Broadmoor Revealed_ Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum - Mark Stevens [15]
As in Oxford’s case, the Broadmoor case notes repeat some observations on the patient made at Bethlem in 1854: ‘For some years after his admission he was considered a violent and dangerous patient for he would jump up and strike a violent blow without any aggravation and then beg pardon for the deed. This arose from some vague idea that filled his mind, and still does so to a certain extent, that certain spirits have the power of possessing a mans body and compelling him to adopt a particular course whether he will or no.’ He was reported to binge eat until he vomited, and otherwise behave eccentrically, believing that he was possessed of special powers.
Also like Oxford, Dadd was amongst the tranche of Bethlem patients who were transferred to Broadmoor when the latter opened. Dadd made the great trek to the Berkshire countryside on 23rd July 1864, a few days short of his 47th birthday. At the prescribed initial examination of a new patient, his tongue was recorded as being ‘broad and flabby’. He was also still convinced of his delusions, believing himself to be a marked man ‘under the influence of an evil spirit’: ‘Makes laboured attempts at justification of the two criminal assaults saying it was in “justification of the Deity”.’
He settled in to his new accommodation quickly, and soon began painting again. By November 1864 his case notes record that he was engaged in a detailed fairy painting. He received money from his family regularly, and in the patients’ account books kept by the Hospital his careful signature records his receipt of brushes and board that he purchased for his work. These accounts also record many purchases of foods with strong flavours, such as herrings, gingerbread and peppermints. Patients were allowed to maintain funds for their own use, and trusted patients such as Dadd made good use of this concession.
For Dadd was a tranquil patient, whose madness only became apparent during conversation. His notes regularly state his seeming contentment, as well as the continuation of his delusions. One conversation with Dadd written up by William Orange was on the subject of chess, and how some people possessed a spirit that allowed them to play chess ‘without the board’. Dadd further mused that chess pieces could be unfriendly towards some players due to the ‘antiquity of the game’. Evidently nothing could escape the ancient pull of Osiris.
Dadd suffered from gout from time to time, though was also able to keep up an intake of wine and spirits, and suffered a prolonged bout of illness during 1868-1870. By 1870, he was recorded as having lost three stone over the past two years. However, he had recovered sufficiently by 1872 to begin to paint decorations around the stage in Broadmoor’s Central Hall, which he continued for several years. Dr Orange’s son also remembered Dadd painting a mural along one wall in the Medical Superintendent’s house, work which, like most of the Hall decorations, is now lost.
In 1877, there is the only note made at Broadmoor relating to Dadd’s reason for admission. David Nicolson recorded a detailed conversation that he had had with Dadd about the murder of Dadd’s father. Dadd stated that he was not convinced that the man he killed was his father, presumably clinging to the belief that he had instead attacked the Devil. Rather, Dadd had been convinced at the time of the killing that the ‘gods and spirits above’ required him to make a sacrifice. Dadd was able to describe the murder scene, and his reaction when his father fell. Nicolson