Mary Wale
Born: 1807-1809
Died: 1889
Author: Tony McGarry
MARY WALE – HER STORY
I have only found information on Mary in the Ancestry Lunacy Patients Admission Registers and the Admissions Register for the Sussex County Asylum. I could not find her birth or marriage details. Neither could I find details about Mary – or her husband – in any Census, apart from an entry in the 1882 Census stating Mary is “Parted from Hus”.
On 5th November 1864 Mary was admitted to the Sussex County Asylum. She was recorded as being 57, married, a servant, and born in Mallow, Ireland. She was chargeable to Westbourne Parish.
Westbourne is a village 16 miles West of Chichester. Mary’s form of disorder was recorded as “melancholia with refusal of food”, which suggests depression. The cause was “sudden reverses of her employer and great anxiety about her father”.
Mary was “Discharged Recovered” on 6th February 1866, but she was readmitted on 20th June 1878, age 69. She had no occupation and her last place of abode was 23 Steyne Street, Bognor, Sussex. The house still exists.
Mary’s “Form of Mental Disorder” was “Recurrent Mania”. The “Supposed Cause on Insanity” was “Weakness of Mind” and her “Bodily Condition” was described as “Much Enfeebled”.
The “Duration of Existing Attack” was 7 weeks and the “Age on First Attack” was 54.
Mary was “Discharged Recovered” on 6th December 1878.
Mary “Wate” (Wale) was living at 23 Steyne Street, Bognor on 3rd April 1881. According to the Census, her “Relation to Head of Family” was “Sister”, and her “Condition of Marriage” was “Parted from Hus”. She was 73.
The Census also lists Mary having “No Occupation”. Her place of birth was recorded as Westdean, Sussex. (As opposed to Mallow, in Ireland, her “Previous Place of Abode” according to Sussex County Asylum records in 1864).
Mary was described as a “Lunatic” in the last column of the Census Form.
Mary was later readmitted to the Sussex County Asylum and died there in 1889. We are yet to find Mary’s entry in the Admission Registers.
Mary’s death was registered in the March quarter in the Lewes Registration District, which covered Haywards Heath. She was buried unnamed in the Asylum Cemetery on 18th February 1889. Today her grave is unmarked and lost.
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