L. Forbes Winslow
Encyclopedia
Lyttelton Stewart Forbes Winslow MRCP
(31 January 1844- 8 June 1913) was a British
psychiatrist
famous for his involvement in the Jack the Ripper
and Georgina Weldon
cases during the late Victorian era
.
in London
, the son of psychiatrist Forbes B. Winslow and Susan Winslow née
Holt, Winslow was possibly the most controversial psychiatrist of his time. As a boy he was brought up in lunatic asylums owned by his father, and was educated at Rugby School
and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
, transferring to Downing College
at the University of Cambridge
after four terms, where he took the M.B. degree in 1870. He was also a D.C.L.
(1873) of Trinity College
Oxford
and LL.D.
of Cambridge University. A keen cricket
er, Winslow captained the Downing College XI
. In July 1864 he was a member of the MCC
team which played against South Wales, in which team was W. G. Grace
. In 1871 he was appointed a Member of the Royal College of Physicians
(MRCP). He spent his medical career in an attempt to persuade the courts that crime and alcoholism
were the result of mental instability. His attempt in 1878 to have Mrs Georgina Weldon
committed as a lunatic at the instigation of her estranged husband William Weldon resulted in one of the most notorious court cases of the nineteenth century. The public notoriety the Weldon case caused earned him the displeasure of the medical establishment, which continued even after his death.
Winslow claimed that the Victorian
vogue for spiritualism
was causing widespread insanity among its followers in the United States
. He supported this claim in his 1877 pamphlet Spiritualistic Madness. His assertion was fully controverted at the time by Dr. Eugene Crowell. In later years he lectured for the Spiritualist societies at Merthyr Tydfil
and Cardiff
. In reply to a question at Merthyr he publicly stated that while at the time that he made his assertion about the dangers of spiritualism he had honestly believed it to be true, he had since learned that he was mistaken and would no longer make any such statement. He also became an adherent of the benefits of hypnotism in dealing with psychiatric
cases.
He took an active role in securing a reprieve for the four people sentenced to death for the murder by starvation of Mrs. Staunton at Penge in 1877. In 1878 he inquired into the mental condition of the Rev. Mr. Dodwell, who had shot at Sir George Jessel
, the Master of the Rolls
. Other trials in which Winslow was involved were those of Percy Lefroy Mapleton
, convicted of the murder on the Brighton line; that of Florence Maybrick
, and that of Amelia Dyer
, the Reading baby farmer. He also appeared in many civil actions.
's Sherlock Holmes
. Also in 1874 he changed his surname to Forbes-Winslow.
In 1888, with a little manipulation of the evidence, Winslow came to believe he knew the identity of Jack the Ripper
, and believed that if he was given a team of six Police Constables he could catch the murderer.
Winslow's suspect was Canadian
G. Wentworth Smith, who had come to London to work for the Toronto Trust Society, and who lodged with a Mr and Mrs Callaghan at 27 Sun Street, Finsbury Square
. Mr Callaghan became suspicious of Smith when he was heard saying that all prostitutes should be drowned. Smith also talked and moaned to himself, and kept three loaded revolvers hidden in a chest of drawers. Callaghan went to Winslow to express his suspicions, and he in turn contacted the police, who fully investigated his theory and showed it to be without foundation. Nevertheless, convinced that he was correct, for many years Winslow declared his theory at every chance, and claimed that his actions were responsible for forcing Jack the Ripper
into abandoning murder and fleeing the country. In his 1910 memoirs Winslow describes how he spent days and nights in Whitechapel
: "The detectives knew me, the lodging house keepers knew me, and at last the poor creatures of the streets came to know me. In terror they rushed to me with every scrap of information which might, to my mind, be of value to me. The frightened women looked for hope in my presence. They felt reassured and welcomed me to their dens and obeyed my commands eagerly, and I found the bits of information I wanted". When Winslow's claims about knowing the identity of the Ripper were reported in the English press Scotland Yard
sent Chief Inspector
Donald Swanson
to interview him. Confronted with this senior police officer, Forbes Winslow immediately began to back-pedal. He said the story printed in the newspaper was not accurate and misrepresented the entire conversation between himself and the reporter. He further stated that the reporter had tricked him into talking about the Ripper murders. In fact, Winslow had never given any information to the police with the exception of his earlier theory concerning an escaped lunatic, a theory which even Forbes Winslow abandoned.
According to Donald McCormick
, for a short period the police suspected Winslow of involvement in the killings because of his persistence and constant agitation in the Jack the Ripper case, and they checked on his movements at the time of the Ripper murders. He gained further publicity, and visited New York City
in August 1895, to chair a meeting on lunacy at an International Medico-Legal Congress. He also appeared as an expert defence witness in some American cases involving lunacy.
