Tag Archives: Mental health

Sarah Sargison 1806-1871

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I have previously written about Sarah and her family in my blog: Hallgate Zion Independent Chapel in Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire. Sarah and family are included in the Sargison tree which includes people in the parishes of Eastrington, South Cave and Cottingham.

I knew that Sarah had lived in Cottingham with her mother until at least the 1851 census. However, her mother Mary had died in 1857 and a pauper lunatic return for 1861 (QAL/2/19/9), which I consulted at the East Riding Archives in Beverley, indicated that she had been committed to the joint North and East Ridings asylum in York on 10 November 1860. It indicated that she was aged 57 and chargeable to the parish. The cost of her maintenance in the asylum was seven shillings a week. Sarah was recorded as a lunatic and dangerous to herself. She did not have dirty habits which contrasts with what was noted about her brother Thomas in 1846.

In 1861 Sarah was recorded as have been of unsound mind for five months. She was in the 7 April 1861 census return for the asylum which was located to the north of York, in the suburb of Clifton, as shown in the following OS map: Yorkshire Sheet 174 dated 1853:

OS Yorkshire Sheet 174 date 1853

Further Sculcoates Union  pauper lunatic returns for Sarah can be consulted up to the year 1871 (QAL/2/286/8) when she died on 5 May 1871 There seems to be only one entry for her in Ancestry’s collection of UK Lunacy Admission Registers, so perhaps once admitted to the asylum, she did not leave. Do contact me if you have any further information which you are willing to share with me.

Note: the map used in this blog has been reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland under the following creative commons licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and sourced from the NLS maps site https://maps.nls.uk/.

Bibliography:

Births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/  : accessed May 2023.

Cottingham. https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Cottingham : accessed May 2023.

Lewis, Samuel ed. (1848) A Topological Directory of England. London: Lewis. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england : accessed May 2023.

OS (1853) Yorkshire Sheet 174 Map. https://maps.nls.uk/ : accessed May 2023.

UK, Lunacy Admission Registers, 1846-1912. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/  : accessed May 2023.

Thomas Sargison 1811-1846

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I have previously written about Thomas and his family in my blogpost: Hallgate Zion Independent Chapel in Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire.

Thomas and his family are included in the Sargison tree which includes people in the parishes of Eastrington, South Cave and Cottingham.

While I was on a recent visit to the East Riding Archives in Beverley, I came across a document which provided further information about Thomas. While he had been living with his mother and sisters in the 1841 census, there was no occupation recorded against his name; this had piqued my interest. The reference number for the document I consulted was QAL/2/4/1 and it’s a pauper lunatic return dated 1846 relating to Thomas. In it provides some personal details; he is aged 33, male and chargeable to the parish of Rowley. At the time of the document, he was living with his mother in Cottingham and the weekly cost of his maintenance was three shillings. He was said to be an idiot not dangerous to himself or others but that he had dirty habits. Thomas was said to have been of unsound mind since his birth. There are further returns for Thomas in 1842 (QAL/2/1/1), 1843 (QAL/2/2/1) and 1844 (QAL/2/3/1). What I’ve not been able to determine is why he was chargeable to the parish of Rowley not Cottingham. The entry for Rowley in Lewis’ 1848 topographical dictionary o England says the following:

Parish of Rowley from Lewis' 1848 topographical directory

Not long after the return of 1846 Thomas died. His death on 23 November 1846 was probably at his mother’s house described as Crescent Street George Street, Cottingham. He was 36 and described as the son of Thomas Sargeson labourer. It looks like someone perhaps associated with the Hallgate chapel reported his death as it wasn’t reported by either his mother or sisters. Do contact me if you have any further information which you are willing to share with me.

Bibliography:

Births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/  : accessed May 2023.

Cottingham. https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Cottingham : accessed May 2023.

Lewis, Samuel ed. (1848) A Topological Directory of England. London: Lewis. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england : accessed May 2023.