Thomas Hardy (26 page)

Schizoid
– Commencing by early adulthood, sufferers exhibit ‘a pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings’. He or she ‘neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family; almost always chooses solitary activities; has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person; takes pleasure in few, if any, activities;lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives’.
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Schizotypal
–Commencing by early adulthood, sufferers exhibit ‘a pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships’. He or she may exhibit ‘ideas of reference [a mistaken belief that external events, such as newspaper articles, voices heard on the radio, people talking, etc.,relate specifically to themselves]; odd beliefs or magical thinking that influence behavior … (e.g. superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or “sixth sense”); odd thinking and speech; suspiciousness or paranoid ideation; inappropriate or constricted affect [mood];behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar’.
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The epithets ‘childlike’ and ‘trusting’ were often applied to Emma by those close to her and this may reflect the fact that she was emotionally immature. Such people will ‘spend a large proportion of their lives creating situations in which they become the centre of attention’ (as in Histrionic Personality Disorder – see above) in order, it is believed, to counter their own ‘low levels of self-esteem and self-confidence’. However, ‘the relief is temporary’ because ‘the underlying problem remains unaddressed’.
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Clearly, Emma’s symptoms are not confined to just one of the above subgroups, which is by no means unusual. After all, human beings are infinite in their variety, and such categorisation was originally created perhaps more for the benefit of the doctor than for the patient.

But what of Emma’s delusions – a delusion being a false, personal belief which cannot be altered by reasoned argument? An individual may experience one or more of the following types of delusion, which are recognised by modern-day psychiatrists:

Grandiose
– ‘The central theme of the delusion is the conviction of having some great (but unrecognized) talent or insight or having made some important discovery. Grandiose delusions may have a religious content.’

Persecutory
– The person believes that ‘he or she is being conspired against, cheated, spied on, followed, poisoned or drugged, maliciously maligned, harassed, or obstructed in the pursuit of long-term goals’.

Erotomanic
– A person believes that another person is in love with him or her. ‘The delusion often concerns idealized romantic love and spiritual union rather than sexual attraction. The person about whom this conviction is held is usually of higher status.’
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Emma evidently experienced both grandiose and persecutory delusions. As to whether she experienced erotomanic delusions, more will be said about this shortly.

Finally, because there is evidence that many, if not all, of the above types of personality disorder and delusion have a familial basis, it is pertinent to enquire as to whether any of Emma’s relatives also exhibited signs of these conditions.

Not one, but several members of Emma’s ‘Gifford’ family had mental health problems. For example, on 25 July 1919 an ‘Order for Reception of a Pauper Lunatic’ was made by a London magistrate in respect of Emma’s niece, Lilian Gifford, who was to be sent for admission to the London County Council’s Claybury Asylum at Woodford Bridge, Essex. Lilian was described as aged 39, single, formerly a children’s governess employed at 50 Gayton Road (Harrow, north-west London), but most recently a resident of the Holborn Union Institution (or workhouse). The likelihood is, therefore, that Lilian’s mental illness caused her to lose her job. Whereupon, left with no means of support, she was admitted to the workhouse from where she was transferred to Claybury.

Dr E. Claude Taylor, who examined Lilian, described her symptoms, which had become more acute during the last two to three months, as follows:

Patient said she had been very worried lately, chiefly because of a gang of thieves she believed to be about, and against whom she had barred her doors, but she saw them about and could hear their voices which said they were using a microphone and were going to gas her; she showed me her leg which she said showed signs of dropsy (it did not) and said she would rather die than go through such an illness.
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This record, made by Dr Taylor, indicates that Lilian was experiencing a combination of visual and auditory hallucinations, and persecutory delusions (paranoia).

