Elizabeth A. Foyster

I hadn't heard of this before and I felt sorry for the 3rd Lord of Portsmouth as it was obvious that while he was mentally challenged I came away thinking he wasn't totally mad as his younger brother finally managed to have him labelled. I found the Hanson family to be despicable and deplorable as John Hanson had been the Portsmouth family's solicitor and knowing all the family's secrets used it against them by marrying his daughter, Mary Ann, to Lord Portsmouth. She and her lover were quite cruel to him. In bringing a Commission of Lunacy against Portsmouth, things didn't quite work out as planned for his younger brother, Newton, who had been groomed as the heir to the lordship. It was the most expensive insanity trial ever heard at a guinea a minute and many of the witnesses were discredited because the were either Portsmouth's peers and it was felt that he would behave and be able to pass as sane in their company or members of the lower class who weren't deemed fit to pass judgement on their betters. His family should have at least given him a tombstone to mark his existence and his nephew should have been given credit for what he did for his uncle… (meer)