General Chat

Officially, that is.
Though personally I think he was just a very unhappy, grumpy, misunderstood lout!
I have often pondered on what became of my g g granddad George's brother, James.
In the same year (1851) George left Buckinghamshire and went to London to become a Metropolitan Policeman, his younger brother James was on trial for trying to derail a train.
The newspaper report tells of James boiling potatoes by the railway line, and shouting out to a group of passing children, that he intended derailing the train and stealing from it - but if they told anyone, he'd throw them in the pond!!

He got 2 years for putting a load of junk on the track. Fortunately the train was going 'flat out' (40mph) and ploughed through the debris.

James was sent to prison in February 1852, and in March was sent to Peckham House Lunatic Asylum. I have so far been unable to find out if he was ever released, or if he died in there.

It's fantastic when you find a *cough* 'character' in your tree.

:-D :-D :-D :-D

Have you looked for james after 1852 ? Betting you have but not found him as yet

Some Asylums only listed inmates by initials

The 1832 Madhouse Act and the Metropolitan...

www.studymore.org.uk/3_06.htm

1881 Census "Peckham House Lunatic Asylum" Peckham, ... W.L. 1972 says Corporation of London Records Office, Guildhall, contained records of Peckham House.

Asylum inmates - The National Archives

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/.../asylum-inmates

The records held by The National Archives relate mainly to the administration of the institutions. ... ‘lunatic asylum’, insane’,

Springfield Asylum, Wandsworth - Goodwin Family...

www.goodwinfamilyhistory.co.uk/goodwin_wandsworthasylum...

Wandsworth Lunatic Asylum ... who informed me that they actually held several records from the asylum, ... with the transfer of 299 patients from Peckham House, ...

Peckham and Dulwich | British History Online

www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol6/pp286-303

PECKHAM AND DULWICH. Situation of Peckham—Queen's Road—Albert Road—The Manor House of Peckham—Hill ... but for the last half century a lunatic asylum, ...

Index of Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals

www.studymore.org.uk/4_13_ta.htm

They included 172 from Peckham House, 51 ... lunatic asylums were based on the design ... May also have been known as Caterham Lunatic Asylum for Safe Lunatics ...

Index of Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals

www.studymore.org.uk/4_13_ta.htm

They included 172 from Peckham House, 51 ... lunatic asylums were based on the design ... May also have been known as Caterham Lunatic Asylum for Safe Lunatics ...

Sue,
I knew about him being imprisoned, and his dastardly deed, but not the Lunatic Asylum.
I was actually looking for his nephew's (Arthur my g granddad) first wife, who was, apparently, in an asylum, hence my g grandparents not marrying until 19 years after their first child was born, and after having 9 children all told!!
Their last 2 were born after they'd got married, so were legitimate. :-S
I think I may have found our Annie!
As for 'characters' - I had an aunt (died in the last 10 years) who was imprisoned for shooting her ex husband - and he deserved it!!!


Shirley,
You're right, I can't find him on any census, but MAY have found is death.

Ann,
Useful info there!!
Were the Goodwins the ones who had an ancestor who was killed at the asylum?
The National Archives hasn't got the records for the timescale I need, but will look at the rest.

Thank you :-D

I've got a rellie who was admitted to the Essex County Asylum in 1896 and died after a short time there.

When I first read the records of the asylum they did sound quite funny but really it was a tragic case. The lady's first husband was lost at sea but because no body was recovered she had to wait 7 years for him to be declared dead. She then married a school master who eventually became head teacher at a school in Essex. She became an assistant schoolmistress but never seems to have been very well paid and, with several children to look after, she lived in some poverty.

She was admitted to the asylum suffering "acute mania". She apparently believed that her arms and legs had been exchanged for someone else's, later she included her bones and internal organs in this fantasy. Much of her time was spent praying that God would return the correct limbs to her.

It's not her sad life or tragic illness that are funny but some of the asylum report wording is.

I haven't found any in mine so maybe I am the one lol ;-)


Though I did fine one in the ex in laws family
explained a lot really :-( :-(

Hi Vera,
Reading the newspaper reports for my g g uncle, he doesn't appear to be the sharpest tool in the box. He was only sentenced to 2 years in prison for his foiled plot, but probably spent a lot longer in the asylum.

