Christine Mary Crabbe

ON THE BORDERLAND OF INSANITY: WOMEN, DIPSOMANIA AND INEBRIETY, 1879-1913 CHRISTINE MARY CRABBE A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of the West of England, Bristol for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education, University of the West of England, Bristol June 2014 This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. Contents .................................................................................................... ii Abstract ..................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements .................................................................................. vii Abbreviations ........................................................................................... viii Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Sources ........................................................................................ 10 Historiography .............................................................................. 13 The organisation of the thesis ...................................................... 29 Chapter 1: Habitual drunkards and inebriety legislation 1879-1913 ........ 33 Introduction ................................................................................... 33 Judicial statistics ........................................................................... 34 The temperance movement .......................................................... 37 Women’s drinking habits .............................................................. 40 The Inebriates Acts, 1879 and 1888 ............................................. 43 The Inebriates Act, 1898 .............................................................. 50 The 1904 Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration ................................................................................. 53 The 1908 Departmental Committee to look into the operation of the law relating to inebriates ............................................................... 56 The 1912 -1913 a bill to consolidate and amend the law relating to inebriates ...................................................................................... 60 The Mental Deficiency Act, 1913 .................................................. 62 Conclusion .................................................................................... 65 Chapter 2: Discourses and debates ........................................................ 67 Introduction ................................................................................... 67 Drunkenness and insanity ............................................................ 68 Habitual drunkenness a disorder of the will leading to insanity .... 78 Eugenics, a change of direction ................................................... 81 Eugenics in the work of Dr Branthwaite and Dr Fleck .................. 87 The importance of the borderland to inebriate reformatories ...... 101 Conclusion .................................................................................. 103 Chapter 3: Bristol, the Burdens and the Royal Victoria Home, Horfield, Bristol. ................................................................................................... 105 Introduction ................................................................................. 105 An overview of the City of Bristol ................................................ 105 Drunkenness and public houses ................................................ 108 Harold and Katharine Burden ..................................................... 116 ii The Burdens’ missionary initiative: The Women’s Shelter Home, Bristol ......................................................................................... 123 The Royal Victoria Home, Horfield ............................................. 130 Conclusion .................................................................................. 133 Chapter 4: The Royal Victoria Home, Brentry........................................ 135 Introduction ................................................................................. 135 The emergence of the Royal Victoria Home, Brentry ................. 136 RVH Brentry’s regime and aftercare ........................................... 149 RVH Brentry’s financial problems ............................................... 164 Brentry Certified Inebriate Reformatory ...................................... 170 Conclusion .................................................................................. 172 Chapter 5: The National Institutions for Inebriates, 1903-1913 ............. 174 Introduction ................................................................................. 174 The Burdens’ new venture.......................................................... 176 Areas in England without inebriate reformatory provision........... 186 Female admissions to reformatories .......................................... 187 Classification .............................................................................. 189 Farmfield Inebriate Reformatory and the NII .............................. 202 Unmanageable, uncontrollable and violent women .................... 203 Analysis of 100 women admitted to an NII reformatory from 1902- 1906 ........................................................................................... 207 Closure of the NII and Brentry reformatories and a change of direction ...................................................................................... 213 Conclusion .................................................................................. 218 Chapter 6: Inebriate reformatories and their inmates ............................ 220 Introduction ................................................................................. 220 The perceived benefits for sending women to inebriate reformatories .............................................................................. 221 Challenging and difficult behaviour ............................................. 224 The importance of inebriate reformatories to child cruelty and neglect ........................................................................................ 241 Women habitual drunkards the victims of crime ......................... 244 Resistance and rebellion in the reformatory ............................... 246 Discharged inmates .................................................................... 250 Conclusion .................................................................................. 254 Chapter 7: Conclusion ........................................................................... 256 Appendix 1: Judicial statistics ................................................................ 273 iii Courts of Summary Jurisdiction. Offences tried summarily - male and female convictions for drunkenness from 1870-1913 .......... 273 Courts of Summary Jurisdiction. Offences tried summarily - male and female prosecutions, discharges and convictions for drunkenness from 1870-1892 ..................................................... 275 Courts of Summary Jurisdiction. Offences tried summarily - male and female convictions for simple drunkenness and drunkenness with aggravations from 1905-1913 ............................................. 276 Appendix 2: Regional statistics extracted from Bristol newspapers. Male and Female apprehensions and convictions for drunkenness ............... 277 Appendix 3: Licensing returns ............................................................... 278 Appendix 4:............................................................................................ 279 Licensed houses in proportion to the population and comparison with proportion to population of number of persons proceeded against for drunkenness. London and County Boroughs 1893 .. 279 Appendix 5: Male and female committals to inebriate reformatories ..... 282 Appendix 6: Analysis of 100 female NII inmates extracted from the Midland Counties Register of Cases October 1902 to February 1906 ... 283 Appendix 7: Inebriate women: their fertility, and the mortality of their children .................................................................................................. 285 Bibliography ........................................................................................... 286 Figure 1: Courts of Summary Jurisdiction. Offences tried summarily – male and female convictions for drunkenness from 1870-1913 ....................................... 35 Figure 2: Courts of Summary Jurisdiction. Offences tried summarily - male and female convictions for simple drunkenness and drunkenness with aggravations from1905-1913 ................................................................................................. 37 Figure 3: Classification of inmates of reformatories mental state for England and Wales ............................................................................................................... 90 Figure 4: Analysis of the family history of 200 mentally defective women admitted to reformatories during 1905.............................................................. 92 Figure 5: Some photographs of female habitual drunkards committed to reformatories, selected from the “Black

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