International Women's Day

I feel I should offer a trigger warning for the post I am sharing with you today, as it contains discussions of both physical and mental health, and situations that you may feel uncomfortable with.

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In previous posts for International Women’s Day, I have concentrated on presenting the stories of women of Loughborough who perhaps we may not have heard of, but who certainly made their mark on society (see list below). 

Today, on the blog, I am focussing on a woman who one might have expected to lead a charmed life, someone who was the daughter of a very successful middle-class family, who married a successful man from Nottingham, but whose life did not perhaps take the course one would have liked.

Our woman shall remain nameless, but not faceless or characterless, although sometimes it is difficult to discover the stories behind women whose lives were lived during the late-Victorian – early-twentieth-century period, as so often they were just the daughters, just the wives, just the mothers, just the grandmothers, with little widely known characters of their own outside of these roles. Middle-class women, who were reported for their good and charitable works for the community, but like all women, known only as Mrs [insert husband’s initials and surname].

The woman I’m writing about today was born in 1874 in Loughborough, to a very middle-class family, at the head of which was a strong, influential, and well-known man. She was the second child, and the first daughter, to the couple, who went on to have eight children altogether. How she met her future husband we are never likely to know, but at 8 years her senior, and a successful owner of a lace manufacturing company in Nottingham, when the pair married at Loughborough parish church, in the summer of 1897, when our woman was aged 24, there was every reason to expect an optimistic future for the couple.

After a wedding reception in Loughborough Town Hall, and a honeymoon in Germany and Switzerland, the pair made their home in Nottingham, and on 27 March 1898, their first child, a baby daughter, was born. However, as was often the case in those days (sometimes because a couple waited until there were several children of the marriage to be baptised at the same time), she wasn’t baptised until a few years later, actually on 25 September 1901. However, in this case, the gap between registration of the baby’s birth, and the ensuing baptism was not only because by 1901 there was another baby to baptise, but also because immediately after the birth of the first-born, our woman was removed to The Retreat in York, which she later described as like being “put into a glass house”.

The Retreat had been founded in 1792, and opened in 1796, by William Tuke with the Society of Friends (Quakers) who were totally against the kind of treatment administerted to mentally ill patients at the time. Although The Retreat was originally opened for Quakers, it later came to accept people from other religious beliefs – for a higher cost. Patients at The Retreat were far better treated than those in the ‘lunatic asylums’ of the time, who were regarded almost as sub-human, and treated as such.

It is only later that we learn that our woman believed she was at The Retreat because “she was having fever at the time & that there were several other cases of puerperal sepsis [1] that her doctor had attended”.

From a newspaper report in 1899, we discover that the stay at The Retreat covered the period from mid-August to mid-October 1898, after which it is believed our woman went back to the family home in Nottingham. However, could this have been a happy reunion given what happened next? 

Our woman’s parents brought a libel suit against their son-in-law to recover £2,000. He had presented a petition under the Lunacy Act of 1890, for the reception of his wife as a person of unsound mind. Answering a question in the paperwork, which asked whether any near relative had been afflicted with insanity, he wrote “Yes … and he further stated that his wife’s mother had been afflicted with puerperal mania…” [2]. The defendants, our woman’s parents, claimed that this inferred that it was likely that their children would inherit this condition, and this would adversely affect the position and standing of our woman’s family, especially the marriageability of her sisters. 

In the end, the case was thrown out as not being appropriate for this particular court. Whether or not that was the end to it, I cannot say, although I have found no further evidence of the case being carried on, and of course, I cannot say whether or not the whole experience soured the relationship between our woman, her parents, and their son-in-law.

On the surface, it looks as though things improved for our woman, and although her father died in 1907, she and her husband went on to have three more children, in 1908, 1910, and 1911. All but the eldest were boys. Sadly, one of our woman’s sisters died in 1912, at Cheadle Royal Hospital [3], specialists in mental health, and in 1917 one of her brothers died at the Three Counties Lunatic Asylum in Stotfold, Bedfordshire [4].

Then, towards the end of 1920, our woman was again admitted into care. Initially this was at Redhaes [5], a private nursing home on London Road, Guildford, run by the owner, Laura Mitchell, who was assisted, certainly in 1921, by an assistant principal, two sick nurses, a housemaid and a kitchen maid. At the time of the 1921 census return, there appears to be only one patient (not our woman), who has two visitors. On 20 December 1920, our woman was moved to The Holloway Sanatorium, at Virginia Water, [6] and the following was reported from Redhaes:

"Laura Mitchell, matron of Red Braes Nursing home, London Road Guildford, informed me that the patient refused her breakfast this morning because she believed her tea was tampered with (which is untrue)."

