Over the past several months, I’ve been researching my lineage.
It’s really exciting to find a notable relative like George Washington or Charlemagne.
Not so much exciting to find relatives like this.
My Great great great uncle, George Dunn was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1813. He was a Tin Smith.
I received a copy of a document from Scotland’s archives:
George Dunn is a person of unsound mind and a proper Person to be detained and taken care of, DO HEREBY AUTHORIZE you to receive the said George Dunn as a Patient into the Public Royal Lunatic Asylum of Glasgow at Gartnavel and I authorize his Transmission to the said Asylum accordingly; and I transmit you herewith the said Medical Certificates, and a Statement regarding the said George Dunn which accompanied the said Petition.
DATED this 14th day of March One thousand eight hundred and 74
It’s kind of sad to mourn a relative who died 150 years ago, alone and in an Insane Asylum.
The admitting physician said:
1. Facts indicating Insanity observed by myself: He presents the symptoms of mental disorder dependent upon an [sic] disease of the cerebral arteries. He is at times aimlessly busy and restless in his demeanour
2. Other facts (if any) indicating Insanity communicated to me by others: The warder of his ward states that he is dangerous to the other Inmates as he causelessly strikes them and that he struck the warder without ostensible cause.
Sounds to like he may have suffered a stroke. Thankfully, he spent a short time in the Asylum. Inmates at Gartnavel were kept in cells 12x10, 24/7. Sheets were changed once a week. Clothes were not cleaned. Slept on a straw mat. No natural lighting.
He died on July 4, 1874.
Wow.
It’s really exciting to find a notable relative like George Washington or Charlemagne.
Not so much exciting to find relatives like this.
My Great great great uncle, George Dunn was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1813. He was a Tin Smith.
I received a copy of a document from Scotland’s archives:
George Dunn is a person of unsound mind and a proper Person to be detained and taken care of, DO HEREBY AUTHORIZE you to receive the said George Dunn as a Patient into the Public Royal Lunatic Asylum of Glasgow at Gartnavel and I authorize his Transmission to the said Asylum accordingly; and I transmit you herewith the said Medical Certificates, and a Statement regarding the said George Dunn which accompanied the said Petition.
DATED this 14th day of March One thousand eight hundred and 74
It’s kind of sad to mourn a relative who died 150 years ago, alone and in an Insane Asylum.
The admitting physician said:
1. Facts indicating Insanity observed by myself: He presents the symptoms of mental disorder dependent upon an [sic] disease of the cerebral arteries. He is at times aimlessly busy and restless in his demeanour
2. Other facts (if any) indicating Insanity communicated to me by others: The warder of his ward states that he is dangerous to the other Inmates as he causelessly strikes them and that he struck the warder without ostensible cause.
Sounds to like he may have suffered a stroke. Thankfully, he spent a short time in the Asylum. Inmates at Gartnavel were kept in cells 12x10, 24/7. Sheets were changed once a week. Clothes were not cleaned. Slept on a straw mat. No natural lighting.
He died on July 4, 1874.
Wow.