Your rellie's case sounds very sad.
There are many tragic cases of people being incarcerated for no real reason. When I was 17, in 1972, I got a job as a printer at St James' Psychiatric hospital in Portsmouth.
There was a man, aged 43, who had been there since the age of 3, because he suffered from epilepsy. He was very well read, and we spent a long time just talking.
There was also a little group of elderly women who spent their days putting medicines in bubble packs into boxes. They stayed together, talked together, but rarely spoke to anyone else.
I asked a nurse why they were there.
They'd had babies out of wedlock in the 1910's/1920's, and had been put there by their families. By the time it was realised how wrong it was, they'd become too institutionalised to be allowed the freedom of the outside world.

Even the 43 year old didn't want to go outside the grounds - he said it was too scary.

The person I was printing with, Mary, was awaiting a sex change procedure.
In those days sex change patients had to stay in the hospital (she'd been in for 2 years) to be assessed, and to be issued with medication.
I'm pleased to say, 3 months after I'd left the hospital, I saw them on the bus.

I said 'Hello............', 'Michael' he quickly quipped, with a huge smile. Mary had finally completed the procedure. :-D

The arrival of my great, great, great grandfather Charles Goodwin’s death certificate created much interest when it described him as having died on the seventeenth of June 1860 in the County Lunatic Asylum, Wandsworth, Surrey. The cause of death was noted as ‘Diseased brain, general paralysis’.

I immediately began to wonder when and due to what symptoms he was admitted, and what life would have been like for him in the asylum. In my mind, I had an image of a dark and dingy place where staff with little or no medical knowledge would mistreat the patients.

I contacted London Metropolitan Archives, who informed me that they actually held several records from the asylum, including the male patient admissions 1841–1872, discharge and death registers 1858–1898, and some medical records. Unfortunately, the medical records 1855–1860, wherein Charles’ post mortem would have been entered were noted as missing at the time of their being deposited.

Nevertheless, I made the trip to LMA and was delighted to be handed the large, musty, original ledger dating back over one hundred and sixty years. I began by searching for the date of Charles’ death in 1860 and quickly found his entry, which gave his name, age, and date of admission as 6th January 1860, and dementia as disease on admission. The poor man only survived six months – were the conditions really that bad? According to the Wellcome trust, Charles should not have died of: meningitis, cephalitis, hydrocephalus, apoplexy, shaking palsy, delirium tremens, chorea, mania, monomania, dementia, idiocy, epilepsy, hysteria, tetanus, traumatic tetanus, cramp, convulsions, neuralgia, tic douleureux, ophthalmia or opthalmitis and otitis as in The Fourth Annual Report of the Registrar-General of Births, Marriages and Deaths in England (1842) states that the nature of the brain disease should be noted if known.


etc. etc........................

I obtained some papers from the orphanage that my (well, never mind who) was brought up in, saying that she was mentally defective. This diagnosis was when she was about three years old. She ran away at about 15, held a responsible job as a book keeper, raised a family of four children, sang beautifully and was very astute. Nothing wrong with her brain, I can tell you.

I worked at our local psychiatric hospital for nigh on thirty years and when I first started there, some of the long term patients had been committed for seemingly small things - stealing a bicycle, having a child out of wedlock etc

I haven't found any of mine in an asylum, yet ............. several in prison though

I have found some for other people though ......... women who were put in there by their husbands or other male relative for what we would now call PMS

I even found one who had been put in by her husband for refusing "marital relations"

I still haven't found my g grandfathers first wife, Annie, in an asylum. She may never have been in one, but this excuse may have been used as a spouse couldn't divorce a spouse who was in an asylum (1900 - 1920)
He moved from London to Hampshire.
The nearest I've found is an Annie Millicent in Bethlem in 1899, released the same year.

For refusing marital relations eh? Hmmm...

I personally don't think she was in an asylum.
G grandad was still officially married, therefore couldn't marry g grandma.
But G Grandad and his first wife didn't have any children.....