, Robert East. 

Robert was born 1794-96 depending on the source you believe. Most likely he was the son of John and Elizabeth East of Great Marlow and baptised there in 1796. 

By 1841 he had been admitted as a pauper lunatic into the private asylum at Bethnal Green "Warbuton's Asylum". Thomas Warburton had bought and expanded an existing asylum on the site back in 1800. The running of the place was condemned in 1826 with inspectors reporting "scenes of the most cruel and disgusting nature" within its walls. Unclothed inmates were left chained in freezing rooms for hours at a time for instance. Overcrowding was significant with some inmates sharing a single bed with two others. Doubts about the validity of the certification of insanity for some inmates were also raised.

In 1832 the asylum was the centre of a major cholera outbreak.

Exactly when Robert was sent at the expense of the parish of Great Marlow to Bethnal Green isn't known but he was there by the time of the 1841 census. This wasn't supposed to be a case of just dumping someone ill and leaving them to their fate- the asylum was supposed to try to cure those it took in. Some it succeeded with but not all went home nonetheless. Parishes might prefer to keep cured inmates locked up rather than have to pay to support the pauper back at home or risk them relapsing and having to be expensively transported back to London for more treatment. Sadly many inmates it was reported were also abandoned by their families who otherwise could have pressed for their release if cured. Robert was not fortunate enough to find a cure at the asylum. He was still there and described as "occasionally troublesome" but not usually in need of restraint in 1846 when he died.

His death was horrible. Another inmate George Pearson attacked him apparently without warning early one morning when all were in bed. George pulled Robert to the floor and kicked him in the head until he died. The staff member supervising the inmates was himself hit when he tried to stop the attack. No previous violent behaviour had been noted in George who apparently thought kicking Robert in the head would help him.

An inquest was held on site at the asylum in which George was judged by the jury to have committed homicide while of unsound mind and without malice. 

Robert was buried in the churchyard of Bethnal Green.

Things were supposed to have improved dramatically at Mr Warburton's by this date with few of the 582 inmates routinely chained and outdoor exercise provision having been instituted. But the details of Robert's inquest call into question how much progress had really been made. He was sleeping in the "long crib room" with 37 other people (so no privacy) and apparently only one staff member on watch. While George Pearson had not previously harmed anyone else he had a history of hurting his own self. Other of the inmates probably needed intense supervision for the same reason not one man for 37 ill people.

A year earlier the campaigning group the Lunatic Friends Society had visited another inmate William White and exposed the flimsy nature of his supposed insanity- panic attacks brought on by the fact he had been prescribed certain medicines he knew to contain substances which would be deadly poisonous if incorrectly administered (prescribed to him for physical ailments.) He was a man who had been made ill by previous medications taken. That the asylum continued to insist he needed to remain incarcerated was ludicrous they reported. You have to wonder just how "insane" anyone else in Warburton's asylum actually was. The fact that two other East men from Marlow suffered mental health crises at a similar period- a different Robert East who threw himself down a well and died and that suicidal Robert's brother William who was sent to an asylum just afterwards - could be no more than a coincidence. The family relationship between Robert of the Bethnal Green asylum and the two brothers isn't certain, very possibly they were cousins. 

Certain trades did pose serious risk to sanity in the past. Hatters really did go mad, and often, because of substances they handled to give just one example. The occupation of Robert East of the Bethnal Green asylum is unknown. The other Robert was a grocer. The most common occupation of male Easts however historically in Marlow going right back in time was butcher. So no obvious link to dangerous substances there.

To read more about the tragedy of Robert East the grocer and his partner Harriman see this post here

Researched by Charlotte and Kathryn Day. Written by Charlotte.

For more posts related to medical history in Marlow see on the menu under General Marlow History. All mentions of someone on the blog can be found on the Person Index.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this research for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here.

Sources included:

Report of Luke James Hansard, Lunatic Friends Society 1845.

Accounts and papers of the House of Commons 1826-27.

Reading Mercury June 1846. British Library Archives, digitized by the BNA.

1841 census Bethnal Green, reels, London Metropolitan Archives.

"England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N53T-LZV : 16 March 2020), Robert East, 1846.

Great Marlow Parish Registers.