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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Northamptonshire => Topic started by: plan321 on Monday 29 May 17 05:04 BST (UK)
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This is a general query and am hoping that someone may have the answer!
I have a relative who was born in Bubbenhall and had an illegitimate son in 1879. She married in Northamptonshire in1884, but I cannot
find her in the 1881 Census at all. Her son was with her parents in 1881 but not her. I have found someone with matching initials and age in
the 1881 Census for The Northampton County Lunatic Asylum, there are no birth place details just an occupation which was domestic Servant.
Would someone be admitted to the Asylum for having a child born out of wedlock? My relative did end up living in a Northamptonshire village
while the rest of her family remained in Warwickshire.
Thanks :)
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She was more likely to have been admitted to the asylum suffering from post natal depression - It was considered a mental illness ::)
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What was in those days called a Lunatic Asylum we would today call a Mental Health Hospital. Folk with any sort of mental heath problem would be treated there and, if all was well, would be discharged back to the family. So, as happened in my family, a bout of depression or anxiety could well have been the trigger for short term admission.
Alternatively, she may have been working there as a domestic, staying overnight would mean she was included on the census there. Was her husband alive?
Another thought. It might be worth seeking out records for the asylum, most are kept at county record offices. I was able to see and copy out the record of one of my fore-fathers in Surrey.
maxD
We overlap again Rosie but I've left mine for additional info. :)
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Thanks for the info :) I hadn't thought about the possibilities of post natal depression or even being employed there.
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How does the census describe her -inmate /patient :-\
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confusingly, there were x2 asylums in Northampton. The one in Billing Road which is now St Andrews and housed the poet John Clare, and the County Asylum at Berrywood in Duston which opened in 1876
If she is listed as a domestic servant at the asylum, I would opine that she is not an inmate, but works there....
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Some years ago I had research regarding St Andrews and found that they had their own arcivist.
For Berrywood I'd suggest the County Record Office.
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In the not too distant past, prior to modern Mental Health legislation, it was all too common for women to be committed to an asylum because of pregnancy. It only took one doctor and one family member, or a person in loco parentis, to sign the relevant papers.
When I first worked in a Psychiatric Hospital in the middle 1960's there were a number of elderly women patients who were totally institutionalised due to their long stay but who had no psychiatric diagnosis. Looking at their records most of them were admitted when well under 20 years of age, had been working as a servant in a big house and were pregnant.
The story passed on by more experienced staff and, sometimes gathered from conversation with the patients themselves, was that they had become pregnant ( not always as a result of consensual activity ) by a son of the wealthy man who owned the house (some claiming it was the man himself). In those days before free health care, the local doctor would depend on such people for the majority of his income and with the wealthy man able to sign in loco parentis it was very easy to remove the problem.
To be fair to those who signed admission papers it is possible (probable?) that some of the servants had suffered mental health problems because they would have been well aware of the consequences of pregnancy in those circumstances and were subsequently committed to the asylum for genuine health reasons.
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Thanks for all the info everyone, the census had her down as an inmate. The asylum was the Berrywood one. I had heard stories of others that had been put into asylums for having a child out of wedlock so that is very interesting john_w.
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Possibly worth contacting Northamptonshire Record Office to see what they have on Berrywood. A relative in a similar establlshment in Surrey was easy to find in the hospital records.
maxD
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The Berrywood records are all at the Northants RO. They're not for the faint-hearted, though. Some of the details are pretty graphic!