M W (9544)

Admission Details for Patient: M W (9544)

Gender: Female Age: 61
Marital Status: Married Religion: Church of England
Occupation: Housewife
Address: Waenfawr (admitted from Workhouse Carnarvon), Carnarvonshire

Date of Admission: November 15, 1920
Date of Discharge: June 9, 1922
Discharge Category: Recovered

Disease: Dementia
Supposed Cause: Previous

Medical Certificate:
She is morose and denies that she has been fractious. Her memory for recent events is lost. Mrs. Clara Parry, the Matron of the Carnarvon Workhouse, informs me that she has been violent, attacked her and other inmates of the Ward. Dr. Robert Parry, Carnarvon, 13th Nov 1920.

Approximate duration of present attack: 10 days

Number of Previous Attacks: 3

Number of Previous Admissions: 3

Number of Subsequent Admissions: 3

Total Number of Admissions: 7

Relatives affected:

Number of Previous Attacks: 3

Epileptic: No

Suicidal: (Nothing entered)

Dangerous: No

Clean Habit: Yes, by striking with anything

Food Refusal:

Sleep Habit:

Destructive Habit:

Disposition:

Education:

Physical/Mental State at Examination: Moderate health and condition and has valvular disease of the heart. Rather simple and childish in her manner. She broke into tears when admitted. Her memory is defective.

Current Diagnosis: Unspecified dementia (F03)

Case Notes

1920 Nov 19 (copy) - Suffering from Dementia. Her memory for recent events is quite imperfect.

Since admission she has been very violent upon more than one occasion but remembers nothing about the occurrence immediately afterwards. Very emotional and cries during an interview and she is simple and childish in her statements.

Little idea of time and place and frequently talking to herself.

27 - Unchanged.

Dec 28 - Better behaved.

1920 Jan 10 - Mental condition has improved and she is able to employ herself a little.

Feb 8 - Not so well mentally.

Has lost weight.

Mar 5 - Does not improve mentally.

Apr to July 1 - Unchanged mentally. Oct 5 - Has improved again.

Oct 14 (copy) - Suffering from Mania. She is now much quieter and her conduct is much better.

Memory is becoming defective and she is becoming simple and childish in her ways.

1922 Jan 2 - General conduct and behaviour satisfactory. Rather childish in manner and conversation but able to employ herself regularly.

Apr 4 - Quite well conducted. May 2 - Discharged on trial.

Medications/Treatments:

Additional Notes

It is noted (in pencil with a query) that M W was admitted for the first time in 1907 (No. 7017).

It could well be the same woman. The ages make sense but the name of patient No. 7017 is M R and her address is Brynsiencyn. (Although Brynsiencyn is situated in the present county of Anglesey, the village lies only 4 miles from Carnarvon across the Menai Straits and the parish belonged to the Carnarvon Poor Law Union).

A widow in 1907, M R may have had to move around to find work as a domestic servant and at some point remarried Mr W of Waenfawr.

Previous admissions:

27th November 1907 (No. 7017) admitted from Carnarvon Workhouse with Melancholia.

The Medical Certificate reads: I. Maintained a sullen stupid silence during the interview but ultimately spoke incoherently about being damned for the murder of a child some 60 years ago.

II. John Parry, the Master, states that she maintains a stolid silence throughout and refuses all food.

E J, Pen y Bonc, Brynsiencyn, Anglesea, states that one day recently she observed her taking a basin of water into the street, placing it on the roadway and starting to unclothe herself. Discharged recovered on 20th February 1908.

19th October 1916 (No. 8757) admitted with Melancholia again from the workhouse.

The Medical Certificate reads: When seen today she was stripped of her clothing, lying on the floor and refusing to take any nourishment.

She was incoherent in her speech and perpetually asking me to forgive her for some imaginary evil she had done.

Clara Parry, the Matron of the Carnarvon Workihouse, informs me that she has been raving and shouting nearly all last night. She refuses to take any food and she is continually crying and stating that the Almighty is punishing her for her sins.

Discharged recovered on 26th February 1917.

8th June 1918 (No. 9056) again admitted from the workhouse, again with Melancholia.

The Medical Certificate reads: She refused to answer any questions and then burst out crying stating that she had murdered and killed hundreds of people.

Clara Parry, Matron of the Carnarvon Union Workhouse, informs me that she on one night kept crying and shouting all night saying she would be cast into hell fire because of the murders she had committed.

She (Clara Parry) also states that she assaulted her and the attendant nurse in an endeavour to escape being sent to hell and burnt there.

Discharged on 19th September 1918.

Readmissions:

13th December 1922 (No. 10011) readmitted from Carnarvon Workhouse this time with a diagnosis of Dementia, cause unknown.

The Medical Certificate reads: When spoken to she declines to answer and sits resting her head on the table, she refuses her food at times, at other times she weeps and cries without any cause.

Clara Parry, the Carnarvon Workhouse Matron, informs me that 3 days ago she became violent and attacked an attendant, giving the attendant a black eye and last night on the pretext of going to the lavatory, she bolted and was found with some difficulty outside the workhouse premises. She has been previously certified three or four times.

Discharged to the care of her husband on 4th September 1924.

Readmitted from the workhouse less than two months later on 24th October 1924 (No. 10376) when the Medical Certificate reads: She is strange in manner, vacant in expression and unable to write. She does not know when she was born and is uncertain as to how many children she has had.

Miss Clara Parry, Matron of the Carnarvon Workhouse, states that she is noisy at night and cannot be properly controlled. She also states that M W is at times violent and that she jumps at people's faces and head, scratching them and tearing their hair.

Discharged on 9th September 1925 after a four month trial.

When readmitted on 3rd October 1925 (No. 10538) the diagnosis was Senile Mania.

The Medical Certificate reads: She had a dazed appearance and refused to answer any questions.

Mrs Parry, Matron of the Union House, informed me that she had been very violent and shouting during the last night and showed me bruises on her arms and face which the patients (sic) have inflicted upon her.

M W remained at the asylum until her death from heart disease on 6th July 1926.