Claybury was a vast complex of buildings set in 269 acres of land; a stateof-the-art asylum, designed by architect George T. Hine of Nottingham, it opened in May 1893. At the time of Lilian’s admission, it housed in excess of 2,400 patients and contained a department dedicated to research into mental illnesses. Staff included a medical superintendent, several assistant medical officers, a matron, and both male and female medical nursing attendants. Claybury’s first medical superintendent, Dr Robert Jones (later Sir Robert Armstrong Jones), was a great advocate of the benefits of hydrotherapy, and from 1910 a Turkish bath was available for the use of the patients.
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(By the time of Lilian’s admission, Jones had been succeeded by Dr Guy Foster Barham.)

Private patients from London were charged 30
s
per week, and those from elsewhere £2 per week. Lilian, however, was admitted as a ‘pauper lunatic’
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because the money required for her maintenance came in whole or in part from public funds.
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Those who were able were expected to contribute to their upkeep by working either on the asylum’s farm and in the gardens, or in the workshops; the female patients worked mainly in the laundry or needle room, or on the wards. Apart from this ‘occupational therapy’, the importance of recreational and diversional activities were ‘fully recognized [and] dances, concerts, magic-lantern shows, country walks and outings formed part of everyday life’.
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The patients had their own library and newspapers were provided. As far as was possible, a homely atmosphere prevailed. Each ward was provided with its own birdcage, complete with canary, and pictures hung on the walls. Lilian, however, was far from happy to be a patient in such an institution, as will shortly be seen. An accompanying document to the ‘Order for Reception’ indicates that she was probably discharged from Claybury on 16 January 1920.

As for other members of the Gifford family, Emma’s brother, William Davie Gifford, who according to Emma was proficient at music, ‘emigrated after leading an irregular life’.
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Emma’s uncle, Philip Henry Gifford, died at the age of 20 ‘after a steep decline’.
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‘Family papers’ elaborated on this ‘vague non-medical phrase by adding the words
non compos mentis
[not in right mind]’.
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This does not necessarily mean that Philip was mentally ill, though the possibility cannot be ruled out. Emma’s second cousin, Leonie Gifford, in a letter to Hardy dated 28 October 1913, stated that her father, Charles Edwin Gifford, then aged 70, was suffering from ‘a kind of nervous breakdown’ and was ‘very wretched’.
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And as for Leonie herself, she was reported to have had ‘a series of nervous breakdowns’ from her forties onwards.
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The most well documented case is that of Emma’s eldest brother, Richard Ireland Gifford. On 31 January 1888 Richard, then aged 53, single, and a civil engineer by profession, was examined by two surgeons, one of whom, William Joseph Square FRCS, stated as follows:

His aspect is sullen but excited. Says he has got himself into a deplorable, miserable state, that he must be destroyed, that he can live no longer, that his clothes are rotting about him, that he has not had his clothes off or washed himself for many weeks, that he has not been out of doors since late summer, that he can not meet people, and does not deny that he has attempted to destroy himself.

Said the other surgeon, J. H. Square May MRCS:

He stated to me that he could not go on; he was in such a filthy state, both inside and out, & that he must destroy himself, that he had tried to knock his brains out against the wall. He states that he is covered with vermin; this & his other statements are not the case.

Richard was suffering from delusions. Richard’s sister, Helen, confirmed to Square that the former had attempted to strangle himself with a rope, and had looked for a knife with which ‘to destroy himself’.

The following day, 1 February 1888, Richard was admitted as a private patient to Cornwall County Asylum, Bodmin. He was sent there by his father, John Attersoll Gifford, who the previous day had signed the ‘Reception Order’, in which he had stated that Richard was a ‘person of unsound mind’ who was suffering from ‘melancholia’ because of a ‘disappointment in marriage’ (meaning in his hopes of marriage, for Richard never married). Richard also had a ‘strong suicidal tendency’, his symptoms having been present for ‘about three weeks’.

