St Andrew’s Church (modern acrylic painting)
As we uncover more of James Nutter’s life, read on to see what October had in store for him, as we hear about religious life and managing mental health in the early 19th century.
James Nutter, the miller of Cambridge, was part of a large network of wealthy businessmen and entrepreneurs who all attended the Baptist church of Saint Andrew’s in Trumpington Street. There they met every Sunday without fail. These wealthy middle class men were the backbone of nineteenth century Cambridge and contributed to the flourishing of the town.
Amongst those attending the church were the Foster and the Finch families. Ebenezer and Richard Foster were very good friends of James. In 1804 (date of the James’ diary) they founded the Foster bank that was to be taken over by Lloyds in 1918. Several members of the Foster family were to become mayors of Cambridge (Ebenezer from 1836 to 1837). The Finch family had a foundry business that made small bridges for the colleges and also made the Magdalene street bridge in 1823. Charles Finch was James Nutter’s best friend.
In his diary James does not use the word “church’ when speaking about Saint Andrew’s but he uses the term ‘meeting house’ because Saint Andrew’s was a non conformist church. The term “non conformist’ comes from the Act of Uniformity in 1662 that made a revised prayer book the only legal service book in England and also required from all ministers a declaration of obedience to the royal power. Such constraints were seen as unacceptable by some ministers who dissented and left their parish churches to set up alternative churches. This explains why there is such a high concentration of church buildings in Cambridge and the surrounding villages. Some attribute it to the free spirited nature of the Cambridgeshire people: the non conformists essentially denied all human authority in matters of religion which was, at the time, rather revolutionary.
There had been clandestine meetings of non conformists groups close to the current site of Saint Andrew’s church since 1689. At the time of James Nutter, the meeting house, that had started as a simple barn, was a chapel large enough to seat 600 people. The minister in charge was Robert Hall, a very learned scholar and a formidable orator who had been appointed in 1791, the year of the publication of his famous sermon on “Christianity consistent with a love of freedom”. The published sermons had soon become a reference point for all non conformists as it had spelt out very clearly and elegantly the true principles they believed in:
“A full toleration of religious opinions, and the protection of all parties in their respective modes of worship, are the natural operations of a free government” (Sermon “Christianity consistent…” ed. Gregory Olinthus, p.125)
This was a stark reminder that non conformists ministers had been severely persecuted by the state between 1662 (Act of Uniformity) and 1689 (Act of Toleration) and that the government was still discriminating against non conformists by barring dissenters from civil office. This only ceased in 1824. It was difficult for dissenters like James Nutter to earn a living. The only option was to run your own business or be employed by a dissenter. Religious discrimination was part of 19th century life in Cambridge and it is no surprise that, when seeking a new pastor, the church of Saint Andrew’s looked for someone who could challenge this.
In 1790 the church of Saint Andrew’s sent Robert Hall a letter inviting him to become their pastor and described their community as follows:
“The church has no doctrinal covenant or any other bond of union that Christian love and virtue” (Bernard Nutter p. 138).
Robert Hall did become the pastor of the church and had many successful years there, attracting large crowds of businessmen, dons and undergraduates who came to Saint Andrew’s to listen to his elaborate and intellectually challenging sermons that were embroidered with metaphysical discussions and underpinned by his deep knowledge of Plato and the Greek and Roman classics. He really was a star in his time and one can imagine how his congregation must have felt when on Wednesday 31 October 1804, Robert Hall suffered a terrible mental breakdown. James Nutter’s account, in his diary, is probably the only detailed witness of this sad episode. In his entry of 31 October, James recorded how it all started. Here is the full entry with its unaltered text:
While we were at breakfast Father came in had walked over from Shelford surprised us-after breakfast told us had been disturbed at 3 o’ clock called up by Mr Hall- his maid & man & his wife- he could not rest at home- house haunted & full of noises had been walking about village- asked bed at my father- wd readily had after smoking pipe- Father came instantly over to tell us leaving him asleep- all sadly surprised and overwhelmed with grief fearing this beginning serious as it turned out- went to C Finch- he engaged to go over & Mr Lyon and see- therefore with them I left the matter & went with James to Royston- in evening went C Finch- Mr Lyon soon came home- C Finch staid & dined at Shelford Mill with Mr Hall- he appeared confused- symptoms of slight derangement but slight- CF soothed him and left him- tolerably reconciled but full of the ideas of bewitchment and influence of the devil- his maid bewitched his house full supernatural noises- he staid at Mill till 9- Father went home with him & seeing him comfortably abed left him.
