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Overall Summary
The Professor and the Madman tells a story of how one man’s obsession with compiling the Oxford English Dictionary lead to his encounter with an insane asylum inmate who became one of its greatest contributors. Simon Winchester is a journalist known for his work at The Guardian newspaper. He wrote this book under the UK title The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and Love for Words.
The themes of the book include how knowledge is formed, the importance of self-education, and how learning can save lives.
Starting in 1857, the Oxford English Dictionary was a huge undertaking. The principal editor from 1879 to 1915 was Sir James Augustus Henry Murray (1837-1915), who had a knack for languages and philology. He learned many languages by working with finance. He came from humble origins but ended up knowing more than twenty different languages. In addition, he tried teaching cows Latin commands, which is odd because they were not receptive to his methods.
In 1878, Oxford University approached a man named James Murray to edit the Oxford English Dictionary. The OED would be the most comprehensive dictionary of its time and it would replace an older dictionary called A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson in 1755. Both dictionaries were intended to document words used in England at that time. However, Winchester notes that no such books existed for earlier periods of history because they didn’t exist until recently. What made the OED different from other dictionaries was its frequent use of quotations as evidence for what a word meant at different times throughout history.
Murray needed help finding examples of certain words, so he asked the public to send in examples. One of the most valuable volunteers was also one of the most unusual.
Dr. William Chester Minor was the most prolific contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary. He lived from 1835 to 1920 and all of his contributions were postmarked from Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, a maximum security hospital for criminals who are insane.
When George Merrett was accused of breaking into Minor’s room, he was murdered by Minor. The reason for this murder was that Minor believed the Fenian Brotherhood (an organization fighting for Irish independence) wanted to kill him because they thought he had broken into their headquarters. He was taken to a mental asylum where he lived comfortably due to his military rank and pension from his service in the war.
So many people submitted words to the Oxford English Dictionary that they had to erect a mailbox outside of Murray’s house. Minor was one of the most productive and astute volunteers, writing several times to suggest new words. He didn’t hear back from Murray for nineteen years, but when he did write again, inviting him to visit Oxford University, he accepted.
Finally, Murray visits Minor in the asylum where he has been a patient for over 20 years. He realizes that Minor is not just an employee there but one of their longest-serving patients. This surprises him since he had assumed that Minor was simply working at the asylum when all his letters were coming from there. Winchester then dives into Minor’s history and learns about how his family background and education contributed to his mental illness. When his sexual repression became too much to bear, he tried cutting off his penis with a pair of scissors; however, this only helped him calm down by sending money to “The Big Dictionary.”
After Merrett’s death, Minor was overcome with guilt and offered to support his widow. In an unusual twist, the widow bonds with Minor and frequently visits him to drop off books that he can read. She is also the one who shows him how to submit quotations for a new dictionary called The Oxford English Dictionary.
