Esther Dyson

The question of mental capacity comes into question in the case of Esther Dyson. Murder of a child in Victorian times was not regarded as any less despicable than today, but this 24-year-old woman may have been treated rather differently today.

In 1830 Esther was accused of murdering her illegitimate daughter. Bad enough? Maybe worse when you hear she attempted to sever her newborn child’s head with a knife before attempting to hide the body by throwing it in a dam. Appalled? Read on.

Esther was acquitted on the grounds of insanity – although the ‘insanity’ was probably due to her being deaf and dumb since birth. Feeling more lenient? There’s more.

Contemporary newspaper reports claimed her disabilities were rather exaggerated, describing her as ‘shrewd’ and ‘an intelligent woman’ who well ‘knew right from wrong’. In a crowded court at Leeds in March 1831 was asked how she pleaded but failed to respond – so the members of the jury were asked to determine whether the prisoner stood mute ‘by malice or by thr visitation of God’. The jury blamed the Almighty.

One called to give evidence, Mrs Ann Briggs, had known the prisoner of almost ten years and stated she doubted whether Esther had any idea of what was happening in the courts. But Mrs Briggs admitted Esther certainly knew the difference between right and wrong.

The judge, reluctant to try Esther, instructed the jury to decide whether she was insane, in which case she would be detained at His Majesty’s pleasure. This is what happened and the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield became her home from 24 November 1831 until her death on 2 March 1869 at the age of 62.

It is recorded that she was regularly employed as a housemaid, and showed no symptoms of insanity during her more than three decades at Wakefield.

Was she insane? Should she hang? What do you think?

Sheer Madness

So many ways of saying ‘crazy’, so let’s take an etymologist’s look at their origins. (I must be mad….)

Crazy originally meant ‘diseased, sickly, when first seen in the 1570s, by the following decade the use had changed to ‘broken, impaired’, and the modern ‘of unsound mind’ first appears around 1610.

Berserk, or more often berserker, referred to a Norse warrior around 1835, having been introduced by Sir Walter Scott in The Pirate in 1822. It is derived from the Old Norse and originally meant ‘a warrior in a bearskin’.

Mad has had the modern meaning since the 13th century. It originated from Proto-Indo-European mei ‘to change’.

Insane, first seen in the middle of the 16th century, is older than the opposite of ‘sane’ which doesn’t appear until 1721.

Bonkers dates from 1948, derived from the idea that a ‘bonk’ (on the head) would render one senseless. Note from 1957, ‘bonkers’ was British naval slang for ‘slightly drunk’.

Out to lunch is first seen in 1955, the idea being to convey that a person ‘wasn’t there’.

Fruitcake is used to describe one of questionable sanity from 1952. Nutty as a fruitcake predates the shorter version, appearing in the 1930s. Confusing, but correct for traditional fruitcake contained fruit and nuts.

Unstable is first seen at the beginning of the 13th century, when it was used solely to mean ‘liable to fall’.

Lunatic appears in the late 13th century, coming from the Latin luna as the moon has long been related to questionable sanity.

Barking, an abbreviation of ‘barking mad’, first appears in 1925 and alludes to an association with mad or rabid dogs.

Non compos mentis first appears in English law in 1607 in the writings of John Cowell.

Mad as a March hare is likely to have first appeared in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1368, but did not gain widespread popularity until the publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Mad as a hatter appears in 1829, much earlier than Lewis Carroll’s work in 1865. Hatters used mercuric nitrate to process fur for felt hats, this known to cause neurological problems at times.

Batty appears first in 1899.

Stark raving is attributed to playwright John Beaumont in the 1640s, but popularity had to wait until 1734 and Henry Fielding’s The Intriguing Chambermaid

Doolally is British slang first appearing in 1917, correctly doolally tap this being the Urdu for ‘fever’ in the military camp of Deolali near Bombay, India established in 1861.

Not the full shilling first appears in the 1970s, which is also the time the shilling became decimalized as five pence.

Away with the fairies became popular in the late 19th century, but had been in use in Scotland since 1636 when appearing in a poem as ‘dance with the fairies’.

Out of one’s tree has been used since the mid 1960s, when it also referred to intoxication.

Gaga appears in 1920, coming from the French meaning ‘senile’.

Bananas is used in this context for the first time in 1968 – earlier, since 1935, it described sexual perversion.

