There were several words used for different types of mental afflictions in those days. In modern times those words are used as insults (even abuse) and we have lost the medical definition the Victorians meant. Of course Victorian treatment of people with mental afflictions is now seen as abusive in itself.
Anne
Nor would I take too much notice of one census! I have a man described as imbecile in one census, but ever after he is a shop keeper, so either the first census was a genuine mistake (clerical error) on someone's part, or there was line slippage and the word applies to someone else, or it was malice on the part of the enumerator. I would only ever take it as a genuine "diagnosis" if the word was consistent on all census, or the person was in an institution.
It was in a magazine called Your Family Tree (Future Publishing) issue 17, Nov. 2004. An article called "Witches, idiots, imbeciles and lunatics".
It states:
Idiot: this was precisely defined in some of the early legislation as any individual with a mental age of under three years.
Imbecile: Again, defined in legislation as someone with low to moderate mental deficiency and a mental age of between two and seven years.
Lunatic: Obsolete legal term for a mentally ill person, originally derived from a supposed connection between mental illness and the moon's phases.
and er..
Batty: The word is derived from Dr Battie, the custodian of St Luke's Asylum in London in 1751.
They do not give any precise reference for where they found this info - there is a list of 7 sources at the end of the article.
Hope this is of some help.
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