The report from The Holloway Sanatorium, which covers the period 20 December 1920 to end November 1921, is detailed, and distressing, and it is hard to imagine what life must have been like for our woman. At the time of admission, she is aged 47, is a Christian (Church of England), is married, and lives in Nottingham. This is not her first ‘attack’ - that took place when she was 25 (i.e. in 1898), and this current attack has been ongoing for about three years, but has worsened in the past few days. The cause of the current situation remains unknown (although perhaps related to the death of her younger brother?) but she is regarded as being neither epileptic, nor suicidal, nor a danger to others. There is a note to say, however, that there is a family history of insanity, the cases quoted being that of her brother & sister, and her mother, included in brackets and a question mark thus - (mother?).

Her physical appearance at admission is reported as follows:

“Patient is of moderate height, face thin. The whole of the skin on her chest & limbs is pale & oedematous - feeling somewhat like sclerodermia. [7] Hair light brown, scanty, & faded. Features good. Eyes blue. React slowly to light, well to accommodation. Pulse regular. Heart normal in area & sounds.”

Regarding her physical health:

“Lungs: Breath sounds rather poor. Note normal. Abdomen: n.a.d. [no abnormality detected]. Prolapsed uterus from old perineal tear [8]. Bruises on both legs & right elbow. Small suppurating blister left palm. Menstruation regular. Knee jerks exag. [exaggerated] especially left. Some false ankle clonus.”

She believes she was nominated in 1918 as an independent labour candidate for parliament, but her husband persuaded her nominator to withdraw, and so since then she has been so angry with her husband that she has been away from home a large part of the time. This is a quote from the actual patient notes, under the heading ‘Mental Condition’:

“Since she was not allowed by her husband to stand for parliament she has been much away from him. She says she is not needed at home as "the boys are at school all day". The youngest is about 8. She also considers it a good thing for the eldest girl of 22 to have the whole management of the house.”

As an aside, concerning ‘the eldest girl’, our woman was probably right, for although she never married, ‘the eldest girl’ did take on the role of school matron in a very well-known public school, having done well herself at school, and having trained as a teacher at what was in 1917 the Froebel Training College in Bedford.

Our woman also believes that she has been injected with some substance, which might explain the bruises on her elbow and legs – or might not. She believes her husband has placed her in Holloway Sanatorium.

Over the course of 1921, our woman’s mental health fluctuates, continually moving from being over-talkative, to the point of rambling, to being withdrawn; from being kind, calm, and considerate to being destructive, excited, aggressive, and abusive. Sometimes she appears tidy, other times she is untidy, and tries to tear off her clothes. At times she believes she is being poisoned.

Finally, after four weeks of being relatively well, on 17 November 1921 our woman was discharged, although there had actually been no improvement in her condition since entering Holloway Sanatorium, and she was sent to Moat House in Tamworth, a place about which I can find no information. Nor do I know how long she stayed there, nor if she ever went home.

In February 1921, while our woman was in Holloway Sanatorium, her mother-in-law died, and it seems she would have liked to go to the funeral but, of course, was not allowed to. In August 1924, our woman’s own mother died, which must surely have been a sad time.

By April 1939, our woman is living at The Lawns on Union Road, Lincoln [9]: her husband, meanwhile is still living and working in Nottingham. How long had she been here? Perhaps moved straight from Tamworth? Maybe she had been well and had been back to live at the marital home? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that after the death of her mother, our woman must have been devastated by the death of her eldest son, who took his own life in 1931. He was well-liked and respected, and part of his father’s firm, but he felt he hadn’t helped in the business enough, even though all the witnesses at the inquest said he was “a gallant, self-sacrificing son who was the prop of the family.”

The headline in the local newspaper ran:

“MAN’S DISMEMBERED BODY ON RAILWAY LINE.

EARLY MORNING DISCOVERY NEAR BRUTON.

SEQUEL TO LACE MANUFACTURER’S HOLIDAY AT BATCOMBE.

VICTIM OF DEPRESSION AND OVERWORK.”

I don’t think I need to include any of the description of what was found at the scene of the tragedy. Suffice to say, I cannot imagine that any mother would not be seriously badly affected by such an awful happening.

I have not been able to find much further information about our woman, after 1939, other than that after a long illness, our woman’s husband died in 1952, at the Lawns in Lincoln. As I mentioned above, this is also where our woman was residing in 1939, but again, whether or not she stayed there for the whole period from 1939 (and possibly before) until her death in 1954 is not known.

