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.

sophia downing

find out more about sophia downing

Sophia Downing was admitted to Powick Hospital at the age of 70 on the 10th of May 1881.

Sophia was born with the maiden name Sophia Legget Wrighton in the year 1811. Her parents Mary Maria Leggett and Henry Wrighton married on the 5th of September 1799. Sophia was one of six children. Mary Wrighton was born in 1802, William 1803, John 1806, Sophia 1811, Caroline 1814, and Henrietta 1815. Sophia grew up with her family in Wootton Wawen, Warwickshire. Her father Henry Wrighton was a paper maker, as stated in the baptism records of his children.

 From newspaper records we can find out more about Henry’s business as a paper maker. Henry Wrighton worked with William Wrighton, presumed to be his brother, and a man named Richard Younge. On the 24th of February 1806 the Aris’s Birmingham Gazette reported that Richard Younge was withdrawing from the business leaving Henry and William working together under the firm ‘Henry Wrighton and Company,’ based in Aston Cantlow and Wootton Wawen. In the summer of 1817, their business was raided. The Aris’s Birmingham Gazette reported on the 2nd of June that “some person or persons feloniously entered the paper warehouse adjoining the dwelling house of Mr Henry Wrighton.” Stolen was “thirteen reams of fine demy tissue paper.” The report offered a reward for the paper, but we do not know if it was ever found. This was most likely an extremely stressful time for Henry with six young children under the age of fifteen to provide for.

In the September of 1825 Sophia’s eldest sibling Mary Wrighton passed away at age 23 and was buried in Wootton Wawen. Just over one year later on the 12th of November 1826, Sophia’s father Henry Wrighton passed away at age 57. The Aris’s Birmingham Gazette reported on the 13th of November that Henry Wrighton passed away “after a long and severe illness.” When Sophia was admitted to Powick Hospital her condition was put down to hereditary disposition as her “father committed suicide.” Sophia’s case notes do not address how the stress of his business or death of his eldest child could have been contributing factors to the end of his life.

In 1838 Sophia’s mother Mary Maria Wrighton passed away at age 61 and was also buried in Wootton Wawen. In 1842 Sophia Leggett Wrighton married her husband Edwin Balton Downing, a coal dealer that lived on Great Hampton Street. This gave her her new name, Sophia Legget Downing, which appears in the records. Sadly, her husband Edwin passed away in 1847 only five years after marriage. The Birmingham Journal reported on the 13th of March that he had died “after a lingering illness.”

In 1851 the census showed widowed Sophia Leggett Downing, aged 40, living with an Elizabeth Smith, aged 56. Sophia was visiting Elizabeth at 211 Syndall Street in Worcestershire. The household had two servants, Mary Wakefield aged 39, and Ann Gee aged 19. Ten years later, Sophia was back on her feet and lived in her own home at 56 High Gate Street. Sophia lived with her younger sister Henrietta who had also been widowed by this time. From the 1861 Midlands Trade Directory, we can see that Sophia L Downing worked as a Stay Makers, which involved making corsets.

By 1871, Sophia had moved homes again with her sister Henrietta to 55 Belgrave Street in Kings Norton, Worcestershire. Henrietta sadly passed away in the December of that same year. By 1881, Sophia’s cousin Amy Wrighton from Dublin had moved into the home to also work as a stay maker. Sophia changed occupation after the death of her sister and worked as a Library Register Officer.

On the 10th of May 1881 Sophia Downing was admitted to Powick Hospital. Her condition was said to be caused by “hereditary disposition” and also “poverty.” Staff diagnosed Sophia with Chronic Mania. Her main symptoms were her claims she felt unsafe “in her own house” and that she “says she will commit murder and also that poison is put in her food.”  When Sophia was first admitted she had a bout of bronchitis, she also had a second in 1884. Less than six months after her admission she was described as “wild, excited and objectionable, breaks windows and crockery, swears and uses very foul language.”

