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Harriet Martineau and the reform of the invalid in Victorian England*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Alison Winter
Alison Winter
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology
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Abstract

This article argues that within the debates over medical reform which took place throughout the Victorian period, there flourished a variety of models of authority with respect to illness and the body. The controversies surrounding the illness and cure of the journalist, Harriet Martineau, provide a particularly useful vehicle for exploring some of these different models. During a time when many doctors were anxious to establish the medical profession as an authoritative body within British society, Martineau put forward a portrayal of invalidism that gave invalids, especially women, a degree of authority that made many medical men uneasy. By examining the question of the status of the sick individual during this period, and especially Martineau's case, historians can gain a new perspective on broader issues of reform and the status of women in Victorian society.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 597 - 616
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

1 ‘Meeting of Miss Martineau's Admirers at the Rotunda, Blackfriars Road’, Times, 2 Nov. 1842, p. 6.Google Scholar

2 See Sanders, V., Reason over passion: Harriet Martineau and the Victorian novel (Brighton, 1986), p. 156.Google Scholar

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6 On the tensions within the medical profession regarding the proper nature of these reforms see Loudon, I., Medical care and the general practitioner 1750–1850 (Oxford, 1986), pp. 129 passimGoogle Scholar; Peterson, M. Jeanne, The medical profession in mid-Victorian London (Berkeley, 1978)Google Scholar; Waddington, I., ‘General practitioners and consultants in early nineteenth-century England: The sociology of an intra-professional conflict’, in Woodward, J. and Richards, D. (eds.), Health care and popular medicine in nineteenth-century England (London, 1977), pp. 164–8.Google Scholar

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9 E.g. Janet Browne's fascinating study of Darwin's use of his illness in ‘I could have retched all night: Charles Darwin and his body’, in Chris, Lawrence and Steven, Shapin (eds.), The body of knowledge: the physical presentation of intellectual selves (Chicago, forthcoming).Google Scholar

10 A classic discussion of this theme may be found in Showalter, E., The female malady: women, madness and English culture 1830–1980 (London, 1987)Google Scholar; on Victorian invalidism specifically see Bailin, M., The sick-room in Victorian fiction: the art of being ill (Cambridge, 1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 For biographical material see her Autobiography, 3 vols. (London, 1877)Google Scholar; Miller, F. F., Harriet Martineau (London, 1884)Google Scholar. I am particularly indebted to the approach presented in David, D., Intellectual women and Victorian patriarchy: Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Eliot (Ithaca, 1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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14 See Autobiography, I, 25–70 and passim. This view also informed her view of the Corn Law as a violation of the laws of nature. See also Martineau, H., Dawn Island, a tale (London, 1845)Google Scholar; and Martineau, H., The factory controversy, a warning against ‘meddling legislation’ (London, 1855).Google Scholar

15 Martineau was also sought out by members of parliament for advice on how to present their proposals, and Henry Brougham gave her access to confidential papers when she popularized his tax reforms. See Martineau, H., Illustrations of taxation (London, 1834).Google Scholar

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19 E.g. Martineau, H., How to observe. Morals and manners (London, 1837).Google Scholar

20 E.g. Robertson, E., ‘Consistency’, North of England Magazine, II (London, 1843), 355.Google Scholar

21 Autobiography, II, 110.

22 See Autobiography, II, pp. 112–87, on tne production of Deerbrook in 1838.

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25 For visual portrayals of the nineteenth-century invalid see Wellcome Archives, negative L13909, slide 8909; and Pho. 12 194, neg. M 8622, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London. In each scene the invalid gazed off into the distance, lost in contemplation or preoccupation with her internal malaise, accompanied by two carers.

26 A. Jameson, (ed.), MrsSteuart, Erskine, Letters and friendships (1812–1860) (London, 1915), p. 207.Google Scholar

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28 Martineau to Monckton Milnes, 28 May [1843?], Houghton papers 1627(5).

29 Jameson, A., Letters and friendships, p. 210.Google Scholar

30 For some sense of the constituency of her frequent visitors, see the extracts of her journal published in Westman's, ‘Memorial’, pp. 227–31.Google Scholar

31 See the letters of this period written to Fanny Wedgwood in Arbuckle, E. S. (ed.), Harriet Martineau's letters to Fanny Wedgwood (Stanford, 1983)Google Scholar, and Jane Carlyle's comments to Jeannie Welsh, 26 Jan. 1845, in Ryals, C. L. and Fielding, K. J. (eds.), Collected letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle, 18 vols. (Durham, 1977–), XVIII, 34–5.Google Scholar

32 The contemporary impression of Sick-room's popularity should, however, be placed in the context of the low sales of Martineau's works during her illness. Sick-room's original print-run was 1,250 copies; it was released at the beginning of 1844, and had sold out by the end of February. See E. Moxon to H. Martineau, 6 Jan. 1844, Martineau papers, Birmingham University Library, HM 1129, 1130 and 1139.

