Chris Saunders sent an interesting extract from the London Gazette of 1870 relating to the Early Mad Houses of St Albams and Harpenden. On looking at the page I realised that it was an early page which had been prepared when the 1881 census was available on CD, the St Albans census was available in book form - and there were no censuses online. I decided to update the page to include the more recently available material and this gave me an idea for a "competition" in the run up to Christmas.- so here goes ...
Between 1851 and 1901 there was a private lunatic asylum at Harpenden Hall, and in each of the censuses there were at least 4 patients in residence, Sometime their names are given, but in other cases only initials. Some were present in more than one census.
The challenge is for visitors to this page to identify how many of the patients can be at least provisionally identified (with supporting information from other sources as appropriate) and post your findings as comments to this blog. Some patients may be quite easy and some are almost certainly impossible. The "prize" is that I will donate £2.00 to this site's mental health appeal for each patient where a reasonable identification has been made as to the identity of the patient - and £5.00 in each case where an initials only patient has been identified. I will make even higher donations for particularly interesting sources - such as the discovery of a will making provision for a mentally ill relative.
Suggestions close by 25th December - which will allow me to pay the forfeit before the 2011 online collecting box closes at the end of the year. I will bring all the responses together early in 2012, with acknowledgement the those of you that made me donate!
Catherine Moordaff born 1865 died 1949 (FreeBMD) daughter of William Moordaff solicitor and wife Agnes resident Cockermouth, Cumberland in 1871, scholar at Greta Hall, Keswick in 1881, patient (lunatic) at The Lawn Lincoln in 1891. Not found in 1911 but in that year her brother Charles Henry a struck off solicitor was serving at HM pleasure at Maidstone Prison. Anthony
ReplyDeleteGertrude Anna Otton Halse died 16 May 1937 at Hill End Hospital, St. Albans; she was a spinster (National Probate Calender). The initials in the earlier entry have O-H hyphenated so despite some discrepancies the same person. Possibly she was the daughter of William Halse merchant and Anna, baptized at St Mark Tollington Park 30 July 1856. I think she and her mother appear as Annie (widow) and Emma at Lee Kent in 1871; a William Halse merchant had died in 1864 after moving from Hornsey Rise to Bromley in Kent. Probate for both William and Gertrude was granted to merchants named Geard (though different Christian names and perhaps different generations). Anthony
ReplyDeleteRev. Woodthorpe Scholefield Collett was born 1826 in Lincs and died 26 January 1913 at Brighton (National Probate Calendar). He was awarded the Browne Medal for Latin and Greek Poetry at Cambridge where subsequently he was a Fellow of Clare College (Cambridge University Alumni). His identity further confirmed by the 1881 census when he is living with his brother; his profession is clergyman and the last column has Lunacy, ward of Chancery. In 1871 the corresponding entries are Fellow of Clare and Lunatic. Anthony
ReplyDeleteWilliam Houston Pattisson was born about 1827 at Great Coggeshall, Essex, son of Fisher Unwin Pattisson J. P. and Eliza. He died at St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics on 28 June 1895 (National Probate Calendar). SEAX has indentures from 1849 for a William Houston son of Fisher Unwin Pattisson as apprentice to Charles Sanderson of Reading. He is found there in 1851; Sanderson is an engineering surveyor. In 1861 he is a boarder with Henry Trend LRCP (Edinburgh) at Hounslow. Anthony
ReplyDeleteCharlotte Elizabeth Grant died at Chequer Lawn St. Albans 31 January 1911 (National Probate Calendar). This would appear to have been a psychiatric hospital. She was most likely born at Naples in about 1844, the daughter of William C. Grant J. P. and Maria. In 1861 she is at a school in Melcombe Regis. In 1871, 1881 and 1891 she is at her parents’ home in Cullompton, Devon. There is no indication of mental illness in these earlier records. Anthony
ReplyDeleteMary Anne Francis Coleman Hancock was born about 1827 and died at Harpenden 27 June 1906 (National Probate Calendar). On 19 August 1863 she married Robert Augustus Peaty, gentleman, by licence at St. Matthew, Bayswater. The register shows she was the daughter of John Hancock, manufacturer. In 1867 a petition was filed on her behalf by her brother and legal guardian Thomas F. Hancock to have the marriage annulled. This was opposed by her husband. After hearing the case for four days, the court granted a decree nisi. There is a full account in The Law Reports available on the internet. It includes a sad account of the progress of her mental illness. She is then M.H. on the 1881 census. Anthony
ReplyDeletePeter Thompson was baptized at St Anne Soho on 3 February 1817, son of Peter Thompson tailor and Amelia. Peter Thompson of Harpenden Hall gentleman died 26 December 1893 aged 76; administration to Ridley Thompson (National Probate Register; age from FreeBMD). Ridley was his brother and the key to the riddle. He was wealthy so Peter Thompson Sr. must have done well as an army clothier. Clearly Peter Jr. is P. T. in the 1881 and 1891 returns from Harpenden Hall (P. J. is a misreading). Anthony
