Williams, Paul (ed.), Aggression: From Fantasy to Action (London, 2011)
Winchester, Simon, The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words (London, 1998)
Winslow, Lyttelton Forbes, Mad Humanity: Its Forms Apparent and Obscure (London, 1898)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks above all to the late Harry Mulville, who died in Coffs Harbour in August 2014, to his daughter Joy Northcott and her husband, John, for their tremendous trust and generosity, and to Harry’s other children, who made it possible for their sister to help me. I was also helped in Australia by Iain Couper in Coffs Harbour, Rachel Hollis at the State Records Authority of New South Wales, the Bloomsbury team in Sydney, and the staff of the Australian War Memorial, the National Library of Australia, the Mitchell Library, the State Library of New South Wales, the Coffs Harbour District Family History Society and the Coffs Harbour City Library.
Mark Stevens at the Berkshire Record Office gave me invaluable information about Broadmoor, as did Amlan Basu, Sheena Ebsworth and Estelle Morris at Broadmoor Hospital and, especially, Carine Minne at the Portman Clinic in London. Thank you to the staff of the British Library, the London Library, the National Archives, the Wellcome Library, the London Metropolitan Archives, Reading Central Library, Stratford Library, the Museum of London Docklands and the National Maritime Museum. I am grateful to Steve Holland for his research on penny dreadfuls, to Martin Smith for his knowledge about chess at Broadmoor, to Saul David and Mark McKenna for their help on the Great War, and to Sally Shuttleworth for her guidance on childhood in Victorian England. For excellent advice, thank you to Deborah Cohen, Chris Hilliard, Chris Hilton and Rada Vlatkovic.
Huge thanks to my friends and my family, particularly to Sam Randall and to those who read or talked to me about this book as I was writing, among them Philippa Barton, Lorna Bradbury, Cristina Bruno, Alex Clark, Toby Clements, Will Cohu, Hal Currey, Tamsin Currey, Miranda Fricker, Manuela Grayson, Stephen Grosz, Victoria Lane, Sinclair McKay, Ruth Metzstein, Chris Michallet, Kathy O’Shaughnessy, Robert Randall, John Ridding, Fotini Roberts, Martha Stutchbury, Wycliffe Stutchbury, Claire Sturge, Ben Summerscale, Juliet Summerscale, Lydia Syson, Georgia Vuksanovic and Keith Wilson.
Thank you again to my agent, David Miller, to the rest of the brilliant team at Rogers, Coleridge & White, including Laurence Laluyaux, Stephen Edwards, Peter Robinson and Federica Leonardis, to Julia Kreitman at The Agency and to Melanie Jackson at MJA. I am grateful to my wonderful editors, Alexandra Pringle and Anna Simpson in London and Virginia Smith Younce in New York. Thank you also to Kate Johnson for her superb copy-editing; to Vicky Beddow, Richard Charkin, Madeleine Feeny, David Mann, Nigel Newton and Rachel Nicholson at Bloomsbury; and to Ann Godoff and Scott Moyers at Penguin Press. And my thanks to the other publishers who have supported this book – Dominique Bourgois in Paris, Sofia Ribeiro in Lisbon, Nikolay Naumenko in Moscow, Andrea Canobbio in Turin and Henk ter Borg in Amsterdam.
INDEX
adolescence, here, here
Adventures of the Brave Boy and the Bushrangers, The, here
Alabaster, William, here, here, here
Albert, Prince, here
Albert, here, here
Alexander the Great, here
Alexandria, here, here, here
Allen, Tryphena, here, here
Amiens, here
anarchists, here
Anzac Coves pierrot troupe, here
Armistice and Anzac Day parades, here
Ashbridge & Co., here, here
Asquith, H. H., here
attendance officers, here
Attendant’s Companion, The (Red Book), here, here
Australasian newspaper, here
Australian Imperial Force (AIF), here, here
casualties, here, here
Gallipoli campaign, here, here
London headquarters, here
on Western Front, here
Avory, Horace, here, here
Baden-Powell, Colonel Robert, here, here
Baggallay, Ernest, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
Baker, Dr John, here, here
Balaam Street recreation ground, here, here, here
Banes, Major George, here, here
Bankruptcy Act, here
Barking Road police station, here, here, here, here, here
Battle of Passchendaele, here
Battle of the Somme, here, here
Baulch, Sergeant Henry, here, here
Bean, Charles, here
Beeston, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph, here
Bell, John, here
Bernheim, Hippolyte, here
Besant, Walter, here, here, here, here
Bethlem asylum, here
Bicêtre asylum, here
billiards, here, here, here
Birdcage Walk, here, here
Birkenhead, here
Birmingham, here
Boer War, here, here, here, here, here
Bogus Broker’s Right Bower, The, here, here, here
Booth, Catherine, here
Booth, Charles, here
Booth, General William, here, here
Bourne, Richard, here, here, here