33 Martineau to Monckton Milnes, 22 Dec. [1843?], Houghton papers 1650(5).

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36 Sick-room, p. 64.

37 Sick-room, p. 211.

38 The following pamphlets give some indication of the contemporary literature: Massingberd, F. C., Hints on the service for the visitation of the sick (Torquay, 1845)Google Scholar; Mylne, G. W., The sick room, or, meditations and prayers, for sick persons (London, 1850)Google Scholar; Sick chamber companion (London, 1843)Google Scholar. Sick room companion (London, 1844).Google Scholar

39 For instance, Harriet Martineau to Edward Bulwer Lytton, 26 Jan. 1841, 8 Feb. 1844, Bulwer Lytton papers, Hertfordshire Records Office, D/EK C4/5–20.

40 Monckton Milnes and Garrison were both moved to write poems dedicated to her. Pope-Hennessy, , Monckton Milnes: the years of promise 1809–1851 (London, 1949), p. 128Google Scholar, and Westman, , ‘Memorial’, pp. 250–1.Google Scholar

41 See Martineau to Henry Crabb Robinson, 14 Dec. 1843, Dr Williams's library; and Charles Knight to Martineau, HM 1109, Martineau papers, Birmingham University Library.

42 Martineau to Crabb Robinson, 14 Dec. 1843, Dr Williams's Library.

43 Crabb Robinson to Thomas Robinson, 5 Oct. 1844, Dr Williams's library.

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46 Martineau to Crabb Robinson, 3 Jan. 1844, Dr Williams's library. Martineau was quoting from a book (which I have not been able to find) by a Mrs Stanley, possibly Emma Stanley, wife of Edward Stanley (1799–1849), bishop of Norwich.

47 ‘Life in a sick-room’, Literary Gazette (20 Jan. 1844), p. 39.Google Scholar

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50 Ibid. p. 478.

51 Thomson, A. T. T., The domestic management of the sick-room, necessary, in aid of medical treatment, for the care of diseases (London, 1841), pp. 105, 116, 112Google Scholar. Gregory is cited throughout the text as an ideal clinician.

52 ‘I care most for the chance of being found capable of clairvoyance, whereby I might obtain that dear knowledge of my condition weh the doctors cannot afford.’ Martineau to Monckton Milnes [July 1844], Houghton papers 1667(1).

53 Martineau to Monckton Milnes, 31 May [1843?], Houghton papers 1629(1).

54 Parssinen, T., ‘Mesmeric performers’, Victorian Studies, XXI (1977), 87–104Google Scholar; Winter, A., ‘Ethereal epidemic: mesmerism and the introduction of ether anaesthesia to early Victorian London’, Social history of medicine (1991), pp. 1–27Google Scholar; Winter, A., ‘Mesmerism and popular culture in early Victorian England’, History of science, 32:96 (1994), 317–43CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed. Palfreman, J., ‘Mesmerism and the English medical profession: a study of a conflict’, Ethics in science and medicine, IV (1977), 51–66.Google Scholar

55 Martineau to Monckton Milnes, n.d. ‘Tuesday’, Houghton papers 1677; Martineau to Monckton Milnes, n.d., Houghton papers 1680.

56 2 Feb. 1845, Houghton 1661. Similarly, Martineau to George William Frederick Howard (Morpeth), 4 July 1845, Howard family papers, Castle Howard, J19/1/39/70.

57 Martineau to Monckton Milnes, 15 Dec. 1844, Houghton Papers 1681. See also Macpherson, G., Memoirs of the life of Anna Jameson (London, 1878), pp. 205–9.Google Scholar

58 Articles in the press include ‘Miss Martineau’, The Times (20 Nov. 1844), p. 6Google Scholar; ‘Miss Martineau and Mesmerism’, The Times (25 Nov. 1844), p. 8Google Scholar; ‘Miss Martineau and Mesmerism’, The Times (30 Nov. 1844), p.3Google Scholar. Charles Darwin's cousin W. D. Fox was one of many who contemplated a visit. See Darwin to Fox, 20 Dec. 1844 and 13 Feb. 1845, Fox papers, Christ's College, Cambridge. Others were William Gregory, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and Henry Atkinson, with whom Martineau embarked on a notorious partnership in materialist philosophy. See Atkinson, H. G. and Martineau, H., Letters on the laws of man's nature and development (London 1851).Google Scholar

59 Martineau to Monckton Milnes, 23 May [1845], Houghton papers 1662(1−2); Martineau to Monckton Milnes, n.d., Houghton Papers 1677.

