Bejamin Hawkins - County Lunatic Asylum (General)

by JaneyH , Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, 12:18 (3812 days ago) @ janethowell

Dear Janet,

I think it highly unlikely that depression (post-natal or otherwise) would have been understood at the time.

My great-grandmother had a history of depression and was committed to Westbury-on-Severn workhouse in 1922 by the court, after being found wandering the streets of Cinderford at night. Obviously I don't know her medical details but by this point she had given birth to nine children in fourteen years. The next thirty years of her life are a mystery that I'm still researching, but I do have her death certificate. This shows that she died in a mental hospital near Exeter in 1952, from stomach cancer. My great-grandfather had remarried along the way and had further children. I've posted her story on this forum - I can't immediately insert a link but search for Lilian Maud Bowdler and you'll see it!

Janey