Sarah Wise
@misssarahwise.bsky.social
Historian, researcher, author
misssarahwise.co.uk
https://linktr.ee/misssarahwise
Latest book:
https://tinyurl.com/3nkxewvj
misssarahwise.co.uk
https://linktr.ee/misssarahwise
Latest book:
https://tinyurl.com/3nkxewvj
Not beautiful, but alluring in its own way to a Victorianist nerd (me), hangs right opposite: 'The First London School Board in About 1873', with integral who's who captioning
December 3, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Not beautiful, but alluring in its own way to a Victorianist nerd (me), hangs right opposite: 'The First London School Board in About 1873', with integral who's who captioning
Took the students to the FANTASTIC (and free) Guildhall Art Gallery today and spotted this: 'The Youth Our Lord' (1847) by John Rogers Herbert, the clear inspiration for Millais' 'Christ in the House of His Parents' 3 years later. Just beautiful
December 3, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Took the students to the FANTASTIC (and free) Guildhall Art Gallery today and spotted this: 'The Youth Our Lord' (1847) by John Rogers Herbert, the clear inspiration for Millais' 'Christ in the House of His Parents' 3 years later. Just beautiful
They were in with these, but I don't know the breed. Interesting horn variations
November 30, 2025 at 6:04 PM
They were in with these, but I don't know the breed. Interesting horn variations
Super-friendly Valais Blacknose sheep came over to say hello on today's Herts ramble
November 30, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Super-friendly Valais Blacknose sheep came over to say hello on today's Herts ramble
My study day on 19th-Century Mental Health History is now booking: hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
It’s at Highgate Lit & Sci on Sat 13 Dec, and among the contested diagnoses we’ll explore are: ‘moral insanity’, monomania, hysteria, melancholia, post-natal psychosis, ‘general paralysis of the insane’
It’s at Highgate Lit & Sci on Sat 13 Dec, and among the contested diagnoses we’ll explore are: ‘moral insanity’, monomania, hysteria, melancholia, post-natal psychosis, ‘general paralysis of the insane’
November 24, 2025 at 4:30 PM
My study day on 19th-Century Mental Health History is now booking: hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
It’s at Highgate Lit & Sci on Sat 13 Dec, and among the contested diagnoses we’ll explore are: ‘moral insanity’, monomania, hysteria, melancholia, post-natal psychosis, ‘general paralysis of the insane’
It’s at Highgate Lit & Sci on Sat 13 Dec, and among the contested diagnoses we’ll explore are: ‘moral insanity’, monomania, hysteria, melancholia, post-natal psychosis, ‘general paralysis of the insane’
It’s eerie, it’s a bit revolting, it’s rammed with local and social history – my ‘Bodysnatching & Anatomy in London’ study day this Saturday is now booking, at Highgate Lit & Sci, Sat 22 November, 10.30am:
hlsi.org.uk/courses/day-...
hlsi.org.uk/courses/day-...
November 18, 2025 at 10:02 PM
It’s eerie, it’s a bit revolting, it’s rammed with local and social history – my ‘Bodysnatching & Anatomy in London’ study day this Saturday is now booking, at Highgate Lit & Sci, Sat 22 November, 10.30am:
hlsi.org.uk/courses/day-...
hlsi.org.uk/courses/day-...
'Tickets going fast' says Eventbrite (no idea how true it is whenever they say that).
Here are the two asylums that John Clare spent time in: 1) Fairmead House at High Beach nr Epping; and 2) Northampton General/St Andrew's (opened in 1838)
Here are the two asylums that John Clare spent time in: 1) Fairmead House at High Beach nr Epping; and 2) Northampton General/St Andrew's (opened in 1838)
November 12, 2025 at 5:04 PM
'Tickets going fast' says Eventbrite (no idea how true it is whenever they say that).
