Mary Frances Heaton

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Mary Frances Heaton (1801-1878) was an Englishwoman who was committed to an

Anglican
vicar and was never released.

St George's Minster

She was born into an affluent family in

St George's Minster, Doncaster. He failed to pay for the twice-weekly lessons she had given in 1834 and 1835; and she interrupted one of his sermons, calling him "a whited sepulchre, a thief, a villain, a liar and a hypocrite".[1]

She was taken to court, where the tribunal judged her to be "a lunatic insane and dangerous idiot", and committed her to the

purgatives, and the ingestion of mercury.[a]
Her medical records describe her at various times as wild, flighty, excitable, ungovernable, extravagant, violent and abusive.

Over time, her mental and physical health deteriorated. After a failed escape attempt in 1843 and with her spirit broken, she became docile and, according to local historian Sarah Cobham, "took to quietly embroidering her story [in samplers] as a way of preserving her memories". Only a few of her samplers survive; she gave many away as gifts. Towards the end of her life, she was transferred to another asylum in what is now South Yorkshire; she died, and was buried in a pauper's grave.

In 2020, a blue plaque was installed in Wakefield to commemorate the injustice she had suffered.[1][2][3][4]

Notes

  1. compounds
    , or both; all are toxic.

References

  1. ^ a b c Sherwood, Harriet (8 November 2020). "Blue plaque to honour Yorkshirewoman who was locked in asylum for calling vicar a liar". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  2. Yorkshire Post
    . Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Mary Frances Heaton". stitched-up-theatre.com. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Mary Frances Heaton". artscafeevents.org. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
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