Inverness archive reveals widow's tale of wrongful incarceration in madhouse
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THE Highland Archive Centre is home to several large collections of family papers, full of information about that particular family and their friends and acquaintances.
Sometimes, contained within these larger collections are one or two items that seem unrelated but can highlight stories that might otherwise have remained out of sight.
This is the case with one small bundle of papers found in the larger collection relating to Munro of Novar and relates to the alleged wrongful incarceration of Helen Mackenzie-Ross in an asylum in 1860.
According to Helen, she was, “compelled, at the risk of [her] life, by inhaling chloroform, chained and handcuffed like a condemned felon, dragged down two flights of stairs, thrown into a cab, and driven off to Saughton Hall Madhouse.” Helen was the daughter of Murdoch Munro-Mackenzie of Ardross and Christian Ross. She married Simon Mackenzie-Ross of Aldie, and together they lived on his family estate, near Tain, until Simon died in 1852. This left Helen, who had no children, widowed at the age of 37.
After a spell on the continent, a letter from a Margaret Lewis in Aberystwyth in Wales, stated that for a period around 1859-1860, Helen resided in her house, describing Helen as, “perfectly lady-like, and quiet in her manner”.
Within months of leaving Aberystwyth in a seemingly sound state of health, Helen found herself incarcerated in an asylum against her will. Initially in Saughtonhall, near Edinburgh, and then Crichton Asylum in Dumfries, a place she described as a “disgusting kennel (only fit for hogs – and that Scotch ones).”
A series of physicians diagnosed Helen’s condition, noting, ‘insanity’, ‘excitement’, ‘violence’, and ‘delusions’ to describe her state of mind. It was claimed workers made sure to deprive her of sleep, “caterwauling at night”, in the hope it would cause her to cut a less respectable figure in front of doctors.
One family member wrote of her determination to remain calm, “she was never more cool and collected than whilst confronting the flinty-hearted scoundrels”.
Helen described it as “vile, mad, crazy, imbecile conduct of the mad doctors here as also the matron, Mrs Leslie”. Helen alleged that the letters she sent were destroyed, although she made her own copies of each.
During her time there she wrote these letters which give us an insight into her mindset, and along with letters written by physicians, friends, and family, were copied and printed in 1863.
They possibly do not tell the whole story, however from what the archive centre can gather Helen firmly points the finger of blame at her eldest brother, Hugh Munro-Mackenzie of Ardross and Dundonnell.
“Could he have orchestrated the kidnap and incarceration of his own widowed sister, in the prospect of benefitting financially from her estate?” asked centre archivist Jennifer Johnstone. “In a letter she wrote to Hugh she said she did not have the words to “express the disgust and abhorrence [she felt] in being obliged to address so debased, unprincipled, unfeeling a brute.”
Helen was eventually freed from the asylum after at least 20 months held against her will.
“Whether the justice she sought was ever served is unclear from the documents we hold here, although the letters survive to tell her version of events,” added Ms Johnstone. “Helen Mackenzie-Ross lived to the age of 75, dying in 1887 in Dunoon, where she stayed in her later years.”