Here are the two asylums that John Clare spent time in: 1) Fairmead House at High Beach nr Epping; and 2) Northampton General/St Andrew's (opened in 1838)
Here are the two asylums that John Clare spent time in: 1) Fairmead House at High Beach nr Epping; and 2) Northampton General/St Andrew's (opened in 1838)
5/ This conflated chronic poverty with being ‘mentally defective’. And so, many who had no intellectual difficulties would find themselves scooped up into the mental deficiency system, more or less because they were poor and had nowhere else to be placed
November 10, 2025 at 6:31 PM
5/ This conflated chronic poverty with being ‘mentally defective’. And so, many who had no intellectual difficulties would find themselves scooped up into the mental deficiency system, more or less because they were poor and had nowhere else to be placed
4/ As if that wasn’t draconian enough, two other clauses of 1913 permitted the detention of any pregnant female / new mother of an illegitimate child while in receipt of welfare; plus any person deemed 'abandoned, neglected or without visible means of support'
November 10, 2025 at 6:28 PM
4/ As if that wasn’t draconian enough, two other clauses of 1913 permitted the detention of any pregnant female / new mother of an illegitimate child while in receipt of welfare; plus any person deemed 'abandoned, neglected or without visible means of support'
3/ Unlike the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, detention for young British ‘moral defectives’ was for life. And it was originally on eugenic lines: detain ‘undesirables’ in sex-segregated institutions and they couldn’t breed the next generation of troublesome folk – so the thinking went
November 10, 2025 at 6:26 PM
3/ Unlike the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, detention for young British ‘moral defectives’ was for life. And it was originally on eugenic lines: detain ‘undesirables’ in sex-segregated institutions and they couldn’t breed the next generation of troublesome folk – so the thinking went
🧵
2/ The Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 introduced a new psychiatric category – the ‘moral defective’. Regardless of IQ, an individual deemed to be hopelessly recidivist was to be warehoused permanently in one of the new Mental Deficiency Colonies
2/ The Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 introduced a new psychiatric category – the ‘moral defective’. Regardless of IQ, an individual deemed to be hopelessly recidivist was to be warehoused permanently in one of the new Mental Deficiency Colonies
November 10, 2025 at 6:24 PM
🧵
2/ The Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 introduced a new psychiatric category – the ‘moral defective’. Regardless of IQ, an individual deemed to be hopelessly recidivist was to be warehoused permanently in one of the new Mental Deficiency Colonies
2/ The Mental Deficiency Act of 1913 introduced a new psychiatric category – the ‘moral defective’. Regardless of IQ, an individual deemed to be hopelessly recidivist was to be warehoused permanently in one of the new Mental Deficiency Colonies
If you’re around, I’ll be talking at the Highgate Lit & Sci on Monday (17th) 2pm, about my latest book. The Undesirables tells the story of the lives impacted by a terrible piece of UK legislation (which operated for 46 years)
hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
November 10, 2025 at 6:21 PM
If you’re around, I’ll be talking at the Highgate Lit & Sci on Monday (17th) 2pm, about my latest book. The Undesirables tells the story of the lives impacted by a terrible piece of UK legislation (which operated for 46 years)
hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
hlsi.org.uk/courses/hist...
The Bethnal Green rhinocerous, of which there were hordes, in some warmer epoch. Or so the Eastern Argus alleged (4 April 1885)
November 8, 2025 at 5:38 PM
The Bethnal Green rhinocerous, of which there were hordes, in some warmer epoch. Or so the Eastern Argus alleged (4 April 1885)
Headache? Bad eyesight? Just shove salt, rosemary, orris-root & lavender in your eyes – the ingredients in Grimstone’s famous (fraudulent) eye snuff, for which this is his advert.
On the left is the start of today’s Charing X Rd (yesterday’s Crown St) and in the mid distance, St Giles-in-the-Fields
On the left is the start of today’s Charing X Rd (yesterday’s Crown St) and in the mid distance, St Giles-in-the-Fields
November 8, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Headache? Bad eyesight? Just shove salt, rosemary, orris-root & lavender in your eyes – the ingredients in Grimstone’s famous (fraudulent) eye snuff, for which this is his advert.
