Look up please Camp(b)ell in Newbury, Berkshire

[jonw65]

We should have gone to that first, I guess!

One more thing -
Seems to be no St Pancras reception orders on ancestry for 1901?
Under Register of Lunatics there is
Register of mental cases, 1901-1906
(images 37 and 38)
1st Dec 1901
Annie Campbell, 34, admitted from 10 Hanway St
think it says she is married
is other info including details for her sister, Kate Smith

John

[Annette7]

John - where did you find the last item you posted?  I can't seem to find it on Ancestry.

Annette

[jonw65]

Hi
It's there in the London Poor Law records
Camden/St Pancras/record type - Register of Lunatics
Register of Mental Cases 1901-1906 (STPBG/155/001)

near the end of the list

What we really need is that reception order, or some kind of exam, to see what was going on with Annie, and whether there is anything about an accident.
But, checking the records for St Pancras BG at the LMA,
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/family-history/Documents/london-metropolitan-archives-camden-london-generations-guide.pdf

there are no reception orders listed between September 1901 and October 1903!
So they may be lost.
If so, it would be an idea to look at what is available at the Colney Hatch/Friern end, by searching the LMA catalogue. There may be a duplicate copy, and other records relating to her admission to the hospital.

I did not see the Campbells in the workhouse creed register, and there is still the mystery of what happened to Annie's son John.

[ValJJJ]

Wow - thank you so much John and Annette.   I can't tell you how exciting this is as I've been working on this for over a year.

So much info and the two children Violet and Alfred have to be 'mine'.  Fantastic!  Could I be cheeky and ask if there was a third child, John Campbell born 4 Oct 1897, admitted on the same date? 

Also, where was Leavesden School and would it be near the workhouse the children were in?  I am wondering where the family were living when the calamity occurred.   Was this in Newbury?

Regarding Anne/Annie the mother in Colney Hatch asylum, would that have taken people from a wide area or local to it?  As she was admitted in Dec 1901, I suppose that pinpoints her accident, but I'm a bit lost with the timeline for the children. Would they have been in the workhouse until March 1902? Was Leavesden School a children's home, so were they then boarded out later?

[ValJJJ]

I can't explain the very firm memory of my relative of someone visiting Ann in the asylum and travelling to Castle Bar station (which is Ealing ish) in order to walk there.  She certainly didn't walk to Colney Hatch. I'd thought perhaps Ann was in a private asylum locally.  I don't suppose she would have been transferred to Hanwell Asylum at some point but this was not recorded - seems unlikely.

[ValJJJ]

Sorry, I missed your last couple of posts in the excitement. 

I can see you mentioned she was admitted from Hanway St, Pancras, and I spent a day last week wading through the Pancras BG creed register for Campbells and didn't find any, unless I blinked or glazed over.

Are the Colney Hatch records easily accessible (perhaps even via a phone call as you've pinpointed the date?).

[ValJJJ]

We should have gone to that first, I guess!

One more thing -
Seems to be no St Pancras reception orders on ancestry for 1901?
Under Register of Lunatics there is
Register of mental cases, 1901-1906
(images 37 and 38)
1st Dec 1901
Annie Campbell, 34, admitted from 10 Hanway St
think it says she is married
is other info including details for her sister, Kate Smith

John

John, what were the details of her sister Kate please?

[jonw65]

Hi
On Colney Hatch, because Annie died in 1924 - less than 100 years ago - her asylum records, ie case notes, are closed for access by the general public. There could well be a way round that, as you are a direct descendant, and if so then I imagine you would have to provide proof of relationship, maybe even the death certificate. How then you would get to see them, I don't know exactly. If they consent, you may find that you would have to visit LMA in person.
We need an expert on this - I'm sure there are plenty on rootschat!

Didn't see John at all in the records, nor any of the Campbells in the workhouse creed. But that was a quick look, it might be worthwhile checking again. I'm not sure if there is an A+D register for the relevant period, have to consult that LMA guide again!

It is a bit frustrating not knowing exactly when Alfred and Violet were admitted to the workhouse, and the address they had been living at.
And I agree with you, I can't really see the children being in the workhouse from December 1901 to March 1902? Although we could be wrong. If not, could they have been with a relative, or a friend of Annie's? Could John have then been adopted?

Leavesden School was the St Pancras workhouse school, in Hertfordshire.
Best general info on all this is on the workhouse website
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/StPancras/

Her sister's details (I'm not great at reading this)
Kate Smith, Heghfield House, Eastnor Drive, Carlton, Nottingham
(I'm not sure they have got that address right!)

Colney Hatch became Friern Hospital. I think most of the St Pancras patients who were in asylums may have been there, or in Hanwell. Other asylums were opened 1890s/1900s. It doesn't look as though Annie was transferred at all, and yet she wasn't on the first Colney list I looked at in those Pancras records. Or else I missed her, or she was accidentally left off.
John

[ValJJJ]

Thanks John for your detailed info and suggestions.  Do you live at the LMA?  Or just very skilled at going straight to the correct registers?  I intended to look up the children first when I went there but the librarian advised looking at the creed registers first to identify a date of admission.  Pity I didn't have more time there.

As the records show Ann was admitted to Colney Hatch in Dec 1901, I wondef if she would have first been admitted elsewhere, possibly the workhouse, before eventually being assessed/sent to Colney, since it is hardly close to Hanway St. 

I wonder if melancholia was actually post-natal depression (maybe a bit late as Violet was born over a year before) or she had attempted either suicide or an induced miscarriage by 'falling' down stairs.  Or perhaps the accident is a fanciful family version handed down to explain her being in an asylum and nothing of the sort happened.

I will contact the LMA and ask about access to records.