Asylums in Yorkshire

[EBrand]

Hi there!

I never knew my great-granddad's family as he moved from Nun Monkton, Yorkshire to Australia back in 1910. After research on his family (I never knew my great-granddad as he died in 1970), and listening to old family tales, I discovered that my great granddad's sister, Elizabeth Gowland, was supposedly put in an asylum for a couple of years. What for, I am not sure, but my grandma always told me it was for something that we would not find crazy today. Elizabeth was born in 1887 and she shows up in all census records from 1891, 1901, and 1911. From 1891 and 1901 she is living with her parents on their property in Nun Monkton, and in 1911 (if I have the right Elizabeth) she is working as a maid for two Roman Catholic Irish priests, in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire.
I would like to find out if this family story is true, but I believe that to see the records you have to be there in person? Correct me if I'm wrong. 

If anyone has any advice on how to access records from former asylums, I would very much appreciate it!

Thank you,
EB

[KGarrad]

There were a number of Asylums in Yorkshire:

Broadgate, Beverley - East Riding Lunatic Asylum
Clifton, York - York and East Riding Asylum
De La Pole, Willerby, Hull - Hull Borough Asylum
High Royds, Menson - West Riding Asylum
Middlewood, Wadsley Park, Sheffield - West Riding of Yorkshire County Asylum
Naburn, Fulford, York - York Borough Asylum
Scalebor Park, Burley in Wharfedale - Scalebor Park
St Lukes, Middlebrough - Middlesbrough County Asylum
Stanley Royd, Wakefield - West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Storthes Hall, Kirkburton - Fourth West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum
The Retreat, York

There's a guide from The National Archives:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/asylum-inmates/

Which says that Ancestry has Admission Registers (1846-1912).

[LizzieW]

If she died more than 100 years ago the archivists may send you a copy of her records for a fee.

[EBrand]

Thanks for this!

After looking through the ancestry records for the asylums, I couldn't find record of her. Also I don't believe she died there in the asylum, however you could be right about the records being younger than 100 years old so they might not have released them. Something tells me she might have been admitted in her younger years, ie. before her appearance in the 1911 census, however this is just a hunch of mine.

EB.

[KGarrad]

Are you sure it was an asylum, and not just a workhouse?

[EBrand]

Are you sure it was an asylum, and not just a workhouse?

I'm actually not sure at all! I'm just trying to see if the family story about my grandma's aunty has any credit to it! 

I don't think the family were incredibly poor, however they did end up losing a lot of their lands to the Roman Catholic church in the late 1800s. In 1911 Elizabeth turns up working as a servant for two Roman Catholic Irish priests, still in Yorkshire but away from her home in Nun Monkton. This is quite ironic, as my great-grandad (when he advertised for a wife) strictly advertised for no Roman Catholics. I think it's safe to say the family held a little bit of a grudge.

EB