grandma had a nervous breakdown...

[jammin208]

my grandma who was born in 1930 in Islington, London always talked of suffering from a nervous breakdown when she was sixteen. im assuming this would be war related but wonder if theres anyway I can find out more.
age 16 would make the year 1946,my grandma told us of how she was evacuated to Northampton during the war so the event could of happened at either place as she doesn't show up on censuses till 1953 when she is now a married women.


I would greatly appreiciate any offers of help

[Olde Crone Holden]

1953 census? Are you sure?

Oddly enough, I have been helping a friend whose grandmother had a "nervous breakdown" - we knew where and when but we have not been able to find any records for the place she said she was sent to for treatment and recuperation.

I am not sure how to help without the name of an institution - I am assuming she was hospitalised and didn't just suffer in silence!

OC

[jammin208]

from what she said she seemed to have had quite a bad one so im assuming hospitilisation. was hoping there would be someway to assess them. x

[clematised]

Jammin are you getting mixed up between census which are closed for 100 years and Electoral registers as by 1953 she would have been eligible to vote so then be on Electoral registers which you had to be over 21 to have the vote.

Lots of illness came under the heading of nervous breakdown a cover all name for stress as we know it in todays world.
There are such things as Hospital records which can be accessed if you know where too look but they are covered by 70 year rule.

Edna

[Janet in Yorkshire]

If she had hospitalisation and received treatment in the Northampton area, I think this would have been at St Crispins, formerly Berrywood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Crispin's_Hospital

The hospital buildings are long gone and I have no idea where the records would have been transferred to.

Jay

[clematised]

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a...spital+Records a list of hospital but you can add a hospital or and area ect.,

Edna

[Night Owl]

There is a hospital records database here - it just tells you where and what class of records there are (not individual names of patients)

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/default.asp

You would have to identify which hospital first and then contact the holder of the records to find out whether the records are closed (I think its normally 100 years for patient records). Is your Grandma alive? If so I would think she can access the records herself. If not the archivist would need to decide whether the records can be accessed. I have heard of cases where records were released early when it was proved the the person was no longer living

[Janet in Yorkshire]

I think this is the information you would need about the Northamptonshire hospital, but note the dates, so of no use to you.

http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/Community/archives/Documents/PDF%20Documents/St%20Crispin%20Hospital%20A4.pdf

Jay

[Janet]

from what she said she seemed to have had quite a bad one so im assuming hospitilisation. was hoping there would be someway to assess them. x

You cannot assume hospitalisation with a "Nervous Breakdown" even back in 1946. Many people suffered depression/mental illness or breakdowns in varying degrees and some will have been treated for "nerves" with drugs used for the purpose at the time. Unless you have positive proof of hospitalisation then what you are asking for may be very difficult to find. Really serious breakdowns were often treated with ECT and hospitalisation as talking therapies were not readily available at this time. Many people would have just got on with their lives without seeking treatment.

Perhaps finding out about her war years might help you find some answers. Can you ask any questions like was she bombed out, friends relatives killed. What were her evacuation experiences like? Many evacuees had very traumatic experiences.

Janet

[jammin208]

hi thanks for your help, i would ask her but sadly she was diagnosed with dementia last year. the information I remember being told as a child is all I really have to go on .she was born in Islington in the 1930s and from other information ive gathered Islington seemed to be bombed pretty bad. she talked of Northampton I think that's where she was evacuated. she speaks of her dad being in the kings royal rifles which she still remembers now. can find no record of him. without more solid information I fear the trail is coming to an end as concrete facts are what I really need.x

[Janet]

Even somebody with Alzheimers often remember with great clarity their childhood days so do not give up on her just because she has Alzheimers. If you are in touch with her I suggest you try to find out from your parents where she was evacuated in Northamptonshire. My own children know the places I was evacuated to. Once you have an actual place then you can do some digging yourself around the area to find out more and then talk to your Gran in a way that makes her feel you understand. Similarly try to find out where she lived in Islington and maybe you can find this out from electoral registers. Her birth certificate will show the address where she was born. Try to go forward from that. Did she have siblings after she was born? If so try purchasing those certs to see if she if the address is the same. Sometimes it is the same address, but often it is different as people moved around as families became bigger. I have three siblings, all born in different places so I have purchased all their Birth Certificates to give me clues as to where we lived before and during the War Years.

Once you have addresses then you can look at the bomb maps of London to see which areas were affected and then do some reading of what happened to Islington. Even without knowing any addresses you could google Islington World War 2 and see how badly it was affected.

