Herman Charles Merivale

Born in London in 1839, Herman Charles Merivale was educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. He was the son of Herman Merivale, a barrister and senior civil servant, and grew up in well-connected literary and political circles.

Although trained in law, he eventually turned to writing and the theatre. He became known for plays, farces, burlesques, poetry, and prose, and also wrote under the pseudonym Felix Dale. Among his works are stage pieces such as The Butler and The Don, and he also co-wrote a life of William Makepeace Thackeray.

Part of what makes Merivale especially memorable is the openness of his writing about illness. After suffering a breakdown and spending time in Ticehurst House Hospital, he published My Experience in a Lunatic Asylum, by a Sane Patient, a rare first-person account from the period. He died in 1906, leaving behind a body of work that mixes theatrical wit with unusually candid personal reflection.