Jade Shepherd

Jade studied for a BA in History (2007) and MA in Historical Research
(2008) at Lancaster University, where she developed an interest in the
history of asylums and masculinity, and in the social and cultural
representations of the insane. Jade’s other academic interests include the
histories of crime and sexuality.

Research interests:

The emotional displays of criminal lunatics, and the medical and legal
professions' perceptions of emotional expressions compatible with Victorian
constructions of manliness, are central concerns of Jade Shepherd’s thesis,
‘Victorian Madmen: Broadmoor, Masculinity, and the Experiences of the
Criminally Insane, 1864-1900', which examines the crimes, trials and
experiences of men committed to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Jade
examines medical ideas about emotional expression in medical literature and
asylum records, where all aspects of a patient’s demeanour and emotional
state were recorded. Jade shows that the emotions expressed by an
infanticidal father, or a jealous man charged with murdering his lover, for
example, played a defining role in their trial and subsequent committal to
Broadmoor. Jade also examines patients’ emotional displays within the
asylum, where both the medical staff and the patients themselves
articulated their beliefs about acceptable emotional behaviour.