asylum homes

[indcydd]

My grand aunt was signec in by her mum because she wanted to be a catholic. She died there in thr 90's
I would like to find info on her

[gortonboy]

hi,,,welcome to the frorum,,,in order to try and help,,we would need more information,,,can you please post all the full details you know,,,,names,,,years of birth,,,where born,,,where died etc. 

[indcydd]

hi, thanks for answering so promptly. I love this site - it is so interesting. one reason being I was a boarder in RCboarding school in garston and have finally seen a photo of my old school
my aunt was called  violet dennison smith
- spinster
- aged 8 in 1911 census
address-            the wirral, cheshire? or maybe birkenhead. spent her life in a local asylum
father                name- george dennison smith born 1875
mother name- mary e aldersley born 1877
sister-                elfreda
brothers-          arthur and denny
hope to hear from you
marjorie

[gortonboy]

hi,,,what information are you looking for ?

[LizzieW]

The reason you've been given for her being sent to an asylum may not be the truth.  Have you got her death certificate?  Also you may be able to get a copy of the records of her stay in the asylum if you're lucky.  She was born in 1903, and died around 2003.  Even if they are one of the places that insist on holding on the records for 100 years after her death, you may be able to get the first few pages of her records.  That is what happened when I wanted the records of my g.uncle who went into an asylum in his early 20s.  He died in 1964 but I persuaded the archivists holding the records to at least let me have the admission pages, by telling them that someone in my family had a mental illness and I wanted to see if it was hereditary. 

[LizzieW]

indcydd contacted me by PM for some information, but I think it's better to continue her search on here so told her I'd post what I've found so far. 

I've found that Violet Smith was actually born in 1902, on 3rd April 1902 to be exact.  The reason she is shown as being 8 on the 1911 census is that her 9th birthday was exactly one day after the census was taken.  She was baptised on 12 October 1902 at New Ferry Parish Church, Cheshire.  Her parents as incydd correctly told us were George Dennison and Mary Elizabeth Smith.  George's occupation at the time was given as Book-keeper and their address was 74 Bebington Road, New Ferry.  By 1911 George Dennison Smith was shown as an Audit Clerk on Chief Accountants Staff of Lever Brothers, soap manufacturers.

There are a few possible deaths but I can't find any 90+ years after Violet's birth and none which give the correct date of birth.  These are all I could find:

Jan-Mar 1951 Birkenhead - a Violet Smith born about 1902
July-Sept 1976 Chester & Ellesmere Port - a Violet Smith born about 1902
July-Sept 1983 Chester & Ellesmere Port - a Violet Smith born 17.3.1902

Indcydd - What we need to know is are you sure she was in the asylum all her life?  I don't know what registration district Deva Hospital, Wirral would come under.  You said in your PM that you thought that would be the place she'd been sent. 

If you only have this information from your dad, I wonder if he actually knew that she was in an asylum 90+ years later. If so, where did he learn that from?  How do you know she died there in her 90s?  Do you have more information that you can give us?

I did wonder if she had married at some time and I found a few deaths of women named Violet with a date of birth of 3.4.1902.  However, when I checked out the appropriate marriages for these women, none of them had had the maiden name Smith.

My thoughts - and other Rootschatters - may have more, are that it seems a bit odd even at the time to manage to get someone into an asylum because they wanted to take up Roman Catholic religion, so I wonder a). Did she have religious mania or something, or b). Was she an unmarried pregnant girl/woman - a fact that might have been kept from her siblings.

There are quite a few births between 1917 and 1940 of babies called Smith, born to mothers whose maiden name was Smith registered in the Wirral, which is probably where they would have been registered if Violet had had an illegitimate child.  There is even one named Violet C Smith born in 1920.

Lizzie

[LizzieW]

OK indcydd replied by PM, so I've given her the link to get back here.  This is what she said:

you could be right. do the asylums register deaths? I was reading they are  buried in the hospital grounds. I think the would have been a private patient as the family were very rich. she might even have been in a different asylum. anyway, as her death is not coming to light I can not have a certificate so I will have to  keep searching.
don't you ever have a day off   
Marjorie

My response was:

You need to reply on your original thread so other Rootschatters can see your replies and help further, to get there just click on

www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=675368.msg5202826#msg5202826

It doesn't matter where a death occurred it still has to be officially registered so unless she died 2006 onwards, all the deaths are listed on line.  (After 2006, the only places that hold records are  Greater Manchester County Record Office, Birmingham, Bridgend, Plymouth and at the National Archives in London.  If you are not near any of those you'll have to ask on your original thread if there is anyone who can do a look up for you).

Marjorie - However, as your g.aunt was born in 1902 and your brother told you she died when she was 90, that is about 1992.  How much does your brother know that he hasn't told you?  Perhaps he knows which asylum she went to.  You say the family was very rich and you thought her father was Chief Accountant for Lever Brothers, but if you look carefully at the 1911 census, it shows he was an Audit Clerk in the Chief Accountants Office.  Of course, it's possible that he trained to be an accountant after that, but even so to pay for someone in a private asylum from say the age of 20 until her death at 90 would cost an absolute fortune.

I would talk to your brother and see how much he knows.

Lizzie.

ps You might also think of changing the name of this topic to something like "Searching for Violet Smith" you should then get more people trying to help you.  If you go right to the beginning of this post, where you said your great aunt had been signed into an asylum by her mother, click on modify at the top and then change your title.