Research Forum

A 'Lunatic' in the Somerset and Bath Asylum
published by on Thu, 27/10/2016 - 14:27

I have a distant cousin, Thomas HERBERT, who was employed as a Milk Carrier in Weston, in 1881. He was lodging at 34, Meadow Street with a family called CARPENTER. Thomas was actually born in Guiting Power, Gloucestershire late in 1845.

Sadly, Thomas next appeared as a patient (Lunatic) at Gloucestershire County Asylum, Gloucester in 1891, and then in Somerset and Bath Asylum, Wells in 1901 and the one at Cotford near Taunton in 1911. He died in in the Cotford Asylum in May 1923, aged 77. On his Death Certificate, they cited the Meadow Street address in Weston.

I have two queries:

Firstly, I wonder if there is anywhere that I might discover if he came to notice in Weston before he was taken in to the Asylum, sometime in the 1880s?

And secondly, if his last home address was in Weston-super-Mare, might he have been taken there for burial, perhaps in the Milton Road Cemetery? None of his immediate family was alive when he died, and he was not buried back in Guiting Power.

Thanks,

Jane

Comments ..

Submitted by Pat Hase on Fri, 28/10/2016 - 11:55

As far as I can see he was not buried in Weston Cemetery. According to the Catalogue on the Somerset Heritage Centre site they hold a burial register for Cotford Asylum - have you looked there for his burial?

Have you looked for the records of Gloucestershire County Asylum to see if there are any clues there about what he was doing before admittance? It seems unusual for his address to still be Meadow Street when he died unless he had returned there at some time. Was there any family connection with the CARPENTER Family?

Submitted by on Fri, 28/10/2016 - 17:05

Thank you Pat, for looking at the Cemetery. I am interested to hear there is a specific record for burials from the Asylum. I am hoping to be able to look at his Asylum records fairly soon, as I believe that there may be reasonable records of those in the Asylum available. I have been quite lucky with Worcestershire records in another case, I know that they might be able to answer quite a lot of questions - not least about his specific affliction. I know that Epilepsy could be counted as Lunacy in those days.

Yes, the continuing Meadow Street connection does seem particularly odd after so many years, but as far as I have so far discovered, there is no family link to the CARPENTERs.