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winson green asylum

Does it list anything that leads you to believe that it has something to do with his time in the asylum? I see he's listed as a general labourer, could it be that he's just working in Coventry?
 
Does it list anything that leads you to believe that it has something to do with his time in the asylum? I see he's listed as a general labourer, could it be that he's just working in Coventry?
I think the only thing that lead me to that conclusion was reading someone elses story about their nan who came from the asylum to the workhouse so I had nothing else to base it on but yes I guess he could just be working wherever he could find the work at the time. It just felt quite far away from home! Thanks for your help.
 
Nothing to do with the asylum, and you may know this, but there is a short service record on Ancestry - Benjamn was discharged
1603492956265.png
however it lists his marriage and children
1603493031340.png
 
Nothing to do with the asylum, and you may know this, but there is a short service record on Ancestry - Benjamn was discharged
View attachment 149486
however it lists his marriage and children
View attachment 149487
Yes I have this thank you. I have researched the meaning of the discharge code (as I couldn't read the handwriting) and it says unlikely to became an effective soldier. He was almost 40 when he joined! I do feel for him bless him. It would be good to know if there was a specific reason but I can't find any more military records than the ones you have attached.
 
I would think his age and past medical history would have been enough.
Also in 1911 he might have sought work in Coventry where it might be less likely known he had been in the asylum. Mental illness then carried even more of a stigma than today.
 
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Sorry this is off thread title but linked to an earlier query.

The address on the 1911 census is actually
Gulson House, 150 Spon Street and the signatory gives his occupation as "Common Lodging House Manager".
John Gulson lived in Coventry - at 7 Priory Row (which still exists) and also The Spring at Stoke, Coventry. I assume he was connected in some way to the lodging house listed on 1911 census. When he died in 1904 his estate was valued at over £85500 (around£10 million today).
1603544952140.png
 
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The address on the 1911 census is actually
Gulson House, 150 Spon Street and the signatory gives his occupation as "Common Lodging House Manager".
Oh thank you this makes more sense!
The address on the 1911 census is actually
Gulson House, 150 Spon Street and the signatory gives his occupation as "Common Lodging House Manager".
Oh okay thank you I must have missed that! That should hopefully make it abit easier to find some information on it.
 
It was several pages on as it seems to have been a large lodging house. The manager and his family were on the last page.
 
I’m presuming that Winson Green Asylum became All Saints Hospital adjacent to Dudley Road, and Summerfield ( Western Road ) Hospitals.
In the nineties I visited a couple of times someone who I had looked after for a while as a child.
The one ward appeared to have what I can only describe as prison type cells in a wall. They were not a kind of walk in cell, but more semi circular, and more like you would have to stoop to get in them, and lower in the ground. I am almost certain some patients slept in them. No bars were visible, but certainly they had a type of door on them.
The ward was not a locked ward, but it was extremely depressing, and the person I visited just walked out one day.
 
Hi. Im Currently trying to Find out info about my great-grandfather who died at City Asylum in 1925. The family story was that he was sent to Winson Green prison for stealing fruit and subsequently had a nervous breakdown and was transferred to the asylum. Which if true is really tragic. However, I have unearthed his death certificate which says he died of general paralysis of the insane which I’m led to believe is insanity caused by untreated syphillis, so I can completely see why the family covered it up. It would be really good to see if he actually was initially in the prison, and if any of the family story is true, but I’m drawing blanks. Any pointers would be gratefully receive. Thank you
 
What a fascinating story. It wasn’t until the discovery of penicillin that there was an effective treatment for syphilis. Once general paralysis of the insane developed, it was unfortunately invariably fatal. Certainly, in those days’ general paralysis of the insane accounted for significant proportion of deaths in institutions.
 
Hi. Im Currently trying to Find out info about my great-grandfather who died at City Asylum in 1925. The family story was that he was sent to Winson Green prison for stealing fruit and subsequently had a nervous breakdown and was transferred to the asylum. Which if true is really tragic. However, I have unearthed his death certificate which says he died of general paralysis of the insane which I’m led to believe is insanity caused by untreated syphillis, so I can completely see why the family covered it up. It would be really good to see if he actually was initially in the prison, and if any of the family story is true, but I’m drawing blanks. Any pointers would be gratefully receive. Thank you
have you tried searching the online british newspaper archives...could be possible that if your gt grandad was sent to winson green prison it may have been reported..you have to subscribe but if you would like one of our very helpful members to look for you we would need a name and a rough year

lyn
 
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There might be an entry in local newspapers. Are you prepared to give his name - if so members might look for you.

Snap again Lyn :)
 
Oh that would be amazing, thank you. He was called Ernest Nightingale, and he was born in 1872. I’m not exactly sure where the rest of the family were living at the time but I think it was very possibly Aston, if that helps. Thank you!
 
Cannot seem to find any reference to him in the newspaper archives I'm afraid
 
Aah that’s a shame, but thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate it. I will keep searching and hopefully will be able to find something,
 
I am looking to find records of inmates in Winson Green prison/Asylum for 1945. My relative was called Charlotte Beckett and she killed her husband and was convicted by Staffordshire assizes in 27.11.1945. She was called a criminal Lunatic. Was referred to Winson Green Prison/Asylum.
 
My wife did her Registered Mental Health Nurse training at All Saints and nursed for 40 years (twenty here in Wales), retired and a couple of months later when covid arrived she had a phone call and she's back working Crisis Intervention. I was a general nurse and the wife and I have often talked of the changes we've both seen in our areas of nursing.

Back in 1979 she was a student she nursed many very sad people who today would never have been sectioned and locked up, even back then that was recognised but sadly these people were so institutionalised they could not realistically leave, the community support structures that we have now simply were not there for them, they were stuck in a loop.

There were women who'd been sectioned for having a breakdown after refusing an arranged marriage or having a child out of wedlock, WW1 and WW2 soldiers with 'shell shock', WW2 day clinic patients who'd become addicted to morphine and carried the habit on for the next few decades, really 'bread and butter' stuff by todays standards. Straight jackets and padded cells were gone but patients were often over medicated back then; thankfully things have changed for the better in leaps and bounds.

One thing the old asylums had that the new units don't have is space, space for patients to walk, grounds to walk etc, you really don't have that with the purpose built hospitals and at time we all need our own space.

She spent her last five years nursing as the local Trust's Senior Nurse for Patient Therapies, goes to show how things changed.
 
I am looking to find records of inmates in Winson Green prison/Asylum for 1945. My relative was called Charlotte Beckett and she killed her husband and was convicted by Staffordshire assizes in 27.11.1945. She was called a criminal Lunatic. Was referred to Winson Green Prison/Asylum.
hi and welcome just wondered if you knew that there are several newspaper reports of this incident ?

lyn
 
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