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.

jane guise

find out more about jane guise

If you just had a baby and you were having a tough time, would you rather be diagnosed with baby blues, post-natal depression or mania puerperal?  In the mid 1800s help was available in Powick for those whose depression was so serious that they had become a danger to themselves or others.  Our records show over 120 women were admitted in the months after giving birth with a diagnosis of “mania puerperal”.

One such was Jane Guise who was admitted on 7 October 1861 about 3 weeks after the birth of her third child.  Jane was married to Richard, an up-and-coming ambitious glover who aspired to greater things and later on became a glove factory owner.  The 1861 census shows that they lived with their 2 young children, Amy and Henry, in St Johns on the Bransford Road (about where St Johns Garage is now).  They also had a paying lodger and enough money to afford to employ a servant. 

Despite having a seemingly comfortable life, tragedy soon struck when Jane had a difficult labour with her third child, Annie, and was admitted to Powick three weeks after the birth with “mania puerperal”.

The cause of her mania was listed as “confinement” i.e. childbirth, and “haemorrhage”, so not surprisingly her brief medical notes also show she is pale and suffering from extreme exhaustion.  She also had suicidal tendencies – it is recorded she asked for a knife.  Upon entry, her certifier states that “her language is very incoherent; her manner violent; and that she is constantly talking”.

Jane spent almost 3 months in the hospital.  She was discharged on 2 December 1861, but sadly her baby had died sometime in the intervening months.  She lived on for a short while but died just over 3 years later in early 1865.  After her death, Richard married again in May 1866, choosing Miss Naomi Mound to look after his house and children.

Research by Helen Rendell, 2024.

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