Bourneville, Désiré-Magloire, here
Bow Cemetery, here
Boy’s Own Paper, here, here
Brache, Captain, here
Brailsford, John, here
brass bands, here, here, here, here, here
see also military bands
Brayn, Richard, here, here, here, here, here, here
and committal of Frank Rodgers, here
and committal of Patrick Knowles, here
retirement, here
and Robert’s release, here
Brecht, John, here, here, here
Brecht, Mary Ann, here, here, here, here, here
Brighton, here, here
British Bandsman, here
British Medical Association, here
Broadmoor, here, here, here
bands, here, here, here
escapes, here
inmates, here, here
inmates’ employment, here
and matricides, here
and newspaper reports, here
and Old Bailey verdicts, here
and outside world, here
patients discharged, here, here
recreational activities, here, here
regime, here, here
use of solitary confinement, here, here, here
Broadmoor Cycling Club, here
bromide of potassium, here, here
Bryant & May match works, here
Buffalo Bill, here, here, here, here
Bulwer Lytton, Edward, here
Burnage, Colonel Granville John, here, here, here, here
Burrage, George, here
Burrage, James, here
Burrage, Mary Jane, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
Cairo, here
Campbell, Dr Archibald, here, here
Canning Town Library, here, here
Canning Town police court, here
Canterbury music hall, here
Cantlie, James, here
Cattel, William, here
Cave Road, floor plan, here, here
Cave Road school, here, here, here, here, here, here
Cearns, Percy, here
Century Magazine, here
Cheap Trains Act, here
Chelmsford, here, here
chess, here, here, here, here
Child’s Guardian, here
childhood and child development, here
see also adolescence
Children’s Acts, here, here, here, here
Chisholm, Hugh, here
churchgoing, here, here, here
cigarettes, boys smoking, here, here
‘clicks’, here
Cockney Bob’s Big Bluff, here, here, here, here, here
Cody, William F., here
see also Buffalo Bill<
br />
coffee shops, here, here
coffins, double, here
Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, here, here
Coleman, Charles, here, here
Coleridge, Lord, here
Collopy, Casimir, here
Colombo (Ceylon), here, here
Conan Doyle, Arthur, here, here
Conrad, Joseph, here, here, here
Conservative Party, here, here, here, here, here
Cook, Captain James, here
Coombes, Ann, here
Coombes, Emily (aunt), here, here, here
and inquest, here, here
and magistrates’ court hearing, here, here
and Old Bailey trial, here, here
widowed, here
Coombes, Emily Harrison
burial, here, here
and Burrage interview, here
discovery of murder, here
inquest, here, here
letter to husband, here
manner of death, here, here, here
marriage, here
medical certificate, here, here, here, here, here
and Nattie interview, here
and Old Bailey trial, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
and origin of the crime, here, here, here
and Robert’s letter, here
and Robert’s unusual intelligence, here
and Robert’s revelations in prison, here
Coombes, Frederick, here, here, here, here
Coombes, Mary, here, here, here, here
Coombes, Nathaniel (Nattie)
bad reputation, here
behaviour after murder, here, here, here
birth, here
and Burrage interview, here
cared for by relatives, here, here
and discovery of murder, here
East London Advertiser interview, here
and father’s strategy for defence, here
and father’s will, here
illness and death, here
and inquest, here, here
inquest verdict, here
magistrates’ court hearings, here, here, here
and New York interviews, here
newspaper artists’ depictions, here
newspaper verdicts on, here
Old Bailey trial, here, here
plays truant, here, here, here
remanded to prison, here, here, here
resides in Australia, here
reunions with Robert, here
and Robert’s guilty verdict, here
and Robert’s revelations in prison, here
serves as ship’s stoker, here
suicide risk, here
visits docks, here
visits Lord’s, here
visits pawnbrokers, here
visits Southend, here
visits theatre, here
wartime service, here, here, here
and waxworks, here
Coombes, Nathaniel (uncle), here, here
Coombes, Robert (senior), here, here, here
bankruptcy, here, here
death, here
Evening News interview, here, here
learns of murder, here
marriage, here
New York interviews, here, here
and Old Bailey trial, here, here, here
returns to London, here, here, here
returns to sea, here
second marriage, here
strategy for sons’ defence, here
his will, here
Coombes, Robert
arrives at Hadleigh colony, here
awarded Military Medal, here, here, here
bad reputation, here
befriends Harry Mulville, here, here
behaviour after murder, here, here, here
birth, here
birth certificate, here
and Burrage interview, here
his cats, here, here, here, here, here
committed to Broadmoor, here
compared with Frank Rodgers, here
and discovery of murder, here
education, here
emigrates to Australia, here
