‘Idiots’ in Eighteenth-Century London Families and Communities: Evidence from Old Bailey Trials

Abstract

This article examines fifty trials held at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London between 1690 and 1830 which featured individuals (mostly defendants) characterised as ‘idiots’ or similar, broadly correlating with people characterised as people with learning disabilities today. Evidence from the trials, including witness testimony, character witness statements, court verdicts and testimony from the defendants themselves suggest that many lived integrated lives in their families and communities rather than being marginalised or abused. Many worked, and were supported by social networks of family, neighbours and work mates, including employers. There is barely any evidence of institutionalisation. The early years of the nineteenth century saw a hardening of attitudes in court verdicts and testimony, and reduction in the tolerance and acceptance shown in earlier trials, presaging the institutionalisation of the idiot population which occurred later in the nineteenth century.