Caroline Mandeville

Subject Name :  Caroline Mandeville née Clark (b1828 – d1906)

Researcher : Viv Bennett


Caroline Mandeville and her husband William successfully raised a daughter in Godalming, but following William’s death, Caroline’s health declined, forcing her into the Guildford Union Workhouse and then the Brookwood Asylum.

She was born Caroline Clark, the first child of William and Sarah Clark née Simmonds, and baptised at All Saints, Witley, Surrey on 7th September 1828 1.  Her parents had married the previous year at Godalming’s St Peter and St Paul Church and were now living at Moushill, just to the north of Witley 2.

Caroline was 12 at the time of the 1841 Census, living with her parents and five younger siblings at Sand Hills, Hambledon, to the south of Godalming 3. Her father William, 38, was an agricultural labourer.

When she was about 21, Caroline married on 22nd July 1849 bachelor William Mandeville, a labourer from Godalming, at the St Peter and St Paul Church 4.  They remained in Godalming, with the 1851 Census listing 22-year-old Caroline and 27-year-old William, a farm labourer, at Mill Lane 5.

On 31st October 1852, Caroline gave birth to her only child, Mary Ann, who was baptised at St Peter and St Paul Church on 9th December 6, 7.

By the time of the 1861 Census, the family had moved to Ockford Road, Godalming 8.  William was still an agricultural labourer, aged 39.  Caroline was 32 and working at a paper mill, one of the prominent industries in Godalming.  Daughter Mary Ann, 8, was a scholar.

William’s health was beginning to fail as the Guildford Union Poor Law Accounts Book for 1864-1871 showed that he received poor relief including medical expenses in 1864 for ‘illness’ and ‘diseased kidneys’ 9.  He passed away on 20th December 1865 the following year at Ford’s Building on Ockford Road, aged 43, from both kidney and liver problems, and was buried at Godalming’s Nightingale Cemetery 10, 11.

Caroline received poor relief during the year following her husband’s death to help her look after Mary Ann, enabling them to remain in Ockford Road 12.  Caroline also received relief in 1870 when she was suffering from erysipelas, a form of cellulitis 13.  Despite this, both were employed at the time of the 1871 Census with Caroline, 42, and 18-year-old Mary Ann noted as paper cutters 14.  They also had two lodgers.

At some point between 1871 and 1881, Caroline was admitted to the Guildford Union Workhouse.  The 1881 Census noted her as a 52-year-old inmate, a widowed domestic servant 15, but there are no records to show when or why this had happened.  Her daughter Mary Ann had married labourer Benjamin Sumner(s) on 2nd January 1875 in Farncombe 16, having three children over the next six years 17.  Mary Ann also lost her hearing around this time, so with three small children, caring for her mother as well could have been too much for her.

Brookwood Asylum 1888-1906

Caroline may have spent some time after the 1881 Census elsewhere, but by 1886 she was again an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse 18.  She remained there until 16th June 1888 when she was admitted, age nearly 63, to the Brookwood Asylum, with ‘mania’.  The reasons for this were made clear by a Workhouse nurse who told the Asylum doctor that ‘Caroline Mandeville is very violent and that she strikes other persons, kicks the door, and throws large stones at people in the yard and that she cannot control her’ 19.  The doctor also heard that Caroline had ‘on one occasion tied a piece of clothing around her neck, whether with suicide intent or not is uncertain’.

Caroline had been epileptic since she was 17, and through the following years, suffered frequent fits, breaking her leg in a fall in 1890 which required her to use crutches.  Her mental condition continued to deteriorate and in 1894, was recertified with ‘mania, epilepsy, a constant state of noisy excitement and hearing voices’.  Caroline was recertified again in 1902 after suffering from ‘delusions, hearing voices often at night and frequent and severe fits’. 

Four years later, Caroline began losing her strength, passing away on 20th April 1906 aged 77 from ‘organic brain disease’ and ‘exhaustion’.  She was buried at the Nightingale Cemetery, Godalming on 25th April, in the same plot as her husband William had been over 40 years previously 20.

