Lilian Maude BOWDLER (nee EVANS) 1885 - 1952 (General)

by JaneyH , Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Monday, March 03, 2014, 16:05 (3927 days ago) @ slowhands

I thought I'd just post a quick update here, given I had so much help in the early stages (slowhands, Mike, jefff).

I applied for a copy of the death certificate of Lilian M Bowdler from Devon in 1952. It is indeed the "right" one - her details are recorded as "of Severn Street, Newnham, Gloucestershire. The divorced wife of Oliver William Bowdler."

The place of death is Deepway, Exminster in Devon, which I've since found was a mental hospital. So, some thirty years after being sent to Westbury Workhouse for "wandering abroad" in Cinderford, my great-grandmother ended her days in a different institution many miles from home. I have no idea of her movements between 1922 and her death in 1952. The National Archives website indicates that admission records for Deepway are held at Devon County Record Office in Exeter, but I'm not sure whether I want to explore these as I imagine they would make for grim reading.

It's interesting that Oliver William moved to Devon in 1926/27 with his then partner (not wife, as far as I can see) Florence Brooks. When did Lilian Maude move there? I assume it might have been so she could be close to some of her children. (My grandfather Dennis lived in North Devon as a young man in the 1920s and 1930s; he then met my grandmother, married, had my uncle and Mum and lived there until about 1946.) When I shared this information with my Mum she had no idea her grandmother had lived so long.