Lunacy, Soldiering, and the Abrogation of Care in Nineteenth-Century Britain

The British Army struggled to treat shell shock during the First World War. Their poor response is no surprise given the almost complete inability of the army to deal with soldier’s mental health in the previous half-century. The military increasingly sought to discharge “soldier lunatics” back to their families and home parishes. Short-term military hospitals functioned to cure the treatable and identify malingerers. The rest were left to languish in pauper asylums. This article traces shifting regulations around the care of soldiers suffering from severe mental illness; these policies reflect significant Victorian debates about pensions, poor laws, and the duty the state owed to its veterans.