The Central Hospital Hatton

[Candidiasia Ibberrson]

I am in possession of my my Great Grandmothers death cert.

Laura Holland died 05 November 1960 The Central Hospital Hatton.  Age 74

Occupation of 95 Thislte Field Radford, Coventry, Widow of Raplh Holland Butchers Assistant.

Cause of death Broncho Peneumonia

Informant M G Wells Daughter 164 Scots Lane, Radford, Coventry my Grandmother

Is there a reason she was a the Central Hospital Hatton.

Candis

[daveb]

Hi
 Central Hospital was the local Mental Hospital there is a lot of info on the internet about it. It has now been redeveloped as a housing estate but lots of the buildings are listed and thus still apparent.

 Daveb

[Candidiasia Ibberrson]

Thanks

I wondered why she was there and what for.

Candis

[Lisajj]

All the admittance records are at Warwick Records office.  Some of them have a closure date on them, so you may not be able to view her records as she only died in 1960.  If you contact Warwick records office, they will tell you if you can view her records or not.
My 3 x great grandfather died at Hatton, he was in there for basically being a smelly old man.  These days he would have been in a care home.  He was also buried there, but the grave markers were all thrown in the ground as land fill when they built the housing estate.

Lisa

[Candidiasia Ibberrson]

Thanks for that info Lisa

Will do that

Candis

[dabs0]

The Central Hospital was also known as Hatton on the Hill and was referred by locals as "Going up the hill" when anyone was sent there. Your relative did not have to have a mental illness to be sent there, when I wroked there as a nurse in the late 70's there were polish POW there, because they did not want to go back to Poland when the war was over, so were sent to Hatton. I also know of one gent in his 60's who was sent there because he stole a penny from the mantlepiece at home. They patients were also lumped in with those with learning difficulties, so it was not a nice place to be and the treatment of any kind of mental disability was still in it's infancy even in the late 70's, they had not long stopped frontal lobectomies when I started nursing!

Also women who were deemed too strong willed or prone to bouts of mild depression or "The hysterics" could also be sent up the hill.

[kateblogs]

Given her age it's possible she had something like Alzheimers.

Then again - as others have said - a lot of the patients at Hatton weren't mentally ill, or at least not in any form we would recognise. I believe in the 1950s it was quite common for women who were considered 'flighty' (such as unmarried mothers or estranged wives) to be institutionalised, for their own good of course 

[Lisajj]

Women with post natal depression also sometimes ended up in there too.  I think quite a lot of people were sent there from the workhouse and then were cared for a lot better.  A lot of the things they were in for then, we would probably just put them in a care home now or would be easily treated.  It could have been something fairly "normal" in today's terms.

[Rosaleen M]

The Central Hospital was also known as Hatton on the Hill and was referred by locals as "Going up the hill" when anyone was sent there. Your relative did not have to have a mental illness to be sent there, when I wroked there as a nurse in the late 70's there were polish POW there, because they did not want to go back to Poland when the war was over, so were sent to Hatton. I also know of one gent in his 60's who was sent there because he stole a penny from the mantlepiece at home. They patients were also lumped in with those with learning difficulties, so it was not a nice place to be and the treatment of any kind of mental disability was still in it's infancy even in the late 70's, they had not long stopped frontal lobectomies when I started nursing!

Also women who were deemed too strong willed or prone to bouts of mild depression or "The hysterics" could also be sent up the hill.

Hi there, never used this before but here goes.  I'm interested to hear that you nursed at Hatton in the 70's and wondered if you ever came across one of my relatives, Davis Thomas Burdett.  He died aged 83 in Feb 1981 and had spent all his adult life there after being sent to the asylum with severe shell shock during First World War.  We  have been told he was a harmless individual who was a great gardener and spent much of his time tending the gardens at the Hospital.  I know very few other details but it is a tragic story and any small peice of information would be much appreciated.  He was not talked of in the family because of the stigma at the time I suppose but I would love to have him remembered as he should be.