employed at ironworks, here, here
and father’s strategy for defence, here
and father’s will, here
guilty verdict and sentence, here
hears voices in his head, here, here
Hewson letter and medical certificate, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
and household jobs, here
illness and death, here
and inquest, here, here
and insanity defence, here, here
joins army, here
leaves court laughing, here
inquest verdict, here
letter to Evening News, here, here, here, here, here
letter to father, here, here, here, here
letter to Rev. Shaw, here, here, here
life in Australia, here, here
love of music, here, here, here, here, here, here
magistrates’ court hearings, here, here, here
his mandolin, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
mental abnormality, here
his military medals, here
and Nattie interview, here
and New York interviews, here
newspaper artists’ depictions, here
newspaper verdicts on, here
Old Bailey trial, here, here, here
and origin of the crime, here, here, here
participation in asylum life, here, here
and penny dreadfuls, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
physiognomy, here
plays billiards, here
plays chess, here, here, here
plays cricket, here, here
plays in asylum bands, here, here, here
plays in military bands, here, here, here, here, here, here
pulls faces in court, here
released from Broadmoor, here
remanded to prison, here, here, here, here
returns to Egypt, here
reunions with Nattie, here
revelations in prison, here
sails to New York with father, here
and Second World War, here
serves as sanitary officer, here, here
serves as stretcher-bearer, here
smokes cigarettes, here
suffers breakdown, here
suicide risk, here, here, here, here
and tailoring, here, here, here, here, here
visits docks, here
visits Lord’s, here
visits pawnbrokers, here
visits Southend, here
visits theatre, here
and waxworks, here
his will, here
Cooper, Rev. Arthur Gilbert, here, here
Cossington, John, here
Coward, Dr Christopher, here, here
‘Cowboys and Indians’, here, here
Cowling, Jack and Bill, here, here
cricket, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
see also Lord’s cricket ground
Crime and Punishment, here
Criminal Lunatics Act, here
Crooks, Thomas Ray, here
Crowthorne, here, here, here
Cundy, Isaac, here, here, here, here
Currah, Nathaniel, here
Cutbush, Thomas, here
Dadd, Richard, here
Daily Chronicle, here, here
Daily Mail, here
Daily Telegraph, here
Darwin, Charles, here
degeneracy, theories of, here, here, here, here, here
see also hereditary criminality
Deneis, August, here
Dennis, Florence, here, here, here
Dernancourt, here, here
Dickens, Charles, here, here
Dictionary of Psychological Medicine, here, here
diphtheria, here
Don, Detective Sergeant, here, here
Dorset Militia, here
Dot and the Kangaroo, here
Douglas, Lord Alfred, here
Dow, Private James, here, here, here
Dowling, Sydney, here
Dublin, Easter Rising, here
Dundee, here
dysentery, here
Earl’s Court, here, here
East Ham sewage works, here, here
East London Advertiser, here, here
East London Water Company, here
Edis, Harry, here, here
education, compulsory, here, here
Edward VII, King, here, here, here
Egypt, here, here, here, here
Ellis, Havelock, here
Ellis, Major Walter, here, here, here
England, Amelia, here, here, here, here, here
epilepsy, here, here, here
Era, The, here
Erry, Sergeant, here
Ervine, St John G., here
Esquirol, Jean-Etienne, here
Evening News, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
Coombes interview, here, here
Robert’s letter to, here, here, here, here, here
evolution, theory of, here, here
Fish, George, here, here
folie à deux, here
football, here, here
Forest Gate Gazette, here
Fortune for £5, A, here
Four-Leaved Shamrock, The, here
Fox, Hannah, here
Fox, John William
apprenticeship and Egypt fire, here, here
behaviour after murder, here, here, here, here
birth certificate, here
and Coombes’s strategy for defence, here
defended by Sharman, here
and discovery of murder, here, here
granted bail, here
and inquest, here, here, here, here
Lawrence arranges defence, here, here, here, here
magistrates’ court hearings, here, here, here
mental capacity, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
and New York interviews, here
not guilty verdict, here
Old Bailey trial, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
and penny dreadfuls, here
remanded to prison, here, here, here
returns to anonymity, here
and Star interview, here
and waxworks, here
Fraser, John Foster, here
Frayling, Frederick, here
Freebody, PC Lawrence, here
Freud, Sigmund, here
Fuji Yama battleship, here, here
Fulton, Sir Forrest, here, here
Gallipoli campaign, here, here, here, here, here
Gamble, Alfred, here, here, here
games, children’s, here, here, here