This page is part of a website based on the life and achievements of eighteenth-century inventor Henry Cort.  Please email site controller Eric Alexander with any comments or queries.

 

 

ILLNESS OF CORT'S SON

 

Much of this material is derived from evidence given at a hearing in Calcutta in 1802 (PRO, KB101/4/15).  The earliest evidence of young Henry in Bengal may be Robert Downie's testimony of knowing him "for six or seven years".  Assuming that period terminates in Henry's leaving India in 1800, his arrival may be in 1793 or even earlier.  However, if the end date is that of the hearing, then Michael Cheese's testimony of having seen him "eight years ago in Dinapore" is more significant, and his arrival may have been as late as 1794.

 

Either way, we can be sure that Henry cousin's John Harman Becher is already there when he arrives, as is his mother's cousin Edward Burges (whose illegitimate daughter Henry later marries), and probably Edward's father Thomas.

 

It seems Henry is engaged in an indigo-growing venture that may keep him away from Calcutta when his brother Coningsby and (probably) sister Harriet arrive with James Watson in 1796.  Watson's party is cordially received by the Burges, whose friend Thomas Dowell marries Harriet the following year (there is a difference of some 18 years in their ages).  Other evidence shows Coningsby leaving in 1798, so it is doubtful whether he witnesses the episode that leads to Henry’s confinement in a mental hospital.

 

By 1798 young Henry's indigo-growing venture has failed, and he is in Calcutta, staying with his cousin John Harman Becher.  Becher's marriage has broken up: he is evidently in a bachelor apartment.

 

On 29th March Becher entertains William Blackstone and John Stapleton to dinner.  Blackstone later testifies that Henry is "in very low spirits", evidently having just heard about the death of his sister Maria in England the previous June.

 

Stapleton reckons Henry owes him money.  Next morning he sends a reminder.

 

Henry's reaction is extreme.

 

He asks his brother-in-law Thomas Dowell to come round immediately.

 

When Dowell arrives, Becher says he is worried about his guest's state of mind.

 

Henry can hear voices in the next apartment, accusing him of bestial acts.  He identifies one voice as Stapleton's.

 

He wishes to challenge Stapleton to a duel.  Will Dowell act as his second?

 

Neither Dowell nor Becher can hear these voices.  Later witnesses will testify that Stapleton never visited the next-door apartment.

 

Dowell and Becher call in a doctor from the local mental hospital, and ask to have Henry confined there.

 

Two weeks elapse before Henry can be admitted.  During this period he becomes increasingly violent and unpredictable.  Dowell arranges a roster of soldiers to guard the apartment.

 

Henry remains in hospital for nearly two years.  Staff will testify to further violent behaviour.  One visitor, however, says he found young Henry "spoke sensibly on all subjects but one".

 

I endeavoured to persuade him to lay aside this nonsense as the only means of procuring his release and he immediately began to suspect me of some concealed design against him.

 

   Evidence of Robert Downie at Calcutta hearing, March 1802

 

Eventually the authorities decide his best chance of a cure is a return to England.  He leaves aboard the Rose on 1st March 1800.

 

He is on the high seas when his father dies in May.

 

Later he sues Captain Orrok of the Rose for keeping him confined in his cabin, as though he were mad!  Records of the hearings in Calcutta are preserved at the National Archives (KB101/4/15).

 

Henry's subsequent marriage and voyage to Berbice (where he dies) suggest that his mental health does improve on his return to England.

 

 

Related pages

 

Henry Cort’s family

Burges and Attwick connections

Becher connections

Cort family characteristics

 

Life of Henry Cort

 

henrycort.net

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