The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-26 00:00:00

COMMISSION OF LUNACY:

EXTRAORDINARY- LOSS--01L.M.M1DRY.....
A commission, in the nature of a writ de liwatico
inquirendo, having been directed to the Sheriff of
Bristol, to inquire into the state of mind of Edward
Thomas, Esq., a gentleman possessing considerable
landed property in the West Indies and in this king-
dom, and who had been much mixed up in the ques-
tion of Slave Emancipation, was opened yesterday,
at Long.'s Royal Hotel, Clifton, before the Commis-
sioner, Mr. l3arlow, Queen's Counsel, and the in-
quiry occupied the whole day. The petitioner was
Mrs. Thomas, wife of the alleged lunatic, on whose
behalf Mr. Stone, of the Western Circuit, and Mr.
Taddy, appeared. The property in question being very
considerable, much interest appeared to be excited.
Mr. Stone directed the attention of the jury to the
singular description of lunacy which he should have
to establish against Mr. Thomas, who was 54 years
of age, and had a wife and six sons. It was well
known that there were three great faculties of the
mind which were liable to be attacked with lunacy
—the memory, the judgment, and the imagination.
In this case it was the first of these faculties which
had become so much impaired as to render Mr.
Thomas totally unfit to manage his affairs. While
on his voyage home to England he was accompanied
by one of connexions, and by various persons with
whom he was well acquainted, and within a day or
two of his landing in England he had completely
forgotten the name of the ship in which he had
sailed when he came home, where he was, or any of
the friends by whom he was accompanied. On
Friday last the solicitor to the petitioner had waited
upon him, and read over and explained to him the
day fixed for this inquiry, repeatedly named it to
him, and yet within half an hour he had forgotten
all about it, and addressed a letter to the solicitor,
saying that he should be obliged if he could in-
form him the day when the inquiry would
take place. The disease of the memory had also
begun to affect the imagination ; he fancied himself
at times in America, and at other times in the
West Indies, and pretended to point out the houses,
trees, and other objects which were familiar to
him. At times, too, he was under the apprehension
that persons were lurking about the house in order
to carry him off and bury him alive. He had also a
tin box in which he picked up all the old scraps of
newspapers and other things about the house, and
fancied that the box was of immense value, constantly
kept it under his bed, and when he went out took it
with him in his carriage. On general matters and
abstract questions the unfortunate gentleman was a
man of very superior conversational powers, so that
they would have to rely on the medical testimony.
The Learned Gentleman then called

Mr. John Sealey, Solicitor-General of the Island
of Barbadoes, who stated that he was well acquainted
with Mr. Edward Thomas, and had married his
niece. He left Barbadoes with him on the Bth of
July last in the ship Britannia. Mr. Thomas was
then in a weakly state of health, and of most decid-
edly impaired memory. Remembered on one occa-
sion his coming on deck and saying he had just been
and had a pleasant excursion on shore, and on being
informed that he had been at sea several days, he ap-
peared much surprised. Since his arrival witness
had conversed with him, and he had completely for-
gotten his having come over with him in the ship,
even when reminded of it. Witness considered him
decidedly incapable of managing his affairs.
Mr. Benjamin T. Bovell gave similar testimony.
At this part of the proceedings the unfortunate gen-
tleman was brought into the room, and to a casual
observer would not appear to be labouring under any
aberration of intellect. When, however, he came to
be tested by the examination of the Learned Commis-
sioner and the jurors, he fully bore out the testimony
adduced as to the impaired state of his memory.
Isabella White, a servant of Mr. Thomas, was
next examined. She stated that Mr. Thomas kept
asking her what her name was almost every minute
in the day. He would also ask her to tell him where
he was, and not to deceive him, as he was almost sure
he was in Barbadoes. One day he thought Mrs.
Thomas was going to place a keeper over him, and he
armed himself with a carving-knife and two razors,
which he carried about with him the whole day. lie
would sometimes sit down and cry for hours, saying
the learning he had had was of no use to him now.
Mr. Mortimer, Dr. Young, and Dr. Pritchard, one
of the Metropolitan Commissioners of Lunacy, were
then examined, and gave it as their opinion, that his
memory was so impaired that he was not at all capa-
ble of managing his affairs.
The Learned COMMISSIoNER briefly summed up, and
The Jury returned a verdict, "That Mr. Edward
Thomas had been of unsound mind and incapable of
managing his affairs since the 12th of August last.