ABSTRACT
On Boxing Day 1851, Charles Dickens attended the patients’ Christmas dance at St Luke’s Hospital for the Insane. On describing his visit in an article for Household Words, he commented that the experience of the asylum proved that insanity was more prevalent among women than men. Of the 18 759 inmates over the century, 11 162 had been women. He adds: ‘It is well known that female servants are more frequently affected by lunacy than any other class of persons.’
