Earlswood
At the age of 15, in 1850, he was taken to the then new Earlswood Asylum (later called Royal Earlswood Hospital). Contemporary account tells that Pullen could not give any answers through speech, but could communicate through gestures. He could read lips and gestures but never learned to read or write beyond one syllable. Pullen's brother William later followed him to the asylum; a good painter, he died at the age of 35.
Earlswood Asylum tried to teach its patients a number of handicrafts so they could support themselves and the asylum. Pullen continued his handicrafts and became a gifted carpenter and cabinet maker. He would work at workshop at days and draw at night. Most of the drawings were of the corridors of the asylum and he framed them himself. If Pullen could not find a suitable tool, he would make it himself. In addition he would also make practical items, such as bed frames, for the needs of the asylum.
Pullen was alternatively aggressive or sullen. He could be reserved but also wrecked his workshop once in a fit of anger. He did not like to accept advice and wanted always to get his own way. Once he took a dislike to a certain member of the staff and built a guillotine-like contraption over his door. Luckily for the target, it went off too late. Once, when Pullen developed an obsession to marry a woman he fancied, the staff mollified him by giving him an admiral's uniform instead.
Read more about this topic: James Henry Pullen