Lydia BUDGETT missing from 1891 - can you find her?

[LDW]

Our great granny is missing from the 1891 census, though we can find her in all the others.

Some family members think she was in an asylum - citing the fact that in 1878 her husband changed his will to remove her from guardianship of the children, executorship of the will, and management of her own bequest.

Some think she went into a nunnery. Some think she was in prison for bumping her husband off ('killed by falling from an upper window of his residence' - Yorkshire Gazette, Sat Jun 1, 1889). Or she went abroad (not found in passenger lists yet though).

And the less fanciful of us think she's in the census alright but we just haven't found her - visiting a mate or something.

Any ideas?

(Usual aliases - she appears as Lydia, Lillie, Lilian etc; WEDD is frequently confused with WEBB, WADE and so forth.)

Lydia Mary BUDGETT (aka Lillie, Lilian etc)
  - born 2 Jul 1841, Keynsham (Sep 1841 Keynsham 11 125)
  - married Henry A WEDD, 17 Jul 1862, Westbury on Trym, Glos
  - died 1914 (Sep 1914 Poole 5a 245)

Censuses:
1851: (at school) Wood Hill, Portishead
1861: visiting Alfred Price, stoneware mfr and his sister Mary, Linton Villas, Pembroke Road, Clifton.
1871: 37 Queensborough Terrace, Paddington
1881: (incorrectly as Lilian) Manor House, Woodmansterne
1891: not found (the children are at Bridge St, Walton on Thames, with eldest dau as head)
1901: The Croft, Walton on Thames
1911: Old Road Cowes IOW (visitor)

Bath Chronicle – Thurs July 24, 1862
Marriage – On 17th July at the parish church Westbury on Trym, Henry Arthur Wedd of London, to Lydia Mary second daughter of John Payne Budgett of Henleaze Park, Westbury on Trym.

[Freespirit1]

I haven't seen her on any census records yet for 1891 but I have read a newspaper report of the bequests in Henry's will and it would appear that Lydia Mary was well catered for, with no obvious signs of a major rift:  "The testator bequeaths £1000 and all his linen, glass, china, consumable stores, horses and carriages, to his wife, Lydia Mary Wedd; she is also to have the use and enjoyment for life of his furniture and household goods, and of such plate, books and pictures as she may select...................All his real estate and the residue of his personal estate he leaves, upon trust, subject to a provision for his wife out of one moiety of the income, for all his children: the son first attaining 21 to take a double share, and the other children equally"

Could she have been abroad on holiday at the time of the census?

[avm228]

The 1878 will was significantly changed by an 1888 codicil:

http://weddfamily.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=weddfamily&view=78&ver=30766&storyid=48878

[Freespirit1]

Well, assuming that Lydia might have had some mental health issues, it is possible that she could have been in an asylum at the time.  As they lived in the south east, I tried the census for the Bethlem (now Maudsley) Hospital.  Their patients/inmates are shown only by initials but I couldn't see anyone by the the initials 'LMW' or 'LMB' (in case she was entered using her maiden name).  There were a number of other asylums in London and the south east so it may be worth working through each one systematically checking the initials of inmates.

[LDW]

Well, assuming that Lydia might have had some mental health issues, it is possible that she could have been in an asylum at the time.  As they lived in the south east, I tried the census for the Bethlem (now Maudsley) Hospital.  Their patients/inmates are shown only by initials but I couldn't see anyone by the the initials 'LMW' or 'LMB' (in case she was entered using her maiden name).  There were a number of other asylums in London and the south east so it may be worth working through each one systematically checking the initials of inmates.

Brilliant insight there - thank you! That is a trail well worth following up.

[LDW]

The 1878 will was significantly changed by an 1888 codicil:

http://weddfamily.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=weddfamily&view=78&ver=30766&storyid=48878

Yup - that's the one.

[LDW]

Could she have been abroad on holiday at the time of the census?

Passenger lists. They're patchy! We can't find her on them - so far.

[avm228]

If she went to Europe as opposed to further abroad there would be no passenger list available.

[LDW]

If she went to Europe as opposed to further abroad there would be no passenger list available.

Indeed.