William Wilkinson, a patient at the West Riding Lunatic Asylum, Wakefield, Yorkshire. Photograph attributed to James Crichton-Browne, ca. 1872.

A bearded man, staring with an intense expression, identified as William Wilkinson, from Leeds. He was admitted to the West Riding Asylum in October 1866 as a twenty-eight year old married joiner. His "vacant looks and incoherent conversation" were reported as evidence of his insanity together with "his inability to attend to his occupation from mental incapacity". In feeble health he was assessed as suffering from dementia. Within two months both his mental and physical health had improved and William had been set to work at his trade in the carpenter's shop. By April, 1875 there had been no improvement in his mental condition and there was concern over his deteriorating respiration. William left the Asylum that same month when he was "discharged at the urgent request of his friends" -- records in the West Yorkshire Archive Service, Wakefield, Yorkshire, identified by David Scrimgeour, op. cit.