Elizabeth Fradd [nee Cannon] 1816

Elizabeth Fradd (nee Cannon) was born in 1816 in Gwennap, Cornwall, England. 

She married James Fradd on 05 May 1839 in Gwennap and they raised 4 children. She was listed as an inmate in 1871 in the Bodmin Asylum

 

Bodmin Asylum, Cornwall

In the 1870s the Cornwall County Asylum in Bodmin, Cornwall, had been running for 50 years, one of sixteen county asylums set up between 1811 and 1842.

Elizabeth was listed as an asylum inmate in the 1871 Census at age 46. Husband James and daughter Elizabeth were still living in St Day, Gwennap, Cornwall so it has to be assumed that Elizabeth had been certified in need of treatment and admitted.

It’s not surprising. Elizabeth had to contend with her eldest son William who suffered from fits, dying in the local tin & copper mine at age 15.

Her next eldest son James was blind, and her first daughter Jane, died at the aged of two. It’s not known as to what condition that Elizabeth was admitted for.

By examining 511 admissions between 1870 and 1875 to this typical Victorian asylum in this mid-point of the asylum era, all patients were classified as 'paupers', whose admissions were publicly funded. A few privately funded patients were admitted during this period but are not included.

Asylum populations rose greatly through the 19th century. Whether this rise was mainly due to an increase in psychotic illness or to a decrease in tolerance of the mentally ill in the community is unclear. Many patients were admitted under the Poor Law and Lunacy Acts.

After amending acts of 1853, the parish medical officer was required to visit all paupers in his areas four times a year. He was expected to notify the guardians or the overseers of those who seemed in need of mental treatment. If any were thought to need treatment in the asylum, admission was certified by the medical officer and the local justice of the peace.

The Lunacy Act of 1845 stated that all asylums must keep an admission book—a contemporary record of each admission with basic demographic data and details of diagnosis, cause of disorder and age of first attack. It also contained records of the date of discharge or death and whether the patient had recovered or not.

All but a few patients were labelled as having mania (38%), dementia (35%), or melancholia (26%). Diagnoses such as 'moral insanity', popular in other parts of the country, were not used in provincial Cornwall.

The following case record of an admission to the asylum illustrates the use of all three terms in a single patient, possibly a case of bipolar disorder.

'Admitted 20th April 1872—age 33 draper's assistant. Form—Mania. In a very melancholic condition—says he is about to be married but has not work or money. Says he goes to Camborne churchyard and sits on the stones so as not to be a burden to his parents.

May 7th 1872 suffering mania—has grandiose ideas, emotional and irritable says he is in love with the world. January 1873 suffering from dementia—says he cannot remember things.

September 1873 Patient suffers from dementia—unable to concentrate his attention. Memory defects.'

In his annual report of 1877 the medical superintendent, Dr. Adams, divides the causes of illness into moral and physical. The meaning of moral seems to be equivalent to our modern-day 'emotional'.

It was not true that, once a patient was admitted to an asylum, there was no way out other than death. The high discharge rate at Bodmin was mirrored in the Buckinghamshire Asylum, where half of those admitted were discharged, most of them within the first year.

Discharge of a patient could be initiated by the medical superintendent or at the request of the family, but also needed the signature of a magistrate.

Medical superintendents were required to inform the 'visiting committee' if a patient had recovered and, when discharge had not occurred within 14 days, they would have to explain why to the Commissioners in Lunacy.

Elizabeth died in February 1877 and was buried at Bodmin on the 17th February.  It was noted that she was a resident of the Asylum and was "of St Day".