, while his sister, Susanna Frances, married the humorist Arthur William à Beckett
. Forbes Winslow published his memoirs, Recollections of Forty Years, in 1910, and also wrote the Handbook For Attendants On The Insane. He founded the British Hospital for Mental Disorders in London, and was a lecturer on insanity at Charing Cross Hospital
and was a physician to the West End Hospital and the North London Hospital for Consumption. A member of the Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) and a Vice-President of the Psycho-Therapeutic Society, he married twice. On his death at his home in Devonshire Street, Portland Place
, London
of a heart attack aged 69 in 1913 he left a widow, three sons and a daughter, Dulcie Sylvia, who in 1906 married Roland St. John Braddell (1880-1966).
Winslow appears as the central figure in the 2003 novel A Handbook for Attendants on the Insane.
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
(31 January 1844- 8 June 1913) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
famous for his involvement in the Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
and Georgina Weldon
Georgina Weldon
Georgina Weldon was a British campaigner against the lunacy laws, a celebrated litigant and noted amateur soprano of the Victorian era.-Early years:...
cases during the late Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
.
Career
Born in MaryleboneMarylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the son of psychiatrist Forbes B. Winslow and Susan Winslow née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Holt, Winslow was possibly the most controversial psychiatrist of his time. As a boy he was brought up in lunatic asylums owned by his father, and was educated at Rugby School
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
, transferring to Downing College
Downing College, Cambridge
Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1800 and currently has around 650 students.- History :...
at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
after four terms, where he took the M.B. degree in 1870. He was also a D.C.L.
Doctor of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws degrees....
(1873) of Trinity College
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and LL.D.
Legum Doctor
Legum Doctor is a doctorate-level academic degree in law, or an honorary doctorate, depending on the jurisdiction. The double L in the abbreviation refers to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both Canon Law and Civil Law, the double L indicating the plural, Doctor of both...
of Cambridge University. A keen cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er, Winslow captained the Downing College XI
Downing College, Cambridge
Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1800 and currently has around 650 students.- History :...
. In July 1864 he was a member of the MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
team which played against South Wales, in which team was W. G. Grace
W. G. Grace
William Gilbert Grace, MRCS, LRCP was an English amateur cricketer who is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest players of all time, having a special significance in terms of his importance to the development of the sport...
. In 1871 he was appointed a Member of the Royal College of Physicians
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
(MRCP). He spent his medical career in an attempt to persuade the courts that crime and alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
were the result of mental instability. His attempt in 1878 to have Mrs Georgina Weldon
Georgina Weldon
Georgina Weldon was a British campaigner against the lunacy laws, a celebrated litigant and noted amateur soprano of the Victorian era.-Early years:...
committed as a lunatic at the instigation of her estranged husband William Weldon resulted in one of the most notorious court cases of the nineteenth century. The public notoriety the Weldon case caused earned him the displeasure of the medical establishment, which continued even after his death.
Winslow claimed that the Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
vogue for spiritualism
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
was causing widespread insanity among its followers in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He supported this claim in his 1877 pamphlet Spiritualistic Madness. His assertion was fully controverted at the time by Dr. Eugene Crowell. In later years he lectured for the Spiritualist societies at Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
and Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
. In reply to a question at Merthyr he publicly stated that while at the time that he made his assertion about the dangers of spiritualism he had honestly believed it to be true, he had since learned that he was mistaken and would no longer make any such statement. He also became an adherent of the benefits of hypnotism in dealing with psychiatric
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
cases.
He took an active role in securing a reprieve for the four people sentenced to death for the murder by starvation of Mrs. Staunton at Penge in 1877. In 1878 he inquired into the mental condition of the Rev. Mr. Dodwell, who had shot at Sir George Jessel
George Jessel (jurist)
Sir George Jessel , a British judge, was born in London. He was one of the most influential commercial law and equity judges of his time, and served as the Master of the Rolls.-Early life and education:...
, the Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...
. Other trials in which Winslow was involved were those of Percy Lefroy Mapleton
Percy Lefroy Mapleton
Percy Lefroy Mapleton , a journalist, was the British "railway murderer" of 1881...
, convicted of the murder on the Brighton line; that of Florence Maybrick
Florence Maybrick
Florence Elizabeth Maybrick was an American woman convicted in Great Britain of murdering her considerably older husband, James Maybrick.-Early life:...
, and that of Amelia Dyer
Amelia Dyer
Amelia Elizabeth Dyer née Hobley was the most prolific baby farm murderer of Victorian England. She was tried and hanged for one murder, but there is little doubt she was responsible for many more similar deaths—possibly 400 or more—over a period of perhaps twenty years.-Background:Unlike many of...
, the Reading baby farmer. He also appeared in many civil actions.
Jack the Ripper
He managed his father's asylums after his death in 1874, but these were removed from his control following a family feud, so he turned his attention to solving crimes by using the deductive and reasoning methods of Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
. Also in 1874 he changed his surname to Forbes-Winslow.
In 1888, with a little manipulation of the evidence, Winslow came to believe he knew the identity of Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
, and believed that if he was given a team of six Police Constables he could catch the murderer.
Winslow's suspect was Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
G. Wentworth Smith, who had come to London to work for the Toronto Trust Society, and who lodged with a Mr and Mrs Callaghan at 27 Sun Street, Finsbury Square
Finsbury Square
Finsbury Square is a square in central London. It was developed in 1777 on the site of a previous area of green space to the east of London known as Finsbury Fields, in the parish of St Luke's and near Moorfields. It is sited on the east side of City Road, opposite the east side of Bunhill Fields....
