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.

walter amphlett

find out more about walter amphlett

Walter Orland [Ornold] Amphlett was born in Worcester around 1867, to parents James (born c.1824) and Emma Amphlett (born c.1825). John worked as a farm labourer, and Emma as a seamstress, and the family lived in Powick. In the 1871 census, they lived with their children Ann Sophia (born c.1857), Charles William (born c.1859), Edwin James (born c.1861), Rosina (born c.1864), James (born c.1866), Walter ‘Ornold’, and Albert (born c. 1870). In 1881 Walter worked as a general labourer, and still lived with his parents in Powick, as well as his brother Albert, and sister Millicent (born c.1873), as well as in 1891, when he now worked as a gardener.

Later that year, Walter married Emily Edgecombe (born c.1870) a domestic servant from Worcester. Two years later, their son Roland Edwin Amphlett was born. Around February 1897, they had another child, a daughter named Ruby. 

A few months later, on 29 May 1897, Walter was admitted to Powick Lunatic Asylum, the supposed disorder being epilepsy. His wife Emily states that ‘he had some fits and on coming round from one he said he could see a man in the room and that the he knew he was going to hurt the children.’ The case notes state that ‘he has had fits for many years.’

He was given potassium bromide three times a day. In February of 1898, whilst Walter was at Powick Asylum, his daughter Ruby passed away, aged just 11 months. The death of his daughter is not mentioned at all in his case notes. In 1901, Walter’s wife Emily was working as a charwoman, and living with her son Roland in Himbleton, Worcester.

In 1904, Walter suffered another death in the family, and his son Roland died, at the age of 11. Again, this is not mentioned in the Powick case notes at all. Walter died on 24 April 1913, at Powick Asylum. There is no record of an Emily Amphlett in Worcester in the 1911 or 1921 census, and so it is unclear what happened to Walter’s wife, especially now that she had no immediate surviving family members.

Research by Maddie Hale, 2026

To view Walter’s patient records, click here.

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