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In one of his letters, Wilmshurst mentions that he had been accused of “Religious Monomania” and that he thought that this might be because he follows the views of Henry Drummond MP on the second coming of Christ. Drummond and John Perceval, who was campaigning for Wilmshurst's release from the asylum, knew each other through their Church. There is no evidence of direct contact between Wilmshurst and Drummond or of John Perceval talking about Drummond's views so he presumably just knew them because they were both Evangelicals. It is possible that Wilmshurst mentioned Drummond's views because he knew of Perceval's connection with him and thought that Perceval would work harder for his release.
Connections between Drummond, the Percevals and mental health: In the early 1800s there had been a growing interest in biblical prophecy and the “gifts of the Spirit” and how both of these might apply to current and future history. (This is thought to have partly grown from the unease felt as a result of the French revolution and the possibility of similar dramatic changes happening in other countries). In the mid 1820’s one focus of this was Edward Irving who was minister of a Church of Scotland church in London. Amongst many who were connected to Irving were Henry Drummond MP and the Perceval brothers, John and Spencer. Henry Drummond started a discussion group that met at his estate at Albury, Surrey, which held annual conferences on these subjects from 1826 - 1830. This group of people gradually developed into a more formalised group which eventually became the “Catholic and Apostolic Church” of which Irving, Drummond and Spencer Perceval became national leaders.
In 1811, when John and Spencer Perceval were children their father, Spencer snr., was the Prime Minister who had revived the regency after George III's second bout of madness. The following year Spencer snr. was murdered, the only British Prime Minister to be murdered in office. His assassin had an obsessive grievance against the Government and was encouraged to enter a plea of insanity at his trial but refused and so was found guilty of murder and hanged just one week after the murder! This happened when Spencer Perceval jnr. was 16 and John 9.
This background must have had an effect on the son’s lives. From 1830 Spencer jnr. was an active Metropolitan Lunacy Commissioner but the effect on John was more significant. Both John and Spencer adopted their father’s evangelical fervour, and joined the London Church of Edward Irving who was a popular speaker about the culture of his day and also had a particular interest in Biblical prophecy still to be fulfilled and the possibility of new prophecies being revealed. In 1830, John resigned his commission in the Grenadier Guards because of his mental health difficulties, ‘to prepare himself for his doom’, as he described it. He travelled to a group connected with Irving at Row in Scotland to see the miracles reported there and he witnessed the new phenomenon of talking in tongues and other strange phenomena. (The governess of the children of his brother, Spencer, was one of the first people to talk in tongues at the London church soon after this). Even at this stage, fellow community members felt John’s behaviour was erratic and unpredictable. In December 1830, he went to Dublin where he developed an acute psychotic illness. Spencer brought him back from Ireland and placed him in a couple of asylums that had very high reputations but which John was extremely critical of. He recovered in 1834 and spent much of the rest of his life campaigning for the better treatment of “lunatics”, including the founding of the Alleged Lunatics Friend’s Society now regarded as the pioneer of' the 'psychiatric survivors movement'.
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