William Chester Minor
Encyclopedia
William Chester Minor, also known as W. C. Minor (June 1834 – March 26, 1920) was an American army surgeon who, later, was one of the largest contributors of quotations to the Oxford English Dictionary
. He was held in a lunatic asylum at the time.
), the son of Congregationalist Church
missionaries
from New England
. He had numerous half-siblings, among them Thomas T. Minor
, mayor of Seattle, Washington
in the late 1880s. At 14 he was sent to the United States, finishing his medical education in 1863 at Yale
.
in May 1864, which was notable for the terrible casualties suffered. Minor was also given the task of punishing a Northern soldier by branding
him on the face with a D for "deserter
". This man was an Irish immigrant, and his nationality later played a role in Minor's dementia delusions.
After the end of the American Civil War
, Minor saw duty in New York City
. He was strongly attracted to the fleshpots
of the city and devoted much of his off-duty time to going with prostitutes
. By 1867, his behavior had come to the attention of the Army
and he was transferred to a remote post in the Florida Panhandle
. By 1868 his condition had progressed to the point that he was admitted to St. Elizabeths Hospital
, a lunatic asylum in Washington, D.C.
. After eighteen months he showed no improvement. He was allowed to resign his commission and take retirement pay.
, settling in the slum of Lambeth
, in London
, where once again he took up a dissolute life. Haunted by his paranoia, he fatally shot a man named George Merrett, who Minor believed had broken into his room, on February 17, 1872. Merrett had been on his way to work to support his family of six children, himself, and his pregnant wife, Eliza. After a pre-trial period spent in London's Horsemonger Lane Gaol
, Minor was found not guilty by reason of insanity
and incarcerated in the asylum at Broadmoor
in the village of Crowthorne
, Berkshire. As he had his army pension
and was not judged dangerous, he was given rather comfortable quarters and was able to buy and read books.
(OED). He devoted most of the remainder of his life to that work. He became one of the most effective volunteers, reading through his personal library and compiling quotations that illustrated the way particular words were used. He was visited quite often by the widow of the man he had killed, and she provided him with further books. The compilers of the dictionary published lists of words for which they wanted examples of usage. Chester provided these, with increasing ease as his lists grew. It was many years before the OED's editor, Dr. James Murray
, learned Minor's background history, and visited him.
Minor's condition deteriorated and in 1902 he cut off his own penis
. His health failed and he was permitted to return to the United States and St. Elizabeths Hospital
; he was subsequently diagnosed with dementia praecox
. He died in 1920 in New Haven, Connecticut
.
(published in America as The Professor and the Madman) by Simon Winchester
, was published in 1998 and chronicles both Minor's later life and his contributions to the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary
.
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
. He was held in a lunatic asylum at the time.
Early life
Minor was born on the island of Ceylon (now Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
), the son of Congregationalist Church
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. He had numerous half-siblings, among them Thomas T. Minor
Thomas T. Minor
Thomas T. Minor, was a physician, businessman, civic and political leader and the only person to have been elected as mayor of Seattle, Washington and Port Townsend, Washington and founder of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway....
, mayor of Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
in the late 1880s. At 14 he was sent to the United States, finishing his medical education in 1863 at Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Military career
He was accepted by the Union Army as a surgeon and served at the Battle of the WildernessBattle of the Wilderness
The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by...
in May 1864, which was notable for the terrible casualties suffered. Minor was also given the task of punishing a Northern soldier by branding
Human branding
Human branding or stigmatizing is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or very cold branding iron...
him on the face with a D for "deserter
Desertion
In military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning...
". This man was an Irish immigrant, and his nationality later played a role in Minor's dementia delusions.
After the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Minor saw duty in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He was strongly attracted to the fleshpots
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
of the city and devoted much of his off-duty time to going with prostitutes
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
. By 1867, his behavior had come to the attention of the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and he was transferred to a remote post in the Florida Panhandle
Florida Panhandle
The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide , lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is...
. By 1868 his condition had progressed to the point that he was admitted to St. Elizabeths Hospital
St. Elizabeths Hospital
St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. It was the first large-scale, federally-run psychiatric hospital in the United States. Housing several thousand patients at its peak, St. Elizabeths had a fully functioning...
, a lunatic asylum in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. After eighteen months he showed no improvement. He was allowed to resign his commission and take retirement pay.
Move to England
In 1871 he went to the UKUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, settling in the slum of Lambeth
Lambeth
Lambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where once again he took up a dissolute life. Haunted by his paranoia, he fatally shot a man named George Merrett, who Minor believed had broken into his room, on February 17, 1872. Merrett had been on his way to work to support his family of six children, himself, and his pregnant wife, Eliza. After a pre-trial period spent in London's Horsemonger Lane Gaol
Horsemonger Lane Gaol
Horsemonger Lane Gaol was a prison close to present-day Newington Causeway in Southwark, south London.-History:...
, Minor was found not guilty by reason of insanity
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
and incarcerated in the asylum at Broadmoor
Broadmoor Hospital
Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton...
in the village of Crowthorne
Crowthorne
Crowthorne is also a suburb of Johannesburg, South AfricaCrowthorne is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire. It has a population of 6,711...
, Berkshire. As he had his army pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
and was not judged dangerous, he was given rather comfortable quarters and was able to buy and read books.
Contributor to OED
It was probably through his correspondence with the London booksellers that he heard of the call for volunteers from what was to become the Oxford English DictionaryOxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
(OED). He devoted most of the remainder of his life to that work. He became one of the most effective volunteers, reading through his personal library and compiling quotations that illustrated the way particular words were used. He was visited quite often by the widow of the man he had killed, and she provided him with further books. The compilers of the dictionary published lists of words for which they wanted examples of usage. Chester provided these, with increasing ease as his lists grew. It was many years before the OED's editor, Dr. James Murray
James Murray (lexicographer)
Sir James Augustus Henry Murray was a Scottish lexicographer and philologist. He was the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1879 until his death.-Life and learning:...
, learned Minor's background history, and visited him.
Minor's condition deteriorated and in 1902 he cut off his own penis
Penis removal
In ancient civilizations, removal of the human penis was sometimes used as a means of demonstrating superiority: armies were sometimes known to sever the penises of their enemies to count the dead, as well as for trophies...
. His health failed and he was permitted to return to the United States and St. Elizabeths Hospital
St. Elizabeths Hospital
St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. It was the first large-scale, federally-run psychiatric hospital in the United States. Housing several thousand patients at its peak, St. Elizabeths had a fully functioning...
; he was subsequently diagnosed with dementia praecox
Dementia praecox
Dementia praecox refers to a chronic, deteriorating psychotic disorder characterized by rapid cognitive disintegration, usually beginning in the late teens or early adulthood. It is a term first used in 1891 in this Latin form by Arnold Pick , a professor of psychiatry at the German branch of...
. He died in 1920 in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
.
In popular culture
The book The Surgeon of CrowthorneThe Surgeon of Crowthorne
The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words is a book by Simon Winchester that was first published in England in 1998...
(published in America as The Professor and the Madman) by Simon Winchester
Simon Winchester
Simon Winchester, OBE , is a British-American author and journalist who resides mostly in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal...
, was published in 1998 and chronicles both Minor's later life and his contributions to the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
.