Her case notes claim she consistently spoke about her wealth and property. This was first mentioned on July the 26th 1841 when her case notes state, “she is full of ideas of imaginary wrongs that have been done to her by a servant of property stolen.” In the September of 1884, “she informed the Supt that at her house she was possessed of 11 vols out of a series of 16, written by an Italian named Novelli … worth over £500.” On May the 1st, 1895, it was recorded that Sophia was writing an autobiography, in it she wrote apparent “nonsense about her dress, jewels, wealth and big connections.” Again, in November of the same year it states, “she is fond of talking about a large number of family jewels which she says she possesses.” These claims were quickly disregarded by Powick staff. Although Sophia may have been born to a paper maker and worked in her later life herself as a stay maker, this is not to say her claims were false or entirely fabricated.

Her husband Edwin Bolton Downing was a coal dealer living on Great Hampton Street, thus could have been reasonably wealthy. However, Aris’s Birmingham Gazette reported on the 22nd of April 1844 that “the general and modern household furniture and the properly of E. B. Downing will be sold by auction.” The same paper reported on the 17th of June that Edwin had been called to court as he was in considerable debt and on the verge of complete bankruptcy. By the time of his death the £20 to his name was left to his sister Sarah Downing.

In the July of 1889 Sophia Downing had a stroke which the staff appeared concerned about. In the January of 1891 it was reported that Sophia “remains very deluded and abusive. Her physical state is worse and she may die at anytime.” This prediction did not come to fruition, and Sophia lived until she had another stroke in the October of 1892. In January 1893 her case notes stated she was “confined to bed in a critical condition and may die suddenly at any time. Her bronchitis is troublesome and her heart is very feeble.” She sadly passed away at the age of 82 at Powick Hospital; the cause being recorded as ‘Senile Decay.’  

During her stay at Powick Hospital, Sophia Downing wrote a letter. Such sources provide great insight into a patients state of mind and their feelings towards their institutionalisation. On April the 5th 1886 Sophia Downing addressed a letter to Mr Superintendent Black. The case notes from this time state that “She thinks Mr Craddock is going to take her to Birmingham and has written the letter (here inserted) to the Chief of Police asking him to take rooms for them.”

Sophia indeed states that Cradock “proposes to come with me to Birmingham on Thursday” and asks Black “will you please engage apartments for us in the Queens Royal Hotel New Street.” Sophia does not state the purpose of her visit to Birmingham, but she does make several interesting remarks that demonstrate her state of mind. She claims that “there is a woman here who very much annoys me and insults me daily, I should like her to be sent to the School of Industry if you can effects it for me.” Sophia, as a patient herself, did not have the power to demand other patients be transferred, demonstrating her delusional state of mind.

Sophia also illudes to the property and wealth she had. She describes how she had tried to send a letter to Superintendent Black before, but it had been burnt by a nurse. Sophia stated that Dr Cooke should “do all he can to recover what I have lost from John Buffery my cousin.” From census records, we can find a John Buffery living in Yardley, Acocks Green, Worcestershire. John Buffery was born in about 1822 and at the age of 59 was living with his wife Isabella Blanche Buffery. The pair had been married in St Martins, Birmingham in 1880. Previously, John Buffery had been married to Amy, whose maiden name was Wrighton. Therefore, John Buffery was Sophia’s cousin through his wife Amy. Amy Wrighton had been born in 1814 to her father William Wrighton, whom we know Sophia’s father shared his paper making business with. The 1871 census tells us the pair lived together with their niece Ann M Wrighton. John was a mattress maker, and the family had a servant, Louisa Bradley.

Sophia does not state in her letter what it was she had lost to John. It was unfortunately not uncommon for Powick patients to reach out to family members in desperation and historians have little evidence as to whether they received a response. Sophia’s case highlights the trials and tribulations of Victorian living. She had a harsh childhood with her fathers suicide under the pressures of business and his eldest daughter’s death. Whilst she was able to marry, her husband became bankrupt and sadly passed away after just five years together. Sophia remained resilient and forged her own career as a stay maker which she shared with her sister Henrietta. Her long and complex life story is disregarded in the case notes, but thankfully records have enabled us to gain more insight into the person Sophia was.

Research by Alice Fairclough, 2025

To view Sophia’s patient records, click here.

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