OUTSIDE THE ASYLUM

Can you help George Marshall Medical Museum with a spot of family history research to find out about some people who were admitted to the Worcester City and County Lunatic Asylum in the 19th century?

Our aim is to share more patients’ stories, and to find out about their lives before admission and (where possible) after discharge.

amelia grice

find out more about amelia grice

Mentions of suicide

Amelia Duff was born around 1844, in Northern Ireland, to parents John (born c. 1813) and Susanna Duff (born c. 1815). The 1851 and 1861 censuses write that John and Susanna, and their children Margaret (born c.1840), Stewart (born c.1846), and Amelia were born in Ireland, whereas Elizabeth (born c.1849) and Gordon (born c.1851) were born in Cheltenham. The 1871 census notes that Susanna was born in County Down, and John was born in Antrim, Northern Ireland. In the 1871 census, however, it states that Amelia was born in Cheltenham. There is no record of an Amelia Duff being born in either Cheltenham or Northern Ireland.

Amelia married Joseph Grice in 1868, in Wells, Somerset. The 1871 census shows that Joseph was a coach ironmonger. They had two children together, Arthur Ernest Grice (born 1869) and Josephine Milly Grice (born 1871). Unfortunately, Amelia’s husband Joseph died on 17 November, 1871 at the age of 27, just a month before his daughter Josephine was born.

The 1881 census shows that Amelia was living with Josephine at 160 Great Hampton Row, Birmingham, working as a housekeeper to a John J. Edge. Her son Arthur was living with his maternal grandmother, Sarah Grice at 151 Alston Street, Birmingham. In 1891, Amelia Grice was living at 76 Hunter’s Lane, Aston Manor, Birmingham, with Arthur, now a clerk, grocer, and confectioner, and her daughter Josephine. In 1893, Josephine married Alfred Ernest Lechmere Lycett, and she gave birth to their son Cyril Vernon Lechmere Lycett in 1894.

Amelia was admitted to Powick Asylum on 31 January, 1896 for mania, at the age of 51, committed by her son-in-law Alfred Ernest Lechmere Lycett. The case notes state that ‘she was quite well till the death of [her] son’s wife which gave her quite a shock.’ On 31 August, 1895, Arthur Ernest Grice had married Edith Maria Livermore, in London, but unfortunately, less than six months later, Edith passed away, on 17 January, 1896. In the 1901 census, Arthur was living as a boarder in Sutton Coldfield, but in 1911, lived in Coventry, with Edith’s mother, Ellen Livermore. Arthur married again in 1921, to Isobel Madeleine Glanville Richards, but he continued to support his mother-in-law, and the three of them travelled together between England and Jamaica on several occasions.

It is noted that Amelia had ‘threatened to shoot herself’ and harm her daughter. A photograph of Amelia is attached to the case notes on November 17, 1896. As the 1901 census for Powick Asylum lists patients only by their initials, it is not possible to identify her, but she would have been at the asylum at this time. During her time at the asylum it is noted that ‘she appears to be under the influence of powerful delusions.’ She was treated with the use of ‘sulphonal’ administered twice daily. She suffered from hallucinations and fits, and her behaviour was described as ‘noisy, excited, and deluded’ and her ‘habits perverted.’ Our last record for Amelia is in March 1901, after which it states she has been moved to the Annexe. We do not yet have these notes digitised.

There is record of an Amelia Grice dying in Bromsgrove in 1915. It is possible that Amelia was transferred to the Barnsley Hall Asylum in Bromsgrove, as it was built in 1907 to alleviate overcrowding at Powick.

Research by Maddie Hale 2026

To view Amelia’s patient records, click here. (Please note the last image uploads in error - it is for a different patient).

Go back to find out about more people who were patients at the asylum.