« Reply #11 on: Friday 04 August 17 14:27 BST (UK) »
Poor man. I wonder if he was tried in court.
Attempting suicide was illegal and a punishable crime. The UK decriminalised suicide in 1961 and Eire followed suit in 1993.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1993/act/11/enacted/en/print
CRIMINAL LAW (SUICIDE) ACT, 1993
AN ACT TO ABOLISH THE OFFENCE OF SUICIDE
This Act shall come into operation one month after the date of its passing.
Suicide shall cease to be a crime.
Hi
Thanks for that link. I'm surprised how relatively recently it was decriminalised although a quick check online shows that it is still a crime in several countries outside Europe.
There was no reference in the asylum documents to suggest that he was charged with an offence. I do know though that his online army record refers to a Court of Inquiry held before he was discharged. (I assume that was an internal army investigation). Unfortunately, the result/outcome was not detailed amongst the other online records. Presumably, there will be a record of this held somewhere. I need to dig deeper!
Regards
Spence Chaplin
I know of two people detained in England due to mental instability. Early this century my pal's son was brought before a court for being "troublesome" in a chemist shop. He'd been a regular soldier serving in the army but since arriving in civvy street his mother noticed a change in his behaviour The judge sentenced him to 6 months in jail and thereafter to be detained under the Mental Health Act. Fortunately he was discharged from the sanitarium after being treated for PTSD (shell shock).
The other instance was a married female cousin of my mother. Their generation was born at the outset of the 20th century. She'd had three children and had sunk into a depression when her husband and two doctors signed a document that put her into what was termed "the loony bin" when I was young. Her siblings thought she had what was termed "the baby blues" and after treatment they tried to get her released but in those days the husband had to sign the release papers and he refused to do so. During the following years the family visited her in the asylum and as time passed it became obvious to them that she had become confused and institutionalised and could never live an independent life in the outside world.
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