Genealogy Chat

In case any of you have relatives who died in an asylum hospital it's well worth sending of for the records ; Not only may they include a photo but give plenty of details . such as nearest relative and details of their illness .

Hi Alisoun

Where would you apply for the records?

The records for my grt grt grandmother are held in the County Archive. She died 1897, 3 days after being transferred from the Workhouse Infirmary as she had been 'difficult'.

As Alisoun says, many of the records have photos attached, although not in the case of mine. Some of the comments on her behaviour and conversations were heart breaking as she was diagnosed with Dementia. My mother had suffered that only a few years before. Be warned. :-0

Many Archives will operate the 100 year rule although they do apply common sense.

I retrieved my great great aunts...she was confined as a result of "outbursts" reading between the lines it sounds as though she was an alcoholic perhaps brought on and certainly not helped by the sheer poverty of the time and no decent treatment/support systems in place etc.

They make for very sad reading as do most institutional records of the time..makes you appreciate how lucky (for the most part) we are in this day and age really.

Thanks

I was wondering if other medical records may be available too?

You can find what information is available on Natinal archive records then contact the individual county records office . In our case the south glamorgan records were very helpful and we have pages of information ; tho as others say it's not pleasant to discover some things (our ancestor had syphylis at 34 + some of the comments would be considered unprofessional todY "Childish , grumbling ,"

They also had Creed records but if your relatives are not catholic .baptist or another form of Christian it will just say "other" .

having now read these reports fully I agree with Detective some very harsh comments about being quarelsome and having filthy habits ;he was moved to a seperate ward at one point after pulling bedclothes off other patients .
even the day before his death the medical report had seemed to say he was complaining .
But it's a really interesting social document ; many of his complaints were about food he wanted fish or vegetarian food ...his request for Kosher food was treated dismissively ....but he spent time writing pages to his doctor so it must have been an easier life than the workhouses .