Devon Mental Hospital, Exminster

[LizK]

Sadly I live in Hampshire which is a bit too far away.  I do have in-law's in Devon so there are possiblities to have a look at newspapers when visiting later in the year. 

She doesn't have any disability listed in 1901, no, she's listed at home aged 20 and a general servant.  Despite a lot of wildcards and random guesses in 1911 I still can't find her....

[john_w]

given the level of over crowding in psychiatric hospitals in those days its much more likely that she was admitted for mental health reasons and caught TB while living there.

[woo7173]

HI, had the same problem with my relatives in Wells Lunatic Asylum,Somerset. 100 yr rule is after the records book was finished not date of your relatives death.Try local records office who might put you in touch with someone who has access. Might mean a detailed letter explaining how you are related to the deceased and wanting to tie up loose ends. My relatives both were sent in for mental health issues and caught tb about the same time!

[jorog]

Hi LizK
I had a relative who died in Devon County Asylum in 1917. I paid the Archivist at Devon Record Office to do a search (1 hour) and was provided with copies of the records held. There is quite a bit of detail in these records including admission details, but I understand they are only obtainable by using the services of the Archivist.
Before paying the search fee I had spoken on the phone to DRO, giving them details of the person and timescale that I was researching. They were most helpful.
Jo

[Stella098]

Hi, Just googled this message as I was having the same problem with being unable to find someone who was in the Devon County Lunatic Asylum in 1911.  I've finally found a way in by using the Advanced Search box selecting Devon in the County option and Exminster in Civil Parish.  Then to stop so many results I selected F for female in my case.  Still quite a few pages came up but I trawled through looking for possibilities.  My ancestor had an error in the spelling of her surname, only an initial for her christian name and an unknown place of birth.  Her age was correct though.   I hope this helps.

[jorog]

Just read your message Stella. I originally found the possible entry on 1911 census showing initial only. I then phoned Devon Record Office who confirmed the first name. It was only then that I paid the services of the Archivist to search and send me copies of the records held. If you have found a relative on the 1911 it is well worth a phone call at least to confirm a name.
Jo

[Stella098]

Thanks for the tip.  I had already had a friend in Devon extract the relevant information from the Asylum records for me, in my case I was just trying locate the actual census entry to complete my records and like the original poster of this thread had been struggling to find her.

[LizK]

I have now put in a request to the archivist at Exeter to look up my relatives records, they seem to think it wont be a problem for me to see her admission records and possibly burial record too.  It seems they are experiencing a backlog though and have warned me it might take up to 8-12 weeks to obtain this.  I'm not worried as I've got plenty more to keep me busy!   

Liz

[melasia]

About ten years ago, I obtained my grandfather's Exminster Hospital records from the NHS (he was a patient there in the 1930s)

Under the 100 year rule, they will not normally supply records purely for genealogical reasons, but if you have a medical reason for accessing them, they will. In my case, I was thinking of having children, but wanted to be fully informed about my family medical history before making that decision.