Your gran will still recognise photos and songs. Have you any photos of her of when she was young? These can often trigger memories. One of my favourite songs during the war was"Run Rabbit Run Rabbit Run Run Run". Try getting hold of of a CD of War Songs (I have one myself) and play these to your gran, it is surprising what she will remember. I can only suggest you try to immerse yourself in this period of time, the war years and just after, which will enable you to talk to her about her experiences with some understanding. Was her father killed in the war? As he was a Second World War veteran, these records are still with the MOD, so will only be available to the next of kin at a cost of £30, but again speak to your parents, if they are still around, as one of them may well be next of kin and could obtain documents for you?

Don't give up yet, there is still a lot you can do to find out more. If you want to contact the Evacuees Association to see if they can offer further advice then the website is below:

http://www.evacuees.org.uk/

Janet

[kylejustin]

alzheimer's is a disease which affects recent memory. long term ones are fine, until the later stages. but older people can muddle things up, so take everything said with a pinch of salt.

[Janet]

Other things you might find out could be where she went to school and many London school records are now online. In those days she would possibly have left school in 1944 age 14, so this also might have triggered problems if she had to leave a happy environment in the Northants area? Perhaps she was at a grammar school in Northampton and parents wanted her back at school leaving age? If you are lucky enough to track down schools she attended then you may find she was evacuated with the school and London Metropolitan Archives have a big archive on schools within their area evacuated all over the country so if you can get to LMA then they are worth looking at, but you need to know which school/s first. The phony war of 1939 saw a massive exodus of London Schoolchildren evacuated all over the country, but within three months or even sooner they were all back again. Was your Gran part of that first evacuation wave? Was that it for her or was she evacuated again later when the Blitz started 1940? In 1939 she was 9 and in 1940 with the Blitz she was 10 going on 11 ready for secondary education? Did she miss out or gain any educational opportunities by being evacuated?

Sorry if I am throwing a lot at you here, but there are records out there that can help you if you really understand the problems faced by childre during the Second World War.

Janet

[Janet]

alzheimer's is a disease which affects recent memory. long term ones are fine, until the later stages. but older people can muddle things up, so take everything said with a pinch of salt.

They may get things muddled up but with a certain amount of listening and astuteness on the part of the listener, you can get some things from them by showing pictures and playing music and songs.


If she has only recently been diagnosed with Alzheimers then there is a good chance she still has a lot of memory left.

Janet

[loltel]

Not much help for records but my mother suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to claybury mental hospital in woodford, essex.

Claybury seemed to be the place that served the north london area, or colney hatch asylum, now friern barnet hospital.

[jammin208]

hi it is dementia my grandma has been diagnosed with which is a little different. some memories go way back but as she enters further into the illness she remembers less and less. I showed her some of her own photos and she could remember a few of the people in it.im going to repeat this process every now and again. she has chatted away to me about old times but like you say have to take things with a pinch of salt. I don't interigate her I strike up a topic and let her carry on from there.just wish I knew what was fact and which is fiction. thankyou for all your help I have emailed someone from the evacuation website lets hope they can help :-). I will try all your other suggestions. x

[Vonny North West]

You did mention about your gran being evacuated c.1946? This web-site may be useful: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/r...n/evacuees.htm
When my mum started to loose her memory, when I was sitting chatting with her I used a Dictaphone to record conversations, when playing them back I was surprised at how much detail she had remembered.
Vonny

[jammin208]

no she was born in 1930 im not sure what year she was evacuated.x

[Janet]

She would only have been evacuated between 1939 and 1945 and in the main most evacuations happened between 1939 and 1943. Some evacuees could not be reunited immediately with families in 1945, after the war ended for a number of reasons but you will find that by 1946/1947 they would have all returned home. Did she ever work and what was her job?

You are right not to interrogate but just gently question and yes the use of a dictaphone is a good idea. Probably much of what she is saying is correct but maybe jumbled up to the point you cannot understand what she is saying.

Janet

[Janet]

I also wonder if you can ask her about her schooldays. She may mix up the dates and times but you may be able to find out if she was evacuated with school friends or did she go on a steam train on her own. Perhaps she can tell you about the train journey with teachers. Ask her what it was like on the old steam trains. Did she make many journeys by train?

Certain events that happen now can trigger other memories. I must admit the rail problems around Dawlish have triggered strong memories for me of my evacuation days of travel by train to Teignmouth.

Janet