 

March 2022, updated May 2024

References

All references are from Ancestry.co.uk unless otherwise noted

  1. Caroline Clark 7 Sep 1828 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; All Saints, Witley; reference WIT/3/3, page 85 FindMyPast.co.uk
  2. William Clark & Sarah Simmonds 31 Mar 1827 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; St Peter & St Paul, Godalming; reference GOD/2/3
  3. William, Sarah, Caroline, Mary, Emma, William, Thomas, Elizabeth Clark 1841 England Census; Sand Hills, Hambledon, Surrey; Class HO107; Piece 1073; Book 5; Folio 8; Page 8
  4. Caroline Clark & William Mandeville 22 Jul 1849 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; St Peter & St Paul, Godalming; reference GOD/2/4
  5. William, Caroline Mandeville 1851 England Census; Mill Lane, Godalming, Surrey; Class HO107; Piece 1594; Folio 734; Page 55
  6. Mary Ann Mandeville 31 Oct 1852 England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; Guildford, Surrey; Volume 2a; Page 55
    Digital Copy of original certificate available from GRO.gov.uk
  7. Mary Ann Mandeville 19 Dec 1852 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; St Peter & St Paul, Godalming; reference GOD/4/2
  8. William, Caroline, Mary Ann Mandivell sic 1861 England Census; Ockford Road, Godalming, Surrey; Class RG9; Piece 429; Folio 88; Page 54
  9. William Mandeville Lady Day 1864 (Sep 1863-Mar 1864) & Michaelmas 1864 (Mar 1864-Sep 1864) Outdoor Relief; Godalming; Guildford Poor Law Union Half Yearly Accounts 1864–1871; ref BG6/33/1. Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking
  10. William Mandeville 20 Nov 1865 England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915; Guildford, Surrey; Volume 2a; Page 40
    Digital Copy of original certificate available from GRO.gov.uk
  11. William Mandeville 25 Nov 1865 Burial Nightingale Cemetery, Nightingale and Eashing Cemetery Burial Records 1857-2021, reference N1/0619, page 31, plot 2076.
    Godalming-tc.gov.uk
  12. Caroline Mandeville Lady Day 1866 (Sep 1865-Mar 1866), Michaelmas 1866 (Mar 1866-Sep 1866) Outdoor Relief; Godalming, Ockford Road; Guildford Poor Law Union Half Yearly Accounts 1864–1871; ref BG6/33/1. Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking
  13. Caroline Mandeville Michaelmas 1870 (Mar 1870-Sep 1870) Outdoor Relief; Godalming, Ockford Road; Guildford Poor Law Union Half Yearly Accounts 1864–1871; ref BG6/33/1. Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking
  14. Caroline, Mary Ann Mandeville 1871 England Census; Ockford Road, Godalming, Surrey; Class RG10; Piece 814; Folio 109; Page 70
  15. Caroline Mandeville 1881 England Census; Guildford Union Workhouse, Stoke Next Guildford, Surrey; Class RG11; Piece 778; Folio 91; Page 4
  16. Mary Ann Mandeville & Benjamin Sumner 2 Jan 1875 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; St John, Farncombe; reference FNC/2/1
  17. Benjamin, Mary Ann, Frederick, Jesse, Lily Sumners 1881 England Census; Farncombe Street, Godalming, Surrey; Class RG11; Piece 779; Folio 45; Page 53
  18. Caroline Mandeville 15 Jun 1888 Admission Surrey History Centre, Woking; Mental Health Admissions; Brookwood Asylum, Woking; 1884-1888; Register Number 5; Admission Number 6146; Reference 3043/5/1/1/5
  19. Caroline Mandeville 16 Jun 1888–20 Apr 1906 Brookwood Hospital Woking; Female Case Books 1867-1900; Chronic Case Book Volume 2; Reference 3043/5/9/3/4; Page 179
    and Case Book Reference 3043/5/9/2/19; Pages 283 & 288
    Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking
  20. Caroline Mandeville 25 Apr 1906 Burial Nightingale Cemetery, Nightingale and Eashing Cemetery Burial Records 1857-2021, reference N5/4384, page 29, plot 2076
    Godalming-tc.gov.uk