Thank You

[Geraldine]

I don't know if this is the right place but I'd like to thank Litlle Nell, Elaine in Spain & Lyn A for their help to find Thomas James Fletcher on the 1901 census.
A likely chap was found in the London County Lunatic Asylum & it was suggested I contact Croydon Local Studies Library as holders of the records. So I did & today received a reply - the archivist, Chris Bennett, has looked up what information they had. A Thomas Fletcher was admitted on 29 January 1901 aged 27 & was chargeable to the Fulham Poor Law Union. This ties in with where his family lived at the time & the date he was last recorded as living with them. Based on info I provided & Chris found, we both think this is probably my Thomas.

The sad thing is he died there in 1947 aged 72 & is recorded as having no relatives so his funeral was arranged for the hospital cemetery. His youngest brother (my grandfather) was alive as well as 4 nieces including my Mum. I'm sure others of his 10 siblings were still alive.

So thank you ladies for your help & thank you to Chris Bennett at Croydon Local Studies Library - Geraldine

[Olde Crone Holden]

Geraldine

Yes, it's sad, but not all that unusual I am afraid.

People were so ashamed of mental illness that they would say so-and-so was dead, rather than admit where he was. It is quite possible that other family members didn't know.

A great great uncle spent 43 years in a lunatic asylum, after he came back from WW1. His children were told he was dead and the only people who knew the truth were his wife and my greatgrandfather - who financially supported her and her family.

The truth came out at a family gathering and caused no end of trouble. Not the sort of trouble you would expect either - far from feeling aggrieved that they had been lied to, his children, now adults, were horrified that they might also be tainted with madness and it did cause one divorce in the family.

(The poor man was suffering from shellshock, nothing else).

OC

[Little Nell]

Geraldine

You're welcome. I'm glad it turned out to be the right chap and sorry he had such a sad end. I agree with OC that the prevailing idea at the time with all kinds of infirmity, mental and otherwise was "out of sight and out of mind". My own grandfather refused to have his youngest daughter live with him when she was in trouble (she hit an American soldier who was making a pass at her). There wasn't a suitable place for her to go, so she was sent to a home for unmarried mothers in Essex.
She ran away and travelled over 70 miles to her sister (my Mum) who was working as a nanny to a private family. My Mum took her back to parents and told Granddad he'd have to have her!!
Luckily she was able to move in with her brother when he returned from the army. She was a poor thing, always in bad health with leg ulcer and other ailments, and had to give up work as a cleaner eventually. She was never diagnosed with any specific mental handicap, but she was slow and illogical. However, she lived on her own quite happily until she died, in a new flat and took pleasure in small things - her crocus bulbs opening up or watching the birds feeding.

[Geraldine]

I suppose I had a mental picture of a close knit family as they had cared for Thomas for 27 years. He was the eldest & had a stroke at age 7 in India which left him suffering from 'eccentricity & mental weakness'. His siblings seem to have been real home birds - unmarried & living with Dad & step mother until well into their 20's. I can only think that his step mother found it hard to cope with the needs of two under 5's & Thomas as well.

[Elaine ..Spain]

A very quick response from the Croydon Library. Glad you found him Geraldine, albeit a rather sad story.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Geraldine

If there was a Doctor involved - and there probably was for the new mother - then he would have recommended that the boy be "put away". People were so in awe of authority then, they would just have done as they were told.

Unfortunately, Doctors liked to see the "different" tidied away into Institutions.

OC

[Michael]

I think the column on census forms that required a tick if the person was "idiot, imbecile or lunatic" says something about the attitude of the time - it would have been considered such a stigma to have to tick that box, they'd rather send them away.

[Lyn A]

What amazing help you got from Chris at the Croydon Library.
Very sad story though, but at least now you have some answers.

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

I think Croydon Local Studies Library have been the most helpful of any place I have ever contacted in connection with my family history.......That was a while ago, so it's really nice to see they are still the same.......