Looking after Miss Alexander : care, mental capacity, and the Court of Protection in mid-twentieth-century England / Janet Weston.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weston, Janet, author.

Series:

States, people, and the history of social change.

States, people, and the history of social change

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mental illness--Prevention.

Mental illness.

Mental health.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (193 pages).

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023.

Summary:

In July 1939, at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, fifty-nine-year-old Beatrice Alexander was found incapable of managing her own property and affairs. Although Alexander and those living with her insisted that she was perfectly well, the official solicitor took control of her home and money, evicted her "friends," and hired a live-in companion to watch over her. Alexander remained legally incapable for the next thirty years. In the mid-twentieth century, Alexander was one of about thirty thousand people in England and Wales who were, at any time, legally "incapable" and under the auspices of what is now the Court of Protection. Focusing on the period between the 1920s and the 1960s, Looking After Miss Alexander explains the workings of the court, using Alexander's unusual case to consider the complexities of this aspect of mental health law. Drawing on Court of Protection archives - some of which were made publicly available for the first time in 2019 - and micro-historical methods, Janet Weston also highlights the role of chance, subjectivity, and uncertainty in shaping how events unfolded then, and the stories we tell about those events today. An engaging and accessible history of mental capacity law, Looking After Miss Alexander examines ideas of citizenship and welfare, gender and vulnerability, care and control, and the role of the state. It also offers reflections on historical research and writing itself.

Contents:

Looking After Miss Alexander Care, Mental Capacity, and the Court of Protection in Mid-Twentieth-Century England

Cover

Half Title Page

Series Editors

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

CONTENTS

FIGURES

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

LOOKING AFTER MISS ALEXANDER

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: ORIGINS

INTRODUCING THE LUNACY OFFICE

INTRODUCING MISS ALEXANDER

RESPONDING TO MENTAL WEAKNESS

CHAPTER 2: TURNING TO THE COURTS

LUNACY OFFICE APPLICANTS

UNDERSTANDING DR STEPHENSON

REQUESTING A RECEIVER

CHAPTER 3: FOUND INCAPABLE EVALUATING MISS ALEXANDER

CONTESTING INCAPACITY

THE FINAL DECISION

CHAPTER 4: PROVIDING CARE

CARE IN THE HOME

OFFICIAL CARE

MATTERS OF INTERPRETATION

CHAPTER 5: ENDINGS

THE COURT OF PROTECTION

THE KEY PLAYERS

MISS ALEXANDER'S SMALL STORY

NOTES

INDEX.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.