A tragic turn of events that led to insanity

I've told the story of how my great-grandmother Maude Alice Parker married a fellow servant, David Scott Ritchie Sr, in the house of the Viscount Hood in February 1901. Whether or not this was a marriage of convenience to legitimise my grandfather is uncertain. What is certain is that the marriage was fraught with problems, as evidenced by documents unearthed by professional researcher Judy Lester.

She found a record showing that David Scott Ritchie of Tottenham was admitted to the London County Asylum in Hanwell, Middlesex on 5 June 1909. He was 36 years old and had been married for just 8 years. Since his marriage, he had worked his way up from being a footman to being a butler, but now something had happened to cause a complete mental breakdown.

It is worth remembering that David's father was a commercial clerk, his older brother William was a furniture dealer, and his younger brother Thomas Scott was in advertising. David himself had been a junior clerk at the age of 17, as recorded in the 1891 census. How then did he end up as a footman in 1901? Did he begin to manifest signs of mental instability in his teens, forcing him to choose a less demanding career? I somehow doubt it. Being a footman and later a butler still demands dillegence and attention to detail. Besides, doctors had not yet come up with treatments for psychiatric conditions that would allow sufferers to continue leading a normal life in society. No, I suspect he found himself in a servant's role because he, like Maude, had done something which caused him to fall from grace.

Scuppered chances of a good career have been known to ruin men before. Particularly if a person has a sensitive nature, disappointment and despair can cripple him. Vincent van Gogh, a highly talented artist, was one such individual who ended up in an asylum. Which leads me to believe that David Scott Ritchie Sr may have been a frustrated genius who could not cope with the prospect of forever serving the gentry when he knew he was capable of more.

Call this wishful thinking, but it makes sense if he is my biological great-grandfather. Grandad, as I've said many times before, was an unusually brilliant man who had far-reaching interests. Had he been locked up in a lunatic asylum, he would have gone mad, especially given his thirst for travel and experiencing life in all its fullness.

I'll come back to the possible reasons for David Scott Ritchie Sr's breakdown in a future post but today I just want to pause and ponder the shocking event of his being diagnosed a lunatic. His freedom was completely taken away. He could no longer hope to regain his respectability in business nor even as a butler. Maude would have to raise her son alone and work hard to keep food on the table. A catastrophe if ever there was one, and no hope of recovery in sight.

Image Description - Corridor in the Asylum (1889) by Vincent Van Gogh. Original from the MET Museum. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel

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