All the classics signs of psychosis are clearly recorded in James’ account: inability to sleep, agitation and irrational beliefs. The term “psychosis” was not coined until the 1840s and this is why the diary uses the word “derangement” instead. There was no state mental health provision until 1845, the date of the County Asylum Act. Fulbourn mental health hospital did not open until 1858. There was very little help for mental disorders and most patients were cared for at home by their family. This is exactly what happened to Robert Hall, except that, because he had no family in Cambridge, his church community took over his care. It is very poignant to see James’ father (who is actually his father in law, Joseph Ansell) welcoming Robert Hall in the middle of the night and caring for him at the Shelford Mill. Then the community of Saint Andrew’s is mobilised to help. Charles Finch and Mr Lyon go to the mill.
The psychotic episode of Robert Hall is acknowledged in his biography written by Gregory Olinthus. However there are no details there. Gregory simply writes: “This noble mind lost its equilibrium, and he who had been the theme of universal admiration, now became the subject of as extensive a sympathy” (Gregory Olinthus p. 47). However this biography might offer us some clues on the causes of Robert Hall’s illness. Gregory states that, it was in Cambridge that Robert Hall took to smoking with a friend of his called Samuel Parr, who was “always enveloped in a dense cloud of smoke, from sunrise until midnight” (Gregory Olinthus p. 42). Robert Hall used to tell his friends that smoking helped to alleviate his back pain. The smoking and growing of opium was very common in the Fens at the time and it is not inconceivable that Robert Hall would have laced his tobacco with it like many did, which could explain the pain relief experienced. This is obviously just an hypothesis but could also partly explain the mental health crisis that followed. Gregory’s biography tells that by 1803 Robert Hall’s back pain had increased so much that his doctor, Mr Kerr, recommended that he moved from Cambridge to a village, so that he did regular trips on horseback to alleviate his back pains. Such medical prescription may seem strange today but did indeed lead to Robert Hall moving to Great Shelford in 1803. Village life probably did not suit him. Gregory is clear in his biography as to the causes of Robert Hall’s mental breakdown, mentioning smoking, but most of all loneliness and isolation: Robert Hall had two excellent friends in Great Shelford, James Nutter and the Rev Thomas Thomasson but “…it still left him too much alone, and too much exposed to all the morbid influences of a disordered body, and of a mind overstrained” (Gregory Olinthus p. 47).
Mental health illness in 19th century Cambridge was the same as today: same symptoms, same causes- stress, drugs and loneliness. Because Robert Hall was such a respected figure, he received the best community support one could have hoped for. His friends gave him a bed, stayed with him and listened to him. They soothed him. They instinctively did everything which is recommended by all mental health charities today- which is quite remarkable.
Find out in our next blog how Robert Hall’s illness progress and what happens when James and his friends call for the doctor.
References:
Gregory Olinthus, The Miscellaneous Works and Remains of the Rev Robert Hall with a memoir of his life, London, 1846
Bernard Nutter, The Story of the Cambridge Baptists, Cambridge, 1912
Virginia Berridge, “Fenland Opium Eating in the Nineteenth Century”, British Journal of Addiction 72, 1977, pp. 275-284
Missed the previous blogs on The Miller of Cambridge: James Nutter? Read our previous entry here: https://www.museumofcambridge.org.uk/2024/09/james-nutters-diary-september-1804/