60 [Brodie, B. C.?], ‘A few words by way of comment on Miss Martineau's statement’, Athenaeum (7 Dec. 1844), pp. 1198–1200Google Scholar. In a letter to Fox, Darwin identified Brodie as the author of the piece. Darwin to Fox, 20 Dec. 1844, Fox Papers, Christ's College, Cambridge. However, this is the only evidence I have found for the authorship of the review. The copy of the Athenaeum held at the City University of London, which is annotated with the names of many authors of articles in this period, does not identify the author of this piece; and Martineau herself referred only to the journal's editor. See Martineau to E. Moxon, ‘Monday’ [December 1844], MSS Eng. Lett. d.2, fo. 87, Bodleian Library.

61 There is an increasing literature on the politics of diagnosis and therapy in hysteria, e.g. Russett, C. E., Sexual science: the Victorian construction of womanhood (Cambridge, Mass., 1984)Google Scholar; Masson, J. M., A dark science: women, sexuality and psychiatry in the nineteenth century (New York, 1987)Google Scholar; and Shuttleworth, S., ‘Female circulation: Medical discourse and popular advertising in the mid-Victorian era’, in Jacobus, M., Keller, E. F. and Shuttleworth, S. (eds.), Body politics: women and the discourses of science (New York, 1990), pp. 47–68Google Scholar. The latter provides particularly interesting points for comparison with Martineau's case.

62 [Brodie, ?], ‘A few words’, p. 1199Google Scholar. See also ‘The absurdities of mesmerism’, London Medical Gazette, II (1843–1844), 705Google Scholar, anc ‘Clairvoyance’, Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal, IX (1845), 70–2, at p. 70.Google Scholar

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64 Brodie, B. C., Lectures illustrative of certain local nervous affections (London, 1837), p. 7.Google Scholar

65 And even some of the scientific sceptics were loath to reject mesmerism entirely. For instance, Darwin counselled ‘keep some cats… & do get some mesmerizer to make experiments upon them.’ Darwin to Fox, 20 Dec. 1844, Fox papers.

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70 Martineau, H., ‘Preface’, Letters on mesmerism, 2nd edn (London, 1845).Google Scholar

71 On these, the following Athenaeum articles are representative: ‘Miss Martineau in reply to the Athenaeum’ (4 Jan. 1845), p. 14Google Scholar; ‘Miss Martineau and mesmerism’ (15 March 1845), pp. 268–9Google Scholar; (29 March 1845), pp. 290–1; (5 April 1845), pp. 333–5; (12 April 1845), p. 361.

72 See ‘Discovery of the island of Mesmeria’, Mew Monthly Magazine, LXXIII (1845), 125–9.Google Scholar

73 See ‘Discovery of the island of Mesmeria’.

74 Relevant literature on other reforms of sick-room culture includes Porter, D. and Porter, R., In sickness and in health: the British experience 1650–1850 (London, 1988)Google Scholar and Smith, F. B., Florence Nightingale: reputation and power (London, 1982).Google Scholar

75 For instance, Elizabeth Barrett and Mary Russell Mitford. See Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and The life of Mary Russell Mitford, related in a selection from her letters to her friends.

76 The literature on the medical treatment of women for this period (apart from works already discussed) includes Poovey, M., Uneven developments: the ideological work of gender in mid-Victorian England (Chicago, 1988)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Moscucci, O., The science of woman: gynaecology and gender in England 1800–1929 (Cambridge, 1990)Google Scholar. On doctor/patient relationships and the patient's ‘voice’ see Jewson, N., ‘The disappearance of the sick man in medical cosmology 1770–1870’, Sociology, X (1976), 225–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fissell, M., ‘The disappearance of the patient's narrative and the invention of hospital medicine’Google Scholar, in French, and Wear, , British medicine, pp. 92–109.Google Scholar

77 For Martineau's experiments see Martineau to Monckton Milnes, 27 October 1844, Houghton papers 1678; 23 May [1845], 1662(2). On the ways in which one medical reformer worked to transform a servant into a scientific apparatus see Winter, A., ‘Mesmerism and popular culture in early Victorian England’.Google Scholar

78 Richardson, , Death, dissection and the destitute.Google Scholar

79 Toole, B. A. (ed.), Ada, the enchantress of numbers: a selection from the letters of Lord Byron's daughter and her description of the first computer (Mill Valley, California, 1992), p. 291Google Scholar; Showalter, E., The female malady: women, madness and English culture 1830–1980 (London, 1985), pp. 62–6Google Scholar; Smith, F. B., Florence Nightingale: reputation and power (New York, 1982)Google Scholar; Bailin, , The sick-room in Victorian fiction, pp. 30ff.Google Scholar

80 Richardson, , Death, dissection and the destitute (London, 1987).Google Scholar

81 For an example of such a project see the discussion of William Carpenter in Winter, A., ‘“The island of Mesmeria”: the politics of mesmerism in early Victorian Britain’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge, 1993), chapter 5Google Scholar. Carpenter was one of many who drew close links between their human sciences and their educational views, but insufficient work has yet been done to develop a composite picture.

82 Jordanova, L., ‘Has the social history of medicine come of age?’, Historical Journal, XXXVI (1993). 437–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar