Wivelsfield lunatic asylum question

[touchofmange]

hi,  i'm vaguely familiar with looking for inmates records and census details etc, in this instance i know they are held at the Lewes record office.  I was wondering if anyone knew what would happen when there was a serious criminal incident at an asylum, or committed by a lunatic, and whether this criminal act would make public news much as normal incidents would.

The reason i ask is i found one of my line working at the asylum farm in 1871c, with his daughter and her infant child. She had just got married but hubby was away in the navy.  Then in the sussex advertiser in 1878, it describes the visiting committee as agreeing to a superannuation for edmund boniface as he had suffered a murderous attack (with a hoe), and some 7 years after the attack in aug 1871 he could no longer do his work.  The newspaper reports in 1878 give a little info, inasmuch as he nearly died from the injuries, and even his death cert in 1880 says he has a brain injury. 

i'm guessing that the incident may be covered by their own internal procedures, i don't know if police or criminal proceedings would have followed, and records or news reports exist?  Presumably problems of this nature were quite common so i thought i would ask if anyone knew what could have followed?  I wouldn't be too bothered about it but it could show something about his daughter and her child if they were involved.

appreciate any help thanks

[pinefamily]

Are there no newspaper reports at the time of the attack? They might be more informative.

[Hystericalwriter]

I've spent about ten minutes looking on the National Archives website to see if I could find reference to Sussex County Lunatic Asylum, but the new Discovery catalogue has me stumped........but I feel sure that there would be a report sent by the Board of Guardians to the Poor Law Commissioners about an incident such as that. One of my sideways relative was a Doctor at Withington Workhouse and had an incident where a women cut her throat. He wrote a considerable number of letters which I was able to find when I went to Kew. Whether County Asylum Records are different I'm not clear about, but I would think that there must be some central control where the Asylum staff would write about incidents and points of policy.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

I hope that there is someone out there who has found the new catalogue easy.........I don't like it

Anne

[stanmapstone]

National Archives Sussex County Lunatic Asylum  http://www.rootschat.com/links/0trm/

Stan

[Hystericalwriter]

Thanks Stan, I had forgotten the Hospitals Database!

Anne

[stanmapstone]

Records can be found at  West Sussex Record Office
http://www.westsussexpast.org.uk/searchonline/quicksearch.htm

Stan

[touchofmange]

Are there no newspaper reports at the time of the attack? They might be more informative.

that's what i was hoping but i haven't found anything, i know there was a date list for the suusex advertiser but i can't find it again. Anyway a date spread search on BNA turned nothing up.  On the east sussex record office it lists records for the asylum and under general correspondance, it mentions quarter sessions, but this may be more for external quarter sessions for people about to be put into or assessed for the asylum. 

I looked for quarter sessions in sussex and there are printed books up until 1854, but i don't know what happens after that.  I think there is a general shuffle around of administration in 1854 and that's why it stops there.  Any ideas what happens after that?

I note lewes office closes for 4 months.

cheers n

[pinefamily]

Unless you are able to travel to where the newspapers are archived (I can't remember where that is  ), you will have to wait until 1871 turns up on  BNA. At this point, it appears only 1877 and 1878 have been digitised.