Inconvenient People, and how to find them: Tales from the Victorian ‘lunacy panics’ by Sarah Wise
Sarah Wise uses her latest book "Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England" as the basis for this talk. The 19th century saw a series of scandals concerning sane individuals being locked away in lunatic asylums, the victims of unscrupulous persons, who wanted to be rid of a ‘difficult’ family member, spouse or friend. But who were the victims of this trade? How much can you find out about contested cases, private asylums and dodgy doctors in the surviving archives? Sarah Wise explains what she learnt during research for her book and has some fascinating, if not very sad examples.
This event is also open to non-members, with fee of £5. Registration opens on 1st April, when the red ‘Register [Individual]’ button will show on the top left of this page, just click on that button, you will also receive an email confirmation. Non-members will be required to create a free FHSC account and complete the payment details.
Registration will close on 13th April.
The zoom links/meeting protocol will be forwarded to all registrants the day before the talk.
If you run into any difficulties with this, then please contact us on the dedicated seminar email address – . The Seminar series is co-ordinated by Margaret Spate, Jean Laidlaw and Margaret Roberts and ALL correspondence, queries etc should be sent to the dedicated email address.
PLEASE NOTE WE DO NOT RECORD SEMINAR TALKS
Event Information
| Event Date | Wed 15-04-2026 7:30 pm |
| Event End Date | Wed 15-04-2026 9:30 pm |
| Registration Cut Off Date | Mon 13-04-2026 11:55 pm |
| Cancel Before Date | Wed 15-04-2026 7:30 pm |
| Registered | 47 |
| Individual Price | FHSC members free, non-members £5 |
| Location | Zoom |
| Organising Group | FHSC Seminars |
Venue Information - Zoom
Used for all meetings hosted on Zoom unless hybrid
Speakers
Sarah Wise
Sarah Wise is an author and her latest book "Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England" explores how Victorian-era laws were used to confine individuals deemed "inconvenient" by their families, Sarah's particular areas of interest are 19th-century British social history and fiction. Her specialisms are the presentation of the working-classes in Victorian culture; London in fiction, particularly the Gothic nature of London writing in the 1820s to 1840s; and the slum fiction of the 1880s and 1890s. Additionally, she has researched and taught 19th-century mental health history and the depictions of altered states of mind portrayed in Victorian fiction, particularly Sensation Fiction.