Unique Late Victorian Leather Satchel; Heigham Hall Lunatic Asylum C.1890

The unique Victorian satchel or dispatch case in wonderfully supple quality leather hide, with leather strap, lock and belt slip to the reverse, adorned with an oval brass cartouche plaque being hand engraved “Heigham Hall”, referring to the private lunatic asylum in Norwich, England, the whole containing associated letters and surviving from the third quarter of the nineteenth century.

The bag is beautifully tactile and has not been meddled with whatsoever. The leather strap that would enter the buckle is fairly worn but remains serviceable. Part of the buckle itself is missing. The condition is commensurate with age, showing signs of use and wear that enhance its authenticity and charm.

The cases construction what with the straps to the reverse points to it possibly being used on horseback as mentioned in the letters. Moreover, the accompanying ephemera consists of a photocopy of the site of the hall, a letter from a certain Maurice Smotham who’s grandfather lived at the hall and wanted to acquire the bag, and a further letter discussing the sale of the bag by visiting ‘Strangers Hall’.

The construction of asylums was widespread in Britain following The Lunacy Act of 1845, which resulted primarily from the work of John Connolly and Lord Shaftsbury. This act professionalised the asylum and ensured that each institution was mediated by the local authority. It marked a paradigmatic shift, wherein ‘lunatics’ began to be considered as patients instead of prisoners.

The Heigham Private Lunatic Asylum – “The Retreat” or “Heigham Retreat” was an asylum for ‘patients belonging to the upper and middle classes’ and was probably the last privately owned lunatic asylum in the country. The Hall, formerly The Grange, was partly renovated by butcher Lowden around 1810 ‘in modern style’. Then, in 1836, it opened as a private mental home, managed by Drs John Ferra Watson and William Peter Nichols. Heigham Hall had set itself up in competition with an establishment near Park Lane known as Heigham Retreat – the word ‘retreat’ signifying its use as a private asylum.

The main work of the lunatic asylum was treating alcohol addiction. From Reading Pathological Society December 11 1850; " The records of every asylum bear testimony that a large per centage of cases of insanity is due directly to drunkenness; but there are no records, and no means of procuring more than indirect evidence of the vast amount of insanity produced secondarily by the same great evil. All medical authorities are aware that this is a gradually increasing evil, and that the children of intemperate parents are more predisposed to insanity than the children of the more moral. There is little necessity for enlarging, in the present state of medical knowledge, on the well-known fact; but it is urgently necesary to consider the best means of remedying this tremendous evil". The lunatic asylum also treated fallen women and contained a brewery.

The combination of not knowing who used the case, the academic intrigue and the tangible connection to the historical context of mental health treatment makes this a highly desirable collector’s item.