ReplyDeleteAnne Calvert was born about 1796 and died 25 September 1866 at Harpenden; probate was granted to her brother John Calvert (National Probate Calendar). She is found at Ringmer House Lunatic Asylum near Lewes in 1841: aged 40, gentlewoman, not from Sussex. Anthony
ReplyDeleteAnne Calvert continued. Both Anne and John Calvert are buried at St. Nicholas Harpenden: Ann Calvert daughter of the late Thomas Calvert, died 25 September 1866 aged 69. Following this lead I found they were from a family of brewers. John is described as shareholder of a brewery, born Brighton, in 1871. Twenty years earlier he is lodging with his cousin Sophia Calvert at Cheltenham; she also is brewery shareholder. There seems to be is a close connection to the Rumballs. In 1841 John is in the family of Rebecca Rumball at St Albans. It must have been a given to move his sister to the Rumball asylum especially as the 1844 report on Ringmer House complained, “…a female is permitted to be almost without clothing,.” and added, “…although the patients seem to be kindly treated, the house requires great improvement” (Asylums Index). A non-practising barrister, John then moved to Harpenden, no doubt to be near his sister, and can be found there in 1861 and 1871. Finally, John Calvert Esq. is buried right next to the grave of Arthur Griffin Rumball. The tombstone mentions he was a cousin of John Calvert of Albury Hall. Anthony
ReplyDeleteWilliam Clerke: There is buried at St. Nicholas Harpenden William Clarke Esq., born 23 August 1788, died 26 December 1863 aged 75. His grave is next to that of James Quilter Rumball. In the National Probate Register the spelling is further refined to Clerke and probate granted to his sister Matilda Newbolt of Winchester. In 1805 she had married Rev. William Hill Newbolt at St Pancras Chapel. He was an Oxford graduate, D.D. and J.P. The 1861 entry for William reads “formerly seafaring.” Anthony
ReplyDeleteJames Manbey was born about 1810 and died at Harpenden 15 February 1857. He is buried at St. Nicholas Harpenden next to Ann Calvert. “James Manbey, third son of the late William Manbey of Brighton and of Stratford Grove Sussex [sic], died 1857 (Gerish: died 15 Feb 1857 aged 47).” Stratford Grove was in Essex; the Manbeys were a noted family there and at Doddinghurst Hall. A number of documents pertaining to them can be found at SEAX. The father had been born William Tidy but took the surname and arms of Manbey in 1921 on inheriting from his cousin (London Gazette 27 March 1821). He died at Brighton in 1846 and James’s widowed mother Sarah is found there in 1851. Note that the initial is not I but J as in the entry for James Rumball on the preceding page. Anthony
ReplyDeleteAnna Louisa Law was baptized Orwell Cambs. 6 April 1851 and died Bromley Kent 11 October 1930. She was the daughter of William Law and Mary Haydon. The family was wealthy. Anna can be found in every census from 1851-1911 save 1901. In 1911 she was one of six sisters, all spinsters, at 57 Burnt Ash Road, Lewisham. The five others were at the same address in 1901 but Anna Louisa was missing. Whilst the evidence is circumstantial it does support the view she is the A. L. Law at Harpenden Hall in that year. Anthony
ReplyDeleteEliza Glinn Bullock was born at Chapel Essex in 1842 the daughter of Ambrose Groves (GRO and marriage register). On 26 September 1869 she married William Bullock clerk to the City of London (at Holloway Prison). She is found with him in 1871-1891 (as Eliza G or Eliza Glyn). She tended to understate her age though the discrepancy is less than for the E. G. Bullock at Harpenden Hall in 1901. There is, however, an E. Bullock of the correct age at Warwick County Lunatic Asylum in 1911. Anthony
ReplyDeleteWilliam Clerke continued. Revisiting the main web site I noticed that William Clerk of Winchester was in the care of the Rumballs as early as 1820 and thus stayed with them for at least 43 years. Anthony
ReplyDeleteJames Jarvie was born at Glasgow about 1819. He was a ropemaker found at Toxteth Park in 1841 and 1861 and at West Derby in 1851. The 1861 entry shows he employed 100 hands (so no doubt was wealthy) and was married to Agnes; he seems to have been in partnership with Thomas Pollock who may have been his brother in law (there was a son James Pollock Jarvie). In 1871, when James Jarvie was in the care of Arthur Rumball, Agnes Jarvie was a boarder with Stuart Rumball in Harpenden. I think it likely he is the James Stuart Jarvie whose death was registered at Newton Abbot in 1880 as Agnes Jarvie, widow and annuitant, was at Tormoham and Torquay (Newton Abbot R.D.) in the following year. Anthony
ReplyDeleteJean Lowe was born in Forfarshire Scotland about 1800 and probably died at Harpenden Hall in 1882 as she is found there at the next census and there is a matching death at age 82 recorded St. Albans R.D. in 1882. The 1871 census record shows she was a widow. I believe her to be Jean Low, widow and fundholder, found at Winchester in 1861. There is a son Major James Rose of the 2nd Foot (Coldstream Guards), wife Mary, son Douglas James M. Rose born Corfu (full name from GRO); perhaps Jean was twice married. She had a married daughter, Isabella Jarvis, also from Scotland. Isabella can be found in 1851 with “Jane Laws,” widow and annuitant; both were born Forfarshire, Scotland.
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