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*If you have been affected by anything in this post, 

please consult a medical, or other suitable professional* 

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Notes

[1] Puerperal sepsis – is mentioned by our patient, in the context of her stay at the York Retreat, immediately after the birth of her first child, and that there were several other patients also suffering with the condition. Today, the most common cause of puerperal sepsis is a bacterial infection in the uterus, either during pregnancy, or just after childbirth, or after giving birth, it could be a urinary tract infection, or pneumonia. This information is from the UK Sepsis Trust website, which unfortunately doesn’t give any indication of treatment, however the NHS website suggests that treatment for sepsis in general includes antibiotics.    

[2] Puerperal mania – today we would call this postpartum psychosis, and according to the NHS website, it affects around 1 in 1,000 mothers after having given birth, and usually within the first two weeks of giving birth. It is classed as a “serious mental illness and should be treated as a medical emergency”. Symptoms can include hallucinations and delusions, feeling overactive and perhaps talking too much or too quickly, experiencing a low mood and quick mood changes, and often feeling confused: this illness can last up to around 12 weeks, but can take up to a year to recover fully. In the case of the person who is the subject of this blogpost, the medical reports indicate that at various times, she suffered with most, if not all of these symptoms, but seems to have recovered reasonably quickly, although I am making this assumption because she was sent home from the York Retreat after only a couple of months. Treatment today might include antipsychotic drugs, mood stabilisers, antidepressants, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). According to the NHS the actual causes of this illness are not very clear, but someone would be more are risk if they have been diagnosed before pregnancy with specific conditions, if there is a family history of postpartum psychosis, or if the person has suffered with it before.  

[3] Cheadle Royal Hospital took this name in 1902, having opened in 1763 as the Manchester Lunatic Hospital, which moved to Cheadle in 1849, changing its name to Manchester Royal Hospital. As the Cheadle Royal Hospital, in 1928 it had the capacity to treat around 400 patients. The hospital didn’t join the NHS in 1948, choosing to remain private.

[4] The Three Counties Asylum at Stotfold, opened in 1860, was so called because its patients came from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Huntingdonshire, and replaced an earlier hospital, the Bedford Lunatic Asylum, built 1812. During the First World War, and afterwards, the hospital treated patients suffering from shellshock. I have not been able to find any record of war service for our woman’s brother, but it is quite possible, given that he died in 1917, that this might be the cause of his death.  

[5] I have been unable to find any information relating to the nursing home, Redhaes in Guildford, apart from the mention in the admission papers of our woman, in which it is referred to as Red Braes, and in the 1921 census return, where it is called Redbraes.

[6] The Holloway Sanatorium at Virginia Water opened in 1885. It was a private establishment which catered for the wealthy and middle-class patients who required care for mental health problems. The building was in the Victorian Gothic style, and was surrounded by the extensive pleasure grounds at Virginia Water, as well as being close to the local railway station. A wealthy patient could pay to have their own private sitting room, and those who paid the highest fees subsidised those who couldn’t afford those fees. The hospital transferred to the NHS in 1948, closed as a hospital in 1980, and is now part of a housing development.  

[7] Sclerodermia – during the initial examination of our patient, her skin is said to look and feel as though she had sclerodermia. This is a condition that affects the immune systems, says the NHS website, and can show in symptoms like hardened and thickened skin, and problems with muscles, bones, internal organs, and blood vessels. Today, this condition might be treated with medicine to improve circulation and reduce activity in the immune system, and steroids. The condition appears to be closely related to Reynaud’s Syndrome.  

[8] Prolapsed uterus – the initial assessment of our patient suggests that she is living with this condition, which was probably caused by a perineal tear, which would have happened during childbirth, although since she had five children (in 1898, 1901, 1908, 1910, and 1911) this might not have happened during the birth of her first child. In this condition, which can be caused by pregnancy and childbirth, hysterectomy, or being overweight, the womb descends, and can cause a feeling of heaviness. Today, treatment might include hormone cream, pessaries, physiotherapy, specific pelvic floor exercises, or in severe cases, surgery.

[9] The Lawns in Lincoln, now a Grade II listed building, is very close to the cathedral, and was built in the early 19th century, in a Greek Revival style. It opened as the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum in 1820, but from 1921 until 1985 it was known as the Lawn Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases. According to an article on Victorian mental hospitals in Lincolnshire, written in 2021, its patients were of the class of people who could contribute to the general expenses of the hospital, which meant that people in more limited financial positions could helped at a lower cost. In 1948, The Lawn became part of the NHS.

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Previous posts

The Royal Victoria Order of Druidesses

Avery and Ida Woodward of Loughborough

Gertrude Mary Hutton

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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