. Mr Callaghan became suspicious of Smith when he was heard saying that all prostitutes should be drowned. Smith also talked and moaned to himself, and kept three loaded revolvers hidden in a chest of drawers. Callaghan went to Winslow to express his suspicions, and he in turn contacted the police, who fully investigated his theory and showed it to be without foundation. Nevertheless, convinced that he was correct, for many years Winslow declared his theory at every chance, and claimed that his actions were responsible for forcing Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
into abandoning murder and fleeing the country. In his 1910 memoirs Winslow describes how he spent days and nights in Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...
: "The detectives knew me, the lodging house keepers knew me, and at last the poor creatures of the streets came to know me. In terror they rushed to me with every scrap of information which might, to my mind, be of value to me. The frightened women looked for hope in my presence. They felt reassured and welcomed me to their dens and obeyed my commands eagerly, and I found the bits of information I wanted". When Winslow's claims about knowing the identity of the Ripper were reported in the English press Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
sent Chief Inspector
Chief inspector
Chief inspector is a rank used in police forces which follow the British model. In countries outside Britain, it is sometimes referred to as chief inspector of police .-Australia:...
Donald Swanson
Donald Swanson
Chief Inspector Donald Sutherland Swanson was born in Thurso in Scotland, and was a senior police officer in the Metropolitan Police in London during the notorious Jack the Ripper murders of 1888.-Early life:...
to interview him. Confronted with this senior police officer, Forbes Winslow immediately began to back-pedal. He said the story printed in the newspaper was not accurate and misrepresented the entire conversation between himself and the reporter. He further stated that the reporter had tricked him into talking about the Ripper murders. In fact, Winslow had never given any information to the police with the exception of his earlier theory concerning an escaped lunatic, a theory which even Forbes Winslow abandoned.
According to Donald McCormick
Donald McCormick
George Donald King McCormick was a British journalist and popular historian, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Richard Deacon and Lichade Digen....
, for a short period the police suspected Winslow of involvement in the killings because of his persistence and constant agitation in the Jack the Ripper case, and they checked on his movements at the time of the Ripper murders. He gained further publicity, and visited New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in August 1895, to chair a meeting on lunacy at an International Medico-Legal Congress. He also appeared as an expert defence witness in some American cases involving lunacy.
Personal life
His older brother was the Revd Forbes Edward Winslow, the vicar of EppingEpping
Epping is a small market town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located north-east of Loughton, south of Harlow and north-west of Brentwood....
, while his sister, Susanna Frances, married the humorist Arthur William à Beckett
Arthur William a Beckett
Arthur William à Beckett was an English journalist and man of letters.-Biography:He was a younger son of Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, brother of Gilbert Arthur à Beckett and educated at Felsted School...
. Forbes Winslow published his memoirs, Recollections of Forty Years, in 1910, and also wrote the Handbook For Attendants On The Insane. He founded the British Hospital for Mental Disorders in London, and was a lecturer on insanity at Charing Cross Hospital
Charing Cross Hospital
Charing Cross Hospital is a general, acute hospital located in London, United Kingdom and established in 1818. It is located several miles to the west of the city centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham....
and was a physician to the West End Hospital and the North London Hospital for Consumption. A member of the Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
(MCC) and a Vice-President of the Psycho-Therapeutic Society, he married twice. On his death at his home in Devonshire Street, Portland Place
Portland Place
Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London, England.-History and topography:The street was laid out by the brothers Robert and James Adam for the Duke of Portland in the late 18th century and originally ran north from the gardens of a detached mansion called Foley House...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
of a heart attack aged 69 in 1913 he left a widow, three sons and a daughter, Dulcie Sylvia, who in 1906 married Roland St. John Braddell (1880-1966).
Winslow appears as the central figure in the 2003 novel A Handbook for Attendants on the Insane.
Publications
- Forbes Winslow, L. Handbook For Attendants On The Insane
- Forbes Winslow, L. Recollections of Forty Years (1910)
- Forbes Winlsow, L. Spiritualistic Madness London: np, (1877)
External links
- http://www.henryirving.co.uk/correspondence.php?search=ewartLetter of Forbes Winslow to actor Henry IrvingHenry IrvingSir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
(1879)] - http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9904E4DE113DE433A25752C0A96F9C94649ED7CFKnows "Jack the Ripper"; He Is Hopelessly Insane, Says Dr. Forbes Winslow of London. Confined In An English Asylum - He Was a Medical Student, and Religious Mania Caused Him to Butcher the Women of the Streets. The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
September 1 1895] - http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=950DE4DF1539E333A25756C2A9609C946096D6CF"Murderers I Have Met," By Dr. Forbes L. Winslow; Famous English Authority on Insanity Writes Interesting Recollections of Trials in Which He Took Part as an Expert, Including the Hannigan Case in New York. The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
June 25 1911]