Dorset Lunatic Asylum Patient - Phoebe Senneck

[alan.h]

In the 1871 census, this lady is listed as a patient in the Dorset County Asylum. Her death is registered there in 1873 - she died of epilepsy so being epileptic was what caused her to be labelled as a 'lunatic'!

I am wondering if anyone could locate anything else about her, please?

Phoebe Sennick died age 24 Jun qtr 1873 Dorchester

This is quite an unusual name and matches with the Phoebe Ann Senneck who was born in Portsea, Hampshire:

Phoebe Ann Senneck Portsea Island Mar qtr 1849

All her siblings died in infancy or childhood and both her parents died (in Portsea) in 1865, so she was the last remaining member of this family and I doubt that anyone has yet researched her life.

Her occupation in 1871 (when she was a patient) was 'servant' but I have no idea how she ended up in hospital in Dorchester, quite a way from her family home.

I understand that the hospital records are kept in Dorchester, at the Dorset History Centre, but I live too far away to be able to visit there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Alan

[B.E.]

Alan,
The absence of responses probably reflects the tricky nature of this one. Did her mother have exactly the same name, thereby explaining the death of a Phoebe Ann Senneck in the Portsea area in 1865? If not, then the 1871 census reference and 1873 death are indeed a mystery!

I can't actually find the lady in 1871. I'm looking through the list of patients at the asylum and there's nobody with anything like that name. It may of course be a Charminster OPC transcription error.

Her being described as a lunatic for having epilepsy is unsurprising. As late as the 1930s my aunt was committed for bed-wetting and we've no idea what happened to her thereafter.
B.E.

[alan.h]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
In 1871 she is the fourth name on page 22:
RG10/2014/87
Phoebe Sennick/ Senneck age 20 Patient b Portsmouth
Dorset County Asylum Charminster Dorset

Yes, the death in 1865 was her mother who did have exactly the same name. Her parents both appear to have died in the first half of 1865, preceded by her three siblings between 1866 and 1858

What makes this more intriguing for me is that she spent her whole life in Portsea, so how did she end up in Dorchester (at the DORSET county asylum)? Her mother's will left all her money for the care of Phoebe. One possibility, I guess, therefore is that she was a private patient; but would a legacy of 'under £200' have lasted long enough for her to still have been there in 1873?

I have asked, via e-mail, if the Dorset Records Office have any clues. The reply was that normally they could find the patient's name on
order papers which were generated separately for each
patient. Those up to 1905 have apparently been indexed but they cannot locate
Phoebe’s name on any order paper!

It seems that every detail I do find provokes more questions!

I have also asked if there is a burial record at St Mary's, Charminster - but seemingly not, nor any indication of where her burial might have been through looking at indexes on 'Find My Past' nor FreeReg.

Incidentally, the Sennecks did come from Dorset originally and in 1871 my 3x great-grandmother/ Phoebe's aunt was in the Poole Union workhouse. Not the best year for this family.

Any suggestions on further searches would be very welcome!

Regards,
Alan

[B.E.]

Fair enough. It looks as though the Charminster OPC transcription stops at Page 21 - there are over 50 fewer names on the actual census than in the header block.

I've no more idea than you why she should end up in Charminster. You can imagine she'd be left somewhat exposed as an epileptic without the protection of her mother after 1865. Was there possibly a relation in Dorset who 'adopted' her, nominally as a servant, only to find her illness too much of a burden? I'd never previously heard of private patients in a lunatic asylum - I'd imagined these places to have the same stigma associated with them as the workhouse - but I can now see I was misguided.

[alan.h]

Thanks. Most of her family were in the Poole area, so she may well have lived there after the death of her parents; that may also be were the 'servant' description came from. I'd imagine too that there were no out-patient treatments back then, so if someone was having fits then hospital would be the only option.

It appears too that after 1857, bromide was widely used as an anti-convulsant and strong sedative.

I didn't know anything about any of this until a few weeks ago, and, like you, had no idea that private and 'pauper' patients would be in the same institution.

If you are interested, then these web pages give some interesting background info:


http://www.dorsetforyou.com/dorsethistorycentre/herrison

http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/180/2/189.2.full

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/dorset/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8374000/8374111.stm

Thanks again.
Alan

[DaergDoom]

I found this thread today (3 years too late I know) while looking for something else. Apologies that the last 3 pages of the 1871 Census for the Asylum were missing on the Dorset OPC site. This has now been corrected, with 52 additional records added, including Phoebe Sennick, of course. The page has also been re-formatted.

http://www.opcdorset.org/CharminsterFiles/1871CharminsterAsylum.htm