Forbes Winslow

Born in London in 1810, Forbes Benignus Winslow became one of the best-known British psychiatrists of the Victorian period. He studied medicine in Scotland and London, built a career treating mental illness, and earned a reputation as a public authority on what his era called insanity or lunacy.

Winslow wrote widely for both professional and general readers. His books included The Plea of Insanity in Criminal Cases, The Anatomy of Suicide, and Obscure Diseases of the Brain and Mind, and he also founded and edited the Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology. His work often sat at the crossroads of medicine, law, and social debate, especially in criminal cases where questions of mental responsibility were central.

He died in 1874. Today he is remembered as a prominent, sometimes controversial, figure in early psychiatry whose writing helped shape how Victorians discussed mental illness, suicide, and criminal responsibility.