Nine months later, on 5 November 1888, Richard was transferred, ‘uncured’, to Bethlem Royal Hospital, London, where it was again noted that he was ‘melancholic’ and also ‘suspicious’:

He is restless and much confused. Says his clothes are not his own, and believes he is ruined. During examination of his chest, he appeared suspicious of harm being done to him. He is generally [to be seen] walking up and down the gallery by himself, muttering a few unintelligible words. Seems in dread of something. Says he is only a boy of 25. Bites his nails and behaves like one.

On 6 February 1889 Richard was discharged, again ‘uncured’. His stay at home was, however, to be a short one, for on 15 March he was admitted to the Warneford Asylum, Headington, Oxford, where the records state as follows:

Patient was articled as a civil engineer but showed little aptitude, and his life has been dull and aimless, spent at home and without occupation. The first definite symptoms of insanity appeared in January 1888 and were attributed to some foolish love affair. He became violent and threatened to cut his throat.

Confused and emotionally depressed. Is not sure where he came from today. Speaks in a low and indistinct voice. Movements sluggish. Dress untidy. Paranoid. Converses with attendants and other patients in rational and playful manner. But to the medical officers he is obstinately silent and watches them during the visits in a furtive and suspicious way.

Whether Suicidal. Yes (attempts/threats by various means prior to admission).

It was also noted that Richard ‘plays on the piano occasionally and with considerable skill’.
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The Warneford Lunatic Asylum, ‘for the accommodation of lunatics selected from the higher classes of society’, was originally founded in 1826 as the Radcliffe Asylum, but renamed in 1843 after its greatest benefactor, the Revd Samuel Wilson Warneford (1763–1855).
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The asylum was run on humane lines, the patients (the preferred term to ‘inmates’, even from the early nineteenth century) being provided with books, magazines, card games and a pianoforte. In summer, they played croquet or shuttlecock and battledore on the lawn, and had supervised holidays in rented accommodation on the Hampshire coast at Southsea, and at Shanklin on the Isle of Wight. Male and female patients were strictly segregated, even when they attended chapel.

Relatives were not keen to advertise the fact that a member of their family was a ‘lunatic’. However, had anyone cared to consult the censuses (taken on the first year of each new decade), they would have found their names there. For example, on the 1891 census Richard’s details appear as follows: ‘RI Gifford, Patient, single, civil engineer, born: Clifton, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Lunatic.’
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Richard’s condition did not improve, as indicated by the asylum’s records:

Dec 1st 1898. Mental state childish. Most of the time is occupied with his great religious poem which requires a considerable amount of writing. Amuses himself by playing the piano. [It was also noted that the poem was ‘of interminable length on a Biblical subject’.]

Mar 1st 1899. Always busy with his poems … Some short ones are to be published first to get his name up, previous to the launching of his chefd’ oeuvre, the religious poem.

Dec 1st 1899. Still believes strongly in his poetic talent and is usually absorbed in his pursuit of the muse. He has an inordinate conceit both as to his looks and general attainments. He has a tremendous appetite.

Mar 1st 1900. At present engaged on a poem describing the Battle of Waterloo … Has great faith in the success which will attend the publication of his various works and is arranging for his discharge in order to attend to the details of publication. Enormous appetite and conceit of his personal appearance. [It was also noted that Richard was over 14 stone in weight and unwilling to participate in any activity such as gardening.]

Feb 26th 1901. Mind seems full of delusions e.g. that no one dies a natural death, that they are all strangled, that his food is filth and that his body is filth. That he has set the place on fire.

One cannot help but notice the similarity between Richard’s symptoms – those of a deluded person, childlike in nature, paranoid, and with a tendency to talk to himself – and those demonstrated by his sister, Emma. And was it a coincidence that Richard chose the Battle of Waterloo as the subject for the epic poem which he commenced in the year 1900? Had Richard heard, through one of the Gifford relations, that Hardy was currently working on his epic Napoleonic drama,
The Dynasts
(which he had ‘outlined and commenced the composition’ of three years earlier in 1897), and if so, was Richard deluded enough to believe that he could compete with his famous brother-in-law, and even outdo him?
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