Richard Dadd

The East Wing of St Vincent�s House, home to the corporate office of the Charities Board, was the site of 15 Suffolk Street - the home of Richard Dadd, the famous artist and parricide.

Today Richard Dadd is known chiefly for a few tremendously evocative fairy paintings, including "The Fairy Feller�s Master-Stroke" (which inspired a song by Queen).

Richard Dadd was born on 1 August 1817 at Chatham, Kent. He was the fourth son of Robert Dadd, a geologist who later became a gilder and picture restorer. In 1834 the Dadd family moved to 15 Suffolk Street.

Dadd was admitted as a full student to the Royal Academy schools in 1837. He was noted for his draughtsmanship and won three silver medals.

In 1842/3 he travelled extensively in the Near and Middle East. While in Egypt he showed symptoms of an "aberration of mind", a condition that deteriorated rapidly. In August 1843, believing him to be the Devil, he murdered his father in Cobham Park. He then made his way to France to kill the Emperor of Austria but was arrested after an attempted murder en route.

He was extradited and appeared before Rochester Magistrates, when he was remanded to Maidstone Jail. He was removed to the Criminal Lunatic Department of Bethlem Hospital in Kennington (the building that is now the Imperial War Museum) and later to Broadmoor. It was in these two institutions that he did most of his artistic work. He died in Broadmoor on 8 January 1886 and is buried in the graveyard there.

The fourth floor meeting room in St Vincent House is called the Dadd Room in his memory.