God & the Devil

Source: Ancestry.com: Birmingham, England, All Saints Hospital Records 1845-1931;
Workhouse Casebook of Thomas Green (Male and Female Patients, 1845-1850)

While the threat of the workhouse constantly loomed over the poor, it was also, for many, the only place where medical help might be sought. After William Wheelock completed his sentence in Warwick Gaol in 1849 for assaulting James Williams for the third time, he was admitted to the lunatic branch of the workhouse infirmary. The admission date was 24th August 1849, and he was seen by the visiting surgeon, Thomas Green. The casebook records that William was 32, married, had no religious persuasion, and was a gun furniture filer. He was admitted with ‘acute dementia’ due to ‘intemperance’. His disease lasted 3 months, and he was deemed ‘cured’ and discharged on 24th September. Throughout his long absence in prison and then the workhouse, it should be remembered that Hannah Genders had William’s infant son to care and provide for. He would have been roughly 10 months old when his dad was discharged. 

Immediately eye-catching is the mention of William being married in the casebook record. A few possibilities:

1) Eliza Whitehouse was still alive and William was referring to her (most likely)

2) Eliza Whitehouse had died and William had married Hannah Genders

3) Eliza had absconded and William had married Hannah not knowing if Eliza was alive or dead

4) William had bigamously married Hannah

5) William simply regarded Hannah as his wife

Also in this record is the first suggestion that alcohol may have been a cause of William’s behaviour. It also gives a brief description of him:

A man of short stature and strong temper. Tongue white. Vivid rambling. Has a black eye.

The actual details of William’s treatment are very brief. They state:

Aug 26 pulse 90 no other change. Sep 22 has been gradually improving up to this date. There is now little or nothing the matter. 29 This man ap[peare]d quite well at the time of his discharge. I met him in the street this morn I asked him why he was not at work - because he couldn’t serve two masters God & the devil.

William’s somewhat cryptic response seems all the stranger for a man who claimed to have no religion. 

So what did they mean by ‘dementia’ back then? Higgs writes in Tracing Your Ancestors in Lunatic Asylums: A Guide for Family Historians, it implied a decay of the intellectual faculties as a result of a brain disease or injury. It could affect memory, cause personality changes, or impair reasoning. Some of the causes listed are overwhelming grief, old age, destitution and poverty. Well, we know William underwent a personality change as newspapers describe his friends discussing his ‘deranged’ behaviour in recent months. Thomas Green attributed this to alcohol. Are there any other possible causes? How about burying his daughter, Mary Hannah just a few days shy of her 2nd birthday on 6th April 1848. The records seem to imply that William’s first marriage was childless. Who knows how elated he may have been when Mary Hannah was born so many years later, or how crushed he was when she died?

What this source also tells me is that William’s mental health was acknowledged as a problem while he was still a young man. So at least I know he did receive treatment before he was finally admitted to the Lunatic Asylum as an old man. There are plenty of gaps in his timeline. I cannot account for him in 1871 or 1881 when the census was taken. The most probable reason being that he was in prison or the workhouse. At least I know now he would have received medical attention in such instances.

So where were Hannah Genders and her baby boy while William was recovering, and who was supporting them? The boy, John, was probably with William’s parents. I don’t know if Hannah’s parents had a hand in raising him as I do not know their identities. But the Wheelocks definitely helped as John is living with them in 1851. As for Hannah…I’ve no idea what she did.