Genealogy Chat

I am trying to find if I can access the records for the above hospital in Lancaster.

My Aunt, Mary Connor was a patient there for most of her life, and died there in the mid 1960's.

Lancaster Moor was a Mental Institution.


Mary was shown on the 1911 Census as living with her family in Hulme Manchester when she was aged 5

My maternal grandmother (also Mary) had a further child in 1914, but no father was named on the birth certificate.

My mother was born in 1917 and again no father was named on the birth certificate although my mother later used the surname Rooke, as did her brother who was born three years later.

I feel that the placement of Mary in the hospital may have led to the split between my grandmother and her husband

My grandmother never married Mr Rooke, although when she died in 1961 she was described as a widow.

My grandmother and her husband were catholics.

I am particularly interested in the date of admission to the hospital for my Aunt as well as her diagnosis on entry.

All people connected with this event are now deceased.

Any help or hints would be very much appreciated

I live in Westren Australia, so any personal visits to records offices are not possible.

Allan

You wont be able to access any of these type of records online. If they are available they would be at the local Records Office.
You could try googling for the Hospital and see if they have any link to where records may be held BUT most records would be subject to the 100 year closure rule and this is an overall ban not just for the individual patient so as Aunt didnt die til the 1960,s then think the records will still be closed, No harm in enquiring though.

just for info
The County Lunatic Asylum, on Lancaster Moor, opened in 1816, within eight years, with a great demand for its services, extensions were built and by 1940 Lancaster Moor could hold 3,200 patients.
As demand for mental care declined, the Hospital took in patients from the local infirmary which was running out of beds.
The asylum closed in 2000, the main part is grade II listed and the whole building itself is in excellent condition
The owners English Partnerships are currently deciding on what to do with the building.
A known entrance we had hoped to use to gain entry has been sealed, thankfully we soon found a new one and were inside.
We knew the ground floor was alarmed, so kept to the first floor.
Although the buildings are in great condition, there is nothing left inside. All traces of it being an asylum are long gone.

so it didnt close till 2000 so unlikely you can get any details for a patient BUT they may interpret the 100 year rule differently

Many thanks, Shirley

When i lived in the UK I never even thought about the family history. I remember visiting my Aunt from when I was a child right up until I got my driver's licence and took my mother up there. My mother used to vistit her half sister every few months.

I enjoyed the train trip from Manchester, but the hospital itself wasn't very pleasant, particularly for a small child

Regards

Allan

Hello Allan, I have recently had cause to try to obtain information about Lancaster Moor Hospital records. They are held at The Lancashire County Records Office at Preston. The hundred year rule applies, so you cannot read what may contain "sensitive material" about inmates recorded in the ledgers. However if you have details of the inmate, they will (for a charge) duplicate the information for you.
Kathleen

Thanks Kathleen, I'll try to find the email address and find out what's involved

Regards

Allan

Hello Allan,
I have the e-mail address on some correspondence I received from the Lancashire County Council Record Office.
It is
Kathleen

Sorry, it looks as though the e-mail address has been knocked off. Will try again
[email protected]
Kathleen

Thanks Kathleen. I did google it.

Fascinating site! I haven't sent anything off yet regarding the hospital but my gran's husband's father was shown as a superannuated police constable on the marriage certificate and his name appears on the Police Records

There is only an 85 year period for these records so I have been able to make an enquiry regarding him.

Thanks for all your help

Regards


Allan

Kathleen

Just a quick update. I've done a search of the catalogue at the Records Office and the items relating to the Hospital have various restricted periods.

Medical Records are restricted for 100 years as you say, but patient admissions (without any medical information) are only restricted for 30 years.

I'll check on my aunt's actual date of death and use that as the basis for my enquiries.

Once again, my thanks

Regards

Allan

Hi Allan

I am staying in Lancater at the mo ( very close to the Moor Hospital in fact ) and shall be visiting the Preston RO along with Harris Library, some time before Christmas....if I can help at all give me a shout...

Misty x

That's a very kind offer indeed, Mistycat!

Thank you.

I will first have to ascertain the precise date of death of my Aunt as all the rest of the events have been enveloped in the mists of time nad the demise of the people involved.

I will keep in periodic contact, if I may, when I have any further information

Kind Regards

Allan

My pleasure Allan....

Let me know when you have info ( maybe by pm as well as here, just so I dont miss it!! ) and I shall see what I can find.

I cant say when it will be but will contact you when I know...

Misty x

Misty

Have found two possible entries for my Aunt's death on FMP. I will send off for the respective death certificates.

I have pm'd you

Kind regards

Allan

Hi Allan,
I was incarcerated in a sanitorium in Scotland for 3 months in the early 1960's - and I can't even get my own records!!
My mum doesn't know why I was in there (it was mainly TB - which I didn't have), and my current doctor has none of my records for when I lived in Scotland.
I've applied to the relevant health authority, but they won't give them to me/ deny they have them, which is a bit of a b*mmer as they may affect my current situation.

Hi Maggie

As I put in an eaarlier post, I've checked the Records Offic website at Preston.

Medical details are restricted for 100 years.

However dates fo admission and discharge, without any other information is only restricted for 30 years.

I'm just following up a hypothesis that the admission of my Aunt to the hospital may have been the cause of my grandmother leaving her husband.


Dates will do, although I am still curious as to why she would have been admitted in the first place.

As far as I am aware she had been there for most of her life

Regards

Allan

Maggie, that is awful. I don't know what to say to you.

Stay strong.

Love

Margaret

Dear All

A very big thank you to Mistycat who, although not knowing me from a bar of soap, went out of her way to help me by visiting the records office.

Although no able to access the records due to the hundred year rule, Misty gave me the contact details of a person in the office. I did say earlier in this thread that I was looking for my Aunt's diagnosis on entry.

I revised that in light of the hundred year rule and decided that the year of admisssion would suffice.

I sent my Aunt's details to the records office and within a very short period of time received a response from Mistycat's contact giving me the precise date of admission. There was also reference to other record collections which may have contained information but some may not be available and would entail a personal search by myself or a researcher on my behal,f and there would be a fee of £30.00.

The information regarding the date of admission was provided free of charge.

Once again my sincere thanks to Mistycat

Allan

As I now have the information which I was seekink, or at least, part of it, I will delete this thread next week unless anyone wishes me to keep it going

Allan

Oh, no, don't delete it Allan, it could be very useful for other people interested in the same type of information.

You never know when they might come along, and find your thread useful.

Please don't delete it. You would be wiping out useful findings.