On the left is the start of today’s Charing X Rd (yesterday’s Crown St) and in the mid distance, St Giles-in-the-Fields
On the left is the start of today’s Charing X Rd (yesterday’s Crown St) and in the mid distance, St Giles-in-the-Fields
Nuking my original website sarahwise.co.uk/index.html this weekend. So you may wish to have a final tool around for things I cut out of my first three books - miscellanea on London's social history, 19th century mental health history, and my early journalism/TV/radio &c
November 7, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Nuking my original website sarahwise.co.uk/index.html this weekend. So you may wish to have a final tool around for things I cut out of my first three books - miscellanea on London's social history, 19th century mental health history, and my early journalism/TV/radio &c
In the same ledger, Miss A Arnott furious that the police No Further Actioned the murder (alleged) of her cat
October 31, 2025 at 5:40 PM
In the same ledger, Miss A Arnott furious that the police No Further Actioned the murder (alleged) of her cat
From the HO/45 series at the National Archives, file of anonymous intel supplied to the Metropolitan Police: ‘East London Cemetery said to be a night burying place for murdered girls’ (June 1906)
October 31, 2025 at 5:37 PM
From the HO/45 series at the National Archives, file of anonymous intel supplied to the Metropolitan Police: ‘East London Cemetery said to be a night burying place for murdered girls’ (June 1906)
[elbows way through slew of Halloween posts] It’s eerie, it’s a bit revolting, it’s rammed with history – my ‘Bodysnatching & Anatomy in London’ study day is now booking, at Highgate Lit & Sci, Sat 22 November:
hlsi.org.uk/courses/day-...
hlsi.org.uk/courses/day-...
October 31, 2025 at 5:31 PM
[elbows way through slew of Halloween posts] It’s eerie, it’s a bit revolting, it’s rammed with history – my ‘Bodysnatching & Anatomy in London’ study day is now booking, at Highgate Lit & Sci, Sat 22 November:
hlsi.org.uk/courses/day-...
hlsi.org.uk/courses/day-...
Mrs Hilton’s Creche & Home accommodated around 100 nippers at 12-16 Stepney Causeway so that mum & dad could go to work. It was one of the first such facilities, opening c.1870 and cost 1d a day. Mrs H's thinking was that you would keep families out of the workhouse if parents could earn full time
September 21, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Mrs Hilton’s Creche & Home accommodated around 100 nippers at 12-16 Stepney Causeway so that mum & dad could go to work. It was one of the first such facilities, opening c.1870 and cost 1d a day. Mrs H's thinking was that you would keep families out of the workhouse if parents could earn full time
2/ She said: ‘He climbed about just like a cat, and his ways were dark of manner and strange generally. He mysteriously disappeared and was heard of no more. The police did not trace him.’ Mrs Finn claimed two of the victims had also made use of her rescue mission.
(Booth Notebook B/226, p4)
(Booth Notebook B/226, p4)
September 21, 2025 at 4:40 PM
2/ She said: ‘He climbed about just like a cat, and his ways were dark of manner and strange generally. He mysteriously disappeared and was heard of no more. The police did not trace him.’ Mrs Finn claimed two of the victims had also made use of her rescue mission.
(Booth Notebook B/226, p4)
(Booth Notebook B/226, p4)
Yet ANOTHER candidate for Jack the Ripper. (Does it ever end?) Mrs S Finn, a ‘somewhat remarkable old lady of 84’, was a Whitechapel mission worker. She told Booth's Life and Labour inquiry the killer was a ‘mysterious foreign sailor' who'd lodged at her shelter when some of the killings occurred
1/
1/
September 21, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Yet ANOTHER candidate for Jack the Ripper. (Does it ever end?) Mrs S Finn, a ‘somewhat remarkable old lady of 84’, was a Whitechapel mission worker. She told Booth's Life and Labour inquiry the killer was a ‘mysterious foreign sailor' who'd lodged at her shelter when some of the killings occurred
1/
1/
Come and do my Victorian London 'Lowlife' Novel course or 'Alf' might have to come round & 'ave a word... Starts 17 October! @citylit.bsky.social
Full reading list here: www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/the-...
Full reading list here: www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/the-...
September 16, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Come and do my Victorian London 'Lowlife' Novel course or 'Alf' might have to come round & 'ave a word... Starts 17 October! @citylit.bsky.social
Full reading list here: www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/the-...
Full reading list here: www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/the-...
A sunny evening in Otranto for the annual festival of la Madonna dell'Altomare. it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna...
We're just about to walk her to the sea
We're just about to walk her to the sea
September 7, 2025 at 4:23 PM
A sunny evening in Otranto for the annual festival of la Madonna dell'Altomare. it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna...
We're just about to walk her to the sea
We're just about to walk her to the sea