Samuel WARD 1790-1817 Bath and Brislington

[Gene2Bear]

I have been researching my Samuel WARD family in Bath and Bathampton, who operated barges from Bath to Bristol, around 1780 to 1817.

The second Samuel died and was buried at St James on 2 April 1817. he left quite a detailed will, mentioning his daughters, but he did not mention his only living son, Samuel. This is a bit of a mystery!

I have records of this son Samuel (number 3!) being baptised at St James on 29 April 1790, along with his twin sister Frances.

I also have records of the burial of this Samuel aged 30, again at St James, on the 25 December 1817, fully 6 months after his father's burial.

On the burial record his residence is listed as Brislington, and consulting Professor Google, I find there was an asylum of sorts there…. hmmm?

Can anyone confirm that this was an asylum at the time of Samuel 3's death, and does anyone know if there are patient records available? Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Clare in Sunny Australia!

[miriamkinga]

There's mention of Brislington House here - the first purpose built mental asylum (?)

http://www.brislington.org/history.html

[Jo Harding]

There is some information on this on Wikipaedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brislington_House

Also, this is in The National Archives:

http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/mpi-1-332.pdf

In those days, it wasn't unusual for people to die young. I wouldn't assume that Samuel was in the asylum but the Somerset Archives would be able to assist you with information on the records for this.

http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/

Jo.

[Jo Harding]

It may be helpful to mention that Samuel Ward, b1790, would have been 27 years of age in December 1817. It may just be an error in the registers when it shows him as 30 years of age.

There are some trees ofr this family on Ancestry. One has some extra information including details from an advertisement in The Times for the sale of Hampton Hall, a mansion one mile from Bath city centre. This is described as "late the residence and property of Samuel Hall esquire deceased". There was land attached to it.

One tree which has sources etc, shows Samuel Hall 1760-1817, married Mary Ashmeade, 1759-1833. It shows they had 7 children.

Jo

[Gene2Bear]

Thanks so much for your input, Miriam and Jo, much appreciated.
I was aware of the Ancestry trees, and had followed them up, but was just wondering why the third Samuel wasn't mentioned in his father's will, though he was still alive when the will was made.
Finding the Brislington connection made a *possible* reason...
I will chase up the links you sent about the asylum, Jo, and see if I can find if Samuel 3 was actually there!
All the best
Clare