Lunatics?

[Konovolov]

Hi all,
A possible ancestor is recorded in the 1901 census as being a patient in the Buckinghamshire County Asylum, and is classified as a lunatic.
Now, as well as fearing the worst for myself, as I`ve never had the soundest of minds, I was just wondering if anyone could shed any light on possible reasons for this incarceration, and if things pan out in terms of my research (and he is an ancestor), whether any records are available regarding such matters?
Thanks,
Craig

[Mary from Italy]

There are all sorts of reasons. I have half a dozen lunatics in my tree - some were incarcerated for 20-30 years, others just for short periods before their death, so they may have had what we now call Alzheimer's.

Records may be available; I was able to get one great-aunt's records from Leics. Record Office, and another one from NSW. They can be rather harrowing, though.

To find out what records have survived and where they are, search for the hospital on these sites:

The National Archives | Search the archives | Hospital Records Database | Welcome

Index of Lunatic Asylums and Mental Hospitals

[Konovolov]

Thanks Mary,
I`m maybe barking up the wrong tree completely, but I`m at a stage where I`d rather dig around and find stuff that turns out to be irrelevent, than just give up on the things that are stumping me!
Does the bug stay with you and the adrenaline rush when things click into place?
Craig

[Joan of Archives]

I have found one called "feeble minded" on the census, my 2 x great aunt who was only young, she died in her early thirties. I do wonder if maybe she had Down's Syndrome. She went to live with her sister when my 3 x great grandmother ended up in the Workhouse.

I did get access to my great grandmother's medical records from an asylum, they were completed up to her death in 1933, so fairly recent. I had to write & ask permission to see them. There were 8 full pages of very detailed notes that made quite harrowing reading. She was hearing voices & other stuff, it sounds like psychosis of some sort. I found it very upsetting reading as this was a close relative. All I can say is be prepared to find them quite frank & brutally honest about the person's physical & mental state.

[Mary from Italy]

Does the bug stay with you and the adrenaline rush when things click into place?

Yes

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

There could be a whole host of reasons for someone being in an asylum, common classifications given as lunatic or imbecile are quite frequent but may not have quite the same meaning as we might use today.

Medical research and treatment was not as advanced and the term lunatic could be applied to someone who displayed a number of symptoms.

There are several links in the wiki to the different locations of records and there are some sites devoted to particular establishments.

Workhouses/Hospitals/Asylums And Sanitoriums - Family Tree Forum

[Olde Crone Holden]

Craig

The bug has stayed with me for nearly four decades!

Just when you think you have finished and are secretly getting a bit bored, up pops something completely unexpected and off you go again.

"Lunatic" was a catch-all phrase which covered just about anyone who was different in some way, including the eccentric and the depressed,unrequired wives, as well as several untreated physical diseases which manifest as lunacy - George the Third had such a malady.

The records can make distressing reading, as Mary says, but it does make you feel a connection to your relatives.

OC

[Velma Dinkley]

Hi Craig,

I hope you will find my article from the January issue of FTF Magazine useful, which is about mental health and the lunatic asylums

Mental Health and the Lunatic Asylums

Velma

BTW Welcome to the site!

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

Thanks Mary,
I`m maybe barking up the wrong tree completely, but I`m at a stage where I`d rather dig around and find stuff that turns out to be irrelevent, than just give up on the things that are stumping me!
Does the bug stay with you and the adrenaline rush when things click into place?
Craig

Digging around is the way we end up finding different sites and sources of information, it's never a waste of time as you discover what sites to use, which to trust and which ones are not so useful, at some point you might even find you get hooked by a particular subject and become a bit of an expert in a particular field or have a talent for a certain subject others just can't quite fathom.

A break from a family mystery is sometimes good too and a little diversion into a pet subject is like a holiday, you come back to researching a difficult rellie with a fresh outlook and new ideas.

[Little Nell]

'labouring under mental derangement for 25 years' was reason for my 3 x gt aunt's stay in Nofolk Lunatic Asylum.

[Olde Crone Holden]

*why is Nell whispering?*

I was up until 3.30 am chasing a new branch, and didn't fall asleep till gone 5a.m. because it was all racing round in my head!

OC

[Konovolov]

Thanks for the link Velma, and everyone else for the imput. He would have been hitting 50 at the time and been a farm labourer his whole life, so I guess there`s a multitude of possibilities. I reckon the next step would be to check the 1911 census to see if he made it out.
Craig

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

*why is Nell whispering?*

I was up until 3.30 am chasing a new branch, and didn't fall asleep till gone 5a.m. because it was all racing round in my head!

OC

OC
Nell isn't whispering, that's the voices in your head again:D

Only 5a.m. It must have been a rather boring little conundrum. I was still wide awake at 6.15 planning a screenshot guide and some wiki pages.

And rumours that the Asylum is now called FTF are completely true,