Loco is American slang from 1844, coming from the Spanish with the same meaning.

Frog Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘bite’ and now look at ‘frog’.

Leapfrog refers to any number of games since at least the 16th century. The present version is first described in 1898. Of more interest are the versions found in other countries: France has ‘leapsheep’; the Dutch, Chinese and the Romanians ‘leap goats’; India it is ‘horse leap’; Italy has ‘leap small or baby horse’; Filipino version is ‘leap cow’; Koreans have ‘pile driving’; and Japanese also ‘leap horse’.

Frog in your throat, describing one with a perceived ‘croaky’ voice, is first seen in 1892; although the phrase is used from the middle of the 17th century to refer to someone with a swelling in their neck.

Frog march dates from 1871, when it referred to police officers carrying a drunken or otherwise awkward prisoner. This involved four individuals, each holding one limb, carrying the offender face down. Since the 1930s this usually refers to someone being taken away with an arm (or two) behind their backs.

Bullfrogs have only been known as such since 1738, called such because of their loud call.

Frogman is used to describe scuba divers in suits from 1945.

And with only a few commonly heard phrases, I thought it might be fun to include some, at least to my mind, some few if any will have heard before.

A Big Frog In A Small Pond, essentially uses frog instead of fish.

Frog Face, is an insult as frogs are not considered particularly attractive (so why do so many princesses kiss the things in folklore?)

A Frog Choker, is a reference to heavy rain which is enough to choke a frog.

Frog Slicing, apparently a reference to anatomy classes in school which invariably involve chopping up frogs. I was ill the day the things were brought into school to go under the knife, I don’t think I’ve suffered too much from missing out.

To Be As Cross As A Frog In A Sock, a very strange expression using ten syllables to mean ‘angry’ which has but two syllables.

Like Herding Frogs, where frogs have replaced cats. I would think it easier to herd frogs than cats, indeed I would have thought it easier to herd anything than it would be cats.

Fine As Frog Hair, sometimes Frog Fuzz, describes something as excellent.

To Eat The Frog, is to begin the day with the most difficult task and thus everything else on the agenda is easier. Perhaps this is why magistrate courts always decide to sit on the most difficult case first, thus keeping as many as possible waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and …..

As Mad As A Box Of Frogs, is the same as a bag of wet mice, and many other containers of creatures not normally found in such.

To Juggle Frogs, is to attempt to multitask to the point where nothing gets done.

A Boiling Frog, a situation which isn’t seen as bad until it’s too late to do anything about it.

To Know No More Than A Frog Knows About Bedsheets, is an odd expression suggesting the individual knows little or less about a subject.

If Frogs Had Wings They Wouldn’t Bump Their Butts When They Hop, is simply wishing for something that are simply impossible. Wishing for the moon would be a more common version.

Frog, as a derogatory term for a Frenchman, came to Britain in the First World War. Prior to that it was used by those from the Benelux countries, and earlier still by the French to describe Parisians and thought to derive from the toads once appearing on the emblem of the French capital.

Criminal?

Esther Dyson was in court in York on 31st March 1831 for cutting off her child's head and throwing the body behind a dam to conceal the evidence. She had been deaf and dumb since birth and it was claimed she was insane. At the trial the judge asked the jury to consider one point, was her apparent inability to comprehend what was happening real or not? Was this a good act, or was this God's will? They decided it was the latter and she was acquitted, Yet later a Mrs Ann Briggs came forward and claimed she was more than capable of understanding, she had known her for eight or nine years, and should not have been acquitted. Esther was sent to West Riding Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield where she is reported to have performed tasks associated with a housemaid without trouble until her death on 2nd March 1869 at the age of 62.

Insane Inclines

In 1857 Lord Shaftesbury published his supplemental report on the state of workhouses in England and Wales. Figures showed the number of 'insane, idiotic and imbecile inmates' at the various workhouses in Staffordshire numbered 239, of which 89 were male. In the county town of Stafford 7 males and 12 females were considered insane, this out of a total of 7,555 in England and Wales.

It was stated these numbers were not spread evenly throughout England and Wales, remote rural locations would have a much higher percentage than those in more populous localities. Furthermore, this was particularly true in the hilly parts of the country.

It seems altitude was considered a factor in 19th century insanity.