View Full Version : If the death registration district is Epsom
Does it always mean they are mad?
Lots of people with London addresses seem to end up dying in Epsom. I assume they were merely geriatric, but shan't know without buying a few certs.
They have nice, unusual names, so I don't think I'm looking at the wrong entries.
Perhaps they were staying with relatives for the races? :D
Have a look at Jeff Knagg's site for 1901 institutions:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jeffery.knaggs/Instuts.html#0406
Amongst other things, The County of London Manor Asylum was in Epsom District.
I've been to talks on the subject and seen some of the records (well, for Brookwood) so I know there were a lot of asylums in Surrey and in particular in Epsom, though I have several dying there before the Epsom asylum started. But the numbers of unrelated people I have found dying there seems ott.
Georgette, I did wonder whether they'd been to the races - and it might fit for the barman, but the charlady died in December.
samesizedfeet
17-11-09, 17:21
they race at Epsom all year
*gee up*
Well, a charlady might have been hanging round the racecourse every day... I'd always imagined everyone plunged off for Derby Day only.
Langley Vale Sue
17-11-09, 21:07
The Ewell Epileptic Colony was at St Ebbas Hospital in Epsom. I'm not sure when it opened though. Update: It opened in 1903.
My great aunt Ethel was a patient there from about 1913 until 1961 (start of menstruation until after her menopause) and she and her family lived in Southfields/Wandsworth/Putney area of South West London. She worked in the laundry there and lost the sight of one eye when a fellow patient flicked a sheet in her eye.
Many workers of different trades were employed in the hospitals in the 'Cluster' and working conditions were such that the mortality rate was apparently quite high.
Lots of information on this site about the hospitals:
http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/HospitalCluster.html
wasnt it in Epsom where the Banstead Mental Hospital was ??????????
Langley Vale Sue
18-11-09, 13:32
wasnt it in Epsom where the Banstead Mental Hospital was ??????????
Not actually in Epsom Val, but quite close - probably about 5 miles away. It's now a prison ;) There are actually 2 prisons on the site, Highdown & Downview.
Thank you, Sue for the link! That is brilliant. And the (depressing) info that mortality was high there.
How awful for your great aunt that she should be shut away for so long. Did she settle down to a normal life afterwards? I can't imagine what it would be like to fend for myself after being in an institution for so long.
Not actually in Epsom Val, but quite close - probably about 5 miles away. It's now a prison ;) There are actually 2 prisons on the site, Highdown & Downview.
I had a holiday job one Christmas, about 20 years ago (:eek:) in the canteen that sold sandwiches to the builders who were converting the hospital into a prison.
Langley Vale Sue
19-11-09, 09:24
Thank you, Sue for the link! That is brilliant. And the (depressing) info that mortality was high there.
How awful for your great aunt that she should be shut away for so long. Did she settle down to a normal life afterwards? I can't imagine what it would be like to fend for myself after being in an institution for so long.
When she was first 'released' it was into the care of a nurse at St Ebba's and Auntie had a room in her house in Epsom for a couple of years. She then lodged with a friend of the nurse which was near where we lived in North Cheam. It was whilst she lived there that I met her for the first time - I was about 13 and until then I hadn't known of her existence although she was my Grandma's older sister! Auntie had saved quite a considerable sum of money from her wages over the years and travelled all over the world, sometimes taking my Mum and other times going with people she had met on coach tours and the like. Eventually, in 1972, she was given sheltered accommodation in a lovely new complex in Epsom and I often took my baby son to see her and had afternoon tea with her or we would go shopping together. Sadly a few months after she moved in she was diagnosed with cancer and so was only in her lovely home for just over a year before she died in hospital. She was a sweet, lovely lady and really didn't deserve the life she had. Her epilepsy was controlled by medication for well over half the time she was in St Ebba's so she really didn't need to be there at all. I think one of the saddest facts about her life is the fact that she wasn't even allowed out to attend her father's or mother's funerals.
RIP Auntie Ethel - a true lady.
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