Whilst researching a patient by the name of Amelia Grice (nee Duff), I came across something interesting about her children and grandchildren. Amelia was born in 1844, and was at Powick between 1896 and 1903. She married Joseph Grice in 1868, and they had two children, Arthur Ernest Grice (born 1869) and Josephine Milly Grice (born 1871).
Her son Arthur married Edith Maria Livermore in 1895, but unfortunately, she passed away less than a year later. He remarried in 1921, this time to Isobel Madeleine Glanville Richards, but continued to support his mother-in-law, Ellen Livermore. Whilst researching Isobel’s family, I found that her father William Urmston Searle Glanville Richards was the author of a volume entitled Records of the Anglo-Norman House of Glanville from A.D. 1050 to 1880. William was imprisoned at Pentonville Prison for two months in 1891 for ‘maliciously damaging certain manuscripts kept in the British Museum’. This was reported on in the Pall Mall Gazette, on 12 March, 1891, and a record of the crime is available via the Old Bailey Proceedings website.
Amelia’s daughter Josephine Milly Grice married Alfred Ernest Lechmere Lycett in 1893, in Solihull. Josephine gave birth to Cyril Vernon Lechmere Lycett on 14 May, 1893. Cyril attended King Edward’s High School in Birmingham. His obituary was published in the King Edward’s school’s newsletter, The Old Edwardians Gazette in October of 1978. It stated that he was the youngest boy ever to be admitted to the school, and that author J.R.R. Tolkien was in his class. Interestingly, Cyril was mentioned in the letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. In a letter to a friend, Tolkien refers to a letter he received from ‘none other from C.V.L. Lycett, and from Los Angeles!’ writing that it was ‘full of reminiscences of K[ing] E[dward’s] S[chool]’. Cyril later attended Trinity College, at Cambridge, where he was a member of the rowing club. In 1914, he joined the Royal Engineers Special Reserve with an interest in cryptography, and from thereon, had a long-running career in the military. Whilst serving in what is now Istanbul, Türkiye, Cyril married Alexandra Sandika Camariotto in Turkey in 1921. Following his retirement, Cyril was Secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society. He died in Anaheim, California, on 8 June, 1978.
Whilst the aim of the project is to tell the stories of the patients outside of the asylum, it has been really fascinating to find some interesting stories about their relatives. More to come!
Maddie Hale, 2025
This project has been supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.