Why was my ancestor sent to a mental hospital?
Q My grandfather Mark Moss/Moses married Esther Mitchell in 1911 at the East London Synagogue. I believe he died in Colney Hatch Asylum in December 1922, but I cannot confirm if the person on the death certificate is him.
Is it possible to find out why he was committed to an asylum and the relatives who sent him there? Carol Wilson
A The online probate indexes for 1922 and 1923 (available at
ancestry.co.uk and probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills) reveal that Mark Moses, who died at Colney Hatch on 25 December 1922, left his effects valued at £270 1s 5d to his widow, Esther Moses. There is no other Mark Moss/Moses marrying an Esther during the period in question, so it is reasonable to assume that this man is your grandfather.
Large numbers of Jewish asylum patients were sent to Colney Hatch from across London. This was because it had special facilities for preparing food and for worship, including its own synagogue.
Mark’s death certificate states that the cause of death was “general paralysis”. This was also known as ‘general paralysis of the insane’ or ‘general paresis’, and was the term for tertiary syphilis – the final stage of the disease. The effects of syphilis on the brain included general dementia, delusions, hallucinations and slurred speech. The disease was progressive and patients suffered ever increasing bouts of weakness, tremors and fits, losing control of their bodily movements before death.
It’s not surprising that Mark’s family sought expert help at the asylum to care for him; it would have been too difficult and distressing to look after him at home. London Metropolitan Archives holds the records for Colney Hatch Asylum; they are listed in their online catalogue at search.lma.gov.uk/lma_doc/
h12_ch.pdf. It is the case files that contain details of patients’ next of kin and the circumstances of their admission.
Because of data protection legislation, access is restricted for asylum registers where the last entry within the document dates from within the past 100 years. The only exceptions are death and post-mortem registers, which are fully accessible.
Although you won’t be able to view Mark’s case files yourself because they date from 1922, archive staff can consult the registers for a fee; you can see details of the service on London Metropolitan Archives’ website ( bit.ly/lma-research). Michelle Higgs