John Conolly: Une figure méconnue de l’owénisme? L’influence conjointe de l’utilitarisme et du socialisme utopique sur la mise en œuvre de la réforme asilaire à Hanwell (1839-1852)

Abstract

An in-depth reform of the asylum system took place in Great Britain from the 1830s onwards, under the influence of Dr John Conolly, who succeeded in imposing a new model at Hanwell pauper lunatic asylum, near London, a model that was more respectful of the patients and based on the abandonment of mechanical restraint (non-restraint) combined with occupational therapy. The success of this system at Hanwell, the largest asylum in the country with over a thousand inmates, contributed to the spread of what became a form of psychiatric orthodoxy for the next thirty years. Far from being a strictly medical measure, this reform was anchored in a general reform of poor relief. In this respect, it was in line with the Poor Law of 1834 (inspired by Jeremy Bentham, notably under the aegis of Edwin Chadwick, secretary of the Poor Law Commission). This reform was also part of a more political reflection on the extension of civil and social rights for the working classes, in particular under the impetus of John Conolly: his personality and his political commitments, in favour of Chartism, his participation in popular education movements such as the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and his links with Lord Brougham and Robert Owen make him a particularly representative figure of the reformers of the time, moving in complementary circles with porous boundaries. This study thus sets out to demonstrate the combined influence of utilitarianism and utopian socialism on lunacy reform and its implementation at Hanwell Asylum.