Have I found Auntie Louie?

[Janet]

My grandmother's half-sister Emily Louisa Wilson was born to William Wilson and his wife Elizabeth (nee Crampton) in Headingley near Leeds, baptized 3 February 1861. (Elizabeth was my greatgrandmother and William was her first husband.)
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/22...l=ReturnRecord

1861 4 mos. Headingley with parents and sister
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/87...nSearchResults

1871 10 yrs. Headingley with widowed Mum and 2 sisters
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/76...nSearchResults

1881 20 yrs. Headingley with mum and stepfather, 2 brothers, and 3 stepsisters
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/75...nSearchResults

1891 30 yrs. Sutton nr. Keighley as Emily Spence with mum and stepfather, 2 stepsisters
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/65...nSearchResults

1901 40 yrs. Glusburn, housekeeper for a photographer, and using Wilson again after the death of both her parents
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/78...nSearchResults

Tonight I found this:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/19...nSearchResults

WILSON Emily Louisa of Crosshills Keighley Yorkshire spinster
died 14 May 1924 at Menston Yorkshire Administration (with
Will) (limited) Wakefield 30 December to Henry Edward Clegg
solicitor the attorney of Joseph James Wilson.
Effects £81 14s.

Joseph J. Wilson was one of her brothers.

Sutton, Crosshills and Glusburn are spitting distance. Menston is about 12 miles east.

So do I need to accept that this Emily Spence is probably her, poor dear, on the 1911? I can't for the life of me find her anywhere else. The place is right, the age is close, the birthplace is U.K. (Very helpful.) I wonder what those numbers at the far right indicate.
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/23...nSearchResults

My mother and her sisters called her Auntie Louie. As you can see, she never married. Just fishing for reasons here, but would they have locked her up as a lunatic in those days if they found out she was gay, for instance? Or perhaps she was exposed to too many toxic chemicals as housekeeper for that photographer she was working for on the 1901. Could that have affected her mind?

So sad. Tell me it isn't so.

[Mary from Italy]

The death cert may or may not help; it will give the place of death, but the informant may be someone from the hospital rather than a relative.

If the 1911 entry is the correct one, which I'm afraid looks very likely, this is probably where she died:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Royds_Hospital

You can find brief details of the Wakefield and Menston asylums here:

http://studymore.org.uk/4_13_ta.htm

And this database shows what records are available, and where to get them:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/h...rchresults.asp

Some records have a 100-year closure period, but I think some are 70 years. I had no trouble getting the asylum file for a great-aunt of mine who died in an asylum in 1930.

You can get a transcript of Menston Hospital burials quite cheaply here:

http://www.parishchest.com/menston_h...0-1969__P80138

but I don't know if it'll help much (you'll probably only get the person's name and date of burial, and their abode).

There were many reasons why someone might be in an asylum, but the files I've seen so far showed elderly people with symptoms that sounded like dementia, or younger people suffering from something like schizophrenia.

[Mary from Italy]

I'n having trouble finding her in the death index; this is the most likely entry, although the age is wrong and the surname's misspelled (Menston's in the Wharfedale registration district):

Deaths Jun 1924

Spencer Emily / 78 / Wharfedale / 9a / 179

[Mary from Italy]

Originally Posted by Janet

I wonder what those numbers at the far right indicate.

I think it's just a statistical thing; they seem to have classed all the "lunatics" as no. 4 and "imbeciles" as no. 6.

[Janet]

Thanks so much for all that, Mary. I'm afraid it probably is true, and I'll probably go ahead and order that death cert to see if it might bring some light. I had looked at that one and wondered too. Seems my mother edited out the end of Auntie Louie's life for my young ears.

It was where quite a lot of elderly people ended up, especially when they had little understanding of mental illness. For some people it was the right choice, but for others it wasn't. Today with understanding of mental illness and medication, they would have been kept in the community.
For others like my father, he needed full time care and he was in a nursing home, not a mental institution. Hugs Janet. Julie

[kiterunner]

This is the death reg that goes with that probate entry:
Deaths Jun 1924
Wilson Emily L 62 Wharfedale 9a 185

[Janet]

Thank you Kite!!

[Janet]

Originally Posted by tenterfieldjulie

It was where quite a lot of elderly people ended up, especially when they had little understanding of mental illness. For some people it was the right choice, but for others it wasn't. Today with understanding of mental illness and medication, they would have been kept in the community.
For others like my father, he needed full time care and he was in a nursing home, not a mental institution. Hugs Janet. Julie

Thanks, Julie. I was wondering what you were doing up in the middle of the night, and then I remembered where you are! Just wasn't expecting this turn of events, so hugs gratefully received, but it's all part of the tapestry.

[Janet]

Have ordered the list of Menston Hospital burials. Also ordered the cert for the death reg Kite found for me (in the nick of time! I was already on the GRO order website). So thanks again very much Mary and Kite and Julie.