The petition [to the Court Chancery] of Richard Saumarez ... elder brother of Frederick Walshman Saumarez, now placed at the Porto Bello farm, Kensington ... by ... [the] Committees of the said lunatic / [Richard Saumarez].

  • Saumarez, Richard, Vice-Admiral, 1791-1866.
Date:
[1850]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The petition [to the Court Chancery] of Richard Saumarez ... elder brother of Frederick Walshman Saumarez, now placed at the Porto Bello farm, Kensington ... by ... [the] Committees of the said lunatic / [Richard Saumarez]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    dated June, 21st, 1830, was divided into specific sums for specific purposes, as therein set forth : To Dr. Waine, for his medical advice and atten-} tion, surveillance, and occasional use of carriage] For said Companion's salary... For clothes for the said Lunatic . To provide for a second attendant, and for books, amusements, washing, and contingencies to be incurred on the said Lunatic . <£315 26 30 42 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 £413 0 0 - And although the reports of the Masters in the Orders of the Court to succeeding Committees do not set out these specifiations, the allowance of £413 was grounded upon the presumption of those specifications being carried out, I beg to call the attention of the Master to the letter of Wrs. Wise, as showing that the amount paid to her for the keep of my Brother and his Companion by Dr. Clut- terbuck and Mr. Benett, was £200 a-year, since which the expenses of board has decreased by the removal of a Companion. 1 would further bring under his notice the affidavit of Mr. Sandall, the Com¬ panion, dated July 21st, 1842, detailing the whole of the expenses, which shews an expenditure only of £284 : 16s., being £115 : 4s. less than the income entrusted to Dr. Clutterbuck and Mr. W. Benett, solicitor, to be disbursed upon my Brother. I respectfully submit that so far from my Brother’s comforts having been improved, his position has been converted into one of perfect isolation;—all communication with his Family has subsided, even his Companion is discharged, although Dr. Clutterbuck in his affidavit, dated August 1st, 1842, saith—11 * It is not true as “ stated in the said affidavit of the said Bichard Saumarez, that the said “ Lunatic is in a state fit to be relieved from the care of keepers,” by which the expenses of Mrs. Wise as to keep, has been reduced, and the expenses of the Committee as to Companion’s salary of £37 : 16,s*. saved. My occasional visits are merely to ascertain if any change has taken place. The agony of my sister G-m at this state of things, is only equalled by the contrast of satisfaction which his other Sister (whose health precludes her from visiting her Brother’s residence,) expresses at the care the Committee nominated by her Solicitor, takes of my Brother. I however feel it is a solemn duty for me to submit these facts to the Master, to whom this case stands referred, and to report that although this year there has been a slight deviation in my Brother’s monotonous existence, by his having been taken down to the sea side, yet his position has been one which can only tend to destroy the intellect, instead of restoring its influences. He now lives by himself, being entirely isolated in the farm¬ house of a cow-keeper and dairyman; thus bis mind is in a palsy—• bis faculties are benumbed, and although the associations of family, and the exercise of kindness, and the amenities of social life, are indispensable to the health of the mind,—these essentials, under