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.

susannah hooper

find out more about susannah hooper

Susannah Hooper was admitted to Powick Asylum in 1863 at the age of just 22. She was diagnosed with Mania Puerperal which is a condition that is now diagnosed as postpartum psychosis.

Susannah was born to parents James and Sarah Jeynes, and baptised on October 3rd 1841 in Besford, Worcestershire. Susannah was named after her grandmother whom she lived with at the time of her birth, age 85. Susannah also had an older brother George, born in 1839. We don’t know much about Susannah’s childhood as she appears to disappear from the record for a period of time. However, we do know that her mother Sarah Jeynes passed away in 1854 at age 37, and was buried in Croome D’Abitot, Worcester. Interestingly, Susannah’s Powick case notes state they believe her condition to be “hereditary” as “her mother was insane for some time.”

In 1861 Susannah Jeynes worked as a servant for the Denning family in St Peters, Worcester. Thomas Denning, the head of the home, was the Master of a millers. William Hooper was recorded as a miller in the same year, also in St Peters Worcester. William was to be Susannah’s future husband, and they may have met whilst Susannah served William’s employer. In 1862 the pair got married in Besford Worcestershire, and Susannah became Susannah Hooper.

On the 30th November 1863 Susannah was admitted to Powick Hospital, her stay lasted just under five months. Susannah gave birth to her child just three weeks prior, from the census we know this to be William, named after his father. Her symptoms were described as “nervous,” and “anxious and lost.” During her stay at Powick her symptoms developed as Susannah became “very much depressed” and “she had delusions of visions … of seeing black things and imagined people were jumping on her back.” These visions seemed to have petrified Susannah as she was found “frequently crouched on the floor on her hands and knees as if in terror.”

Susannah was discharged on the 11th April 1864 and there is no record of her readmission. From the glimpses of her life we see in census records, it appears post discharge she lived with her husband and children in the St Peters area. We know the couple had more children post admission, Sarah Jane in 1865, Sarah Eliza after Susannah’s mother in 1867, and Alfred in 1875. William continued working as a miller until later life when in 1911 he changed profession and began working for himself as a milkman. Susannah lived a long life, and passed away at age 73, buried in St Peters Worcestershire on 6th March 1915. Her husband William was buried in the same place at age 77 on the 14th March 1919.

Research by Alice Fairclough, 2024

To view Susannah’s patient records, click here.

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