The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-30 00:00:00

COMMISSION OF LUNACY.

On Friday, a commission de lunatics inuirendo was
held at the Crown Inn, Twickenham, by Francis
Barlow, Esq., to investigate as to the sanity of Miss
Barbara White, a maiden lady, 55 years of age, the
sister of Lieutenant-Colonel White, and neice to the
late Sir John St. Aubin, residing at Selina Cottage,
Twickenham. Mr. W. James attended as counsel to
prosecute the inquiry on the part of the immediate
relations of the lady, and from his statement it ap-
peared that many years ago symptoms of insanity
began to exhibit themselves in the acts of Miss White,
which had become more decided on the decease of her
mother, who was burnt to death some years ago. At
her mother's death, Miss White became entitled to
the third part of 6,5001. and an annuity of 1001. a
year, payable out of the St. Aubin estates, and sub-
sequently to two small legacies in addition. A pre.
vious commission had been issued in March, 1841,
without the consent of the immediate relatives of the
lady, and on that occasion the jury had found the:
Miss White was of sound mind. The circumstances
of the case had since that time materially changed,
particularly in regard to the property to which the
unfortunate lady was entitled, and which formed her
only source of income, and the mental delusion which
had previously existed ;had now become so strongly
developed as to render her perfectly incapable of taking
care of herself or her property, and unless some means
were taken for her protection, it was possible she might
be made the dupe of some designing individual.
With respect to her income, the charge to which
he alluded was this, that she now refused to give any
receipts or vouchers for the money paid to her by her
cousin, Mr. St. Aubin, who was the receiver to the
estates out of which the annuity was payable; the
consequence of which was that that gentleman re-
mained liable to the Court of Chancery for money
which he had actually paid, and acting under advice,
he had since declined to pay over to Miss White any
more money. The 6,500/. had been paid into the
Court of Chancery, and the lady's share invested in
Consols and transferred to her separate account, and
the result of her refusing to give any receipts or
vouchers was that she was was without money, and
subjected to very great inconveniences. Under these
circumstances the present writ was issued by Mr.
Little, of the firm of Little, Rickards, and Co., of
London, as the executor of one of the two brothers of
the lady, and as holding a power of attorney from the
other; and the present proceedings were taken at the
instance of her nearest relatives for the purpose of
throwing round her the protection of the Lord Chan-
cellor, who had, on the report of physicians sent to
examine her, directed this inquiry to be instituted,
notwithstanding the result of the previous investiga-
tion. The evidence which he should submit
to the jury would show that Miss White lived
alone in a cottage, which she had inhabited ever
since her mother's death, having a servant, who
did not sleep in the house, to wait on her in the
day time. That she occupied one room only, keeping
the other apartments locked up. That she laboured
under various delusions, one of which was, that seve-
ral persons designed to poison her, and mixed poison
with her food; another, that she was subject to what
she termed the Jewish ordeal, a society or club formed
to persecute her. Then she fancied she heard voices
in her room when she was alone, and that there were
certain subterraneous passages leading from her house
to the Archdeacon's, and to the river, which were
used by her enemies to annoy her; and that persons
who were inclined to befriend her were, on leaving
her house, inveigled into a room in which %via a chair
called a detaining chair, from which they could not
rise until they promised to abandon her cause, and to
accuse her of having occasioned her mother's death. ,

To show that she was perfectly incapable of managing
her affairs, he shJuld prove that on one occasion an
action had been brought against her ; upon another,
that a distress had been put into her house for rent;
and on a third, an execution had been threatened by
the King's tax collectors, and that she had been quite
unable, such was the state of her mind, to give the
necessary instructions for her own protection. As
there had been no disposition of property, the date
from which she might be declared to have been of
unsound mind was immaterial; any date the jury
might fix upon would answer the purpose of her
friends, viz., to place her under the protection of the
Lord Chancellor.

Elizabeth Hurrell, who had been for the last
twenty months servant to Miss White, gave evidence
as to the various mental delusions mentioned by the
Learned Counsel and many others, of the same cha-
racter ; and Dr. Southey, M.D., who had examined
the lady by order of the Lord Chancellor, and Dr.
M. Bury, her own medical attendant, both gave it as
their opinion that she was insane, and perfectly in-
competent to manage herself or her affairs. Some
other evidence having been gone into to show various
acts of insanity, Miss White herself was introduced
and examined. She described the various modes of
persecution to which she supposed she was subjected,
by means of the Jewish ordeal; the detaining chair;
the fatuous instrument which she said was used by
governments for secret purposes • voices in her room,
and monkeys coming down her Chimney and stealing
her food. She said the reason she had refused to
give receipts for the money which had been paid her
was, that Mr. St. Rubin wanted her to sign an ac-
knowledgment for 8001., whereas she had only re-
ceived 4601.

The lady having retired, the jury immediately
found that " Miss Barbara White was of unsound
mind, and incapable of managing her own affairs,
and had been so since January 1, 1844."