The story starts on 12 March 1844 in Broadwey, Weymouth, Dorset when Thomas Travers and his wife Mary (nee Palmer) gave birth to a girl and named her Frances Ann Travers. She was the 6th of 11 children 9 girls and 2 boys. In the mid 1850’s the family moved from Weymouth to Guernsey in the Channel islands. Thomas Travers was a LIme Burner by trade and at that time there was a lot of work on Guernsey in the stone trade, quarrymen, stone masons etc, and along with stone and building, a lime burner was an essential part of the trade.
About the same time our Great Grandfather John Jabez Lake from Plymouth, a stone mason, also moved to the Channel islands, first to Alderney and then to Guernsey. On the 10 July 1866 John and Frances married at the Ebenezer Zion Chapel in St Peter Port and their family quickly grew. Eliza in 1867, John William in 1868, Alice 1869, James 1871, Albert 1873, Ethel 1874. Fanny 1875 & George in 1876. Eight children in 10 years that’s some going and must have taken it’s toll. We found records to show that during her final pregnancy Frances was not well and on 27 April 1876 she was listed as being demented and was admitted to the asylum in St Peter Port Guernsey. This was due to the fact her daughter Ethel died at the age of 8 months, whilst she was expecting Fanny and then she became pregnant with George only 2 months after Fanny's birth. She was released by agreement on 7th June but that was the start of something which affected the rest of her life. Following the birth of George on 28 Nov 1876 she was re admitted to the asylum and then a decree was made by the Royal Court as follows:
Frances Travers wife of J Lake left the house of insane people with her husband and their children to take passage for Plymouth, their parish, by act of the Royal Court. Mr Pierre Renouf A C by permission of the Police Authorities accompanied them himself to take advantage on this occasion to make passage to Derby his place of birth.
So the family were sent back to Plymouth, John Jabez' place of birth. They were accompanied by a policeman who was on his way home to Derby, just to make sure they obeyed the order. The amazing thing was, at that time, Plymouth did not have it’s own lunatic asylum, as they were called in those days, and so Plymouth sent Frances to the Fisherton House Asylum at Fisherton Anger, Salisbury, Wiltshire with whom the Plymouth local authority had an agreement. As for the rest of the family, John Jabez and his children went back to Guernsey but for the children the oldest of whom was only 9 this surely must have had a huge affect on them.
In the 19th century Fisherton House Asylum was the largest private madhouse (as it was then called) in the UK. From 1878 to 1890 the establishment was licensed to receive 672 patients, some were paupers, some were private patients and some were described as criminal lunatics. So amongst all these people was a young 33 year old mother of 7 children who were miles away in Guernsey. The asylum records show that it was a hard place to live, Frances both received and gave people black eyes and bites, life was obviously difficult and I guess that you had to look after yourself or else suffer the consequences. (Below left a photo of the derelict Fisherton House Asylum in the 1970's and right Blackadon Asylum in 1927)
On 17 Nov 1891 Frances was transferred to the new Blackadon Lunatic Asylum near Ivybridge Devon.
Frances died in the Blackadon Asylum on 10 Apr 1924 and was buried in the asylum’s own burial ground, which meant she had been in asylums for 48 years and was now buried there for eternity.
Was she suffering with a major mental illness? Had she had a complete breakdown? Well no, according to the information we have obtained from Fisherton House she was suffering from what we would now call
Post Natal Depression.
This is hardly surprising when you think she had 8 children in 10 years with one dying whilst she was pregnant with another.
(Plymouth Asylum staff photo abt 1900)
