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.

joseph lowe

find out more about joseph lowe

Joseph Lowe was born in Stourbridge, in 1841, to Henry Lowe and Elizabeth Lowe (née Hadley), who were both Nail Makers. The family lived on Islington Street, in Halesowen, with Joseph’s siblings: Charles, Eliza, Maria and Edward.

Joseph continued to live with his parents in Halesowen, taking on the family trade of Nail Making. His father died in 1881, and the census shows that Joseph lived with his widowed mother, as well as a washerwoman named Jane Jones. Joseph’s mother died in 1884, and the 1891 census shows that he remained in the same house in Halesowen, still accompanied by housekeeper and domestic servant Jane Jones.

Joseph Lowe then married Jane Jones in 1891. The 1901 census shows that whilst Joseph was a live-in patient at Powick, Jane Lowe lived in the house on Islington Street in Halesowen.

Joseph was admitted to Powick Asylum on the 11th of November 1892, to be treated for dementia and mania. He was transferred to Barnsley Hall Mental Hospital in Bromsgrove on the 9th of July 1907, and his history from this point on is unknown.