elizabeth dew

Subject Name :  Elizabeth Dew (b1860 – d1913)

Researcher : Heather Turner

Elizabeth Dew lived in the Guildford Union Workhouse from her late teens, but her increasingly disruptive behaviour saw her moved to the Brookwood Asylum.  After a brief spell back in the Workhouse, Elizabeth was returned to Brookwood, eventually spending over 20 years in the Asylum.

Elizabeth was born on 23rd June 1860, the only child of William and Ann Dew nee Wheeler, at Woodbridge Hill, Guildford 1.  She was baptised at Stoke Next Guildford’s St John the Evangelist Church on 6th July 2.  William, a brickmaker, had married Ann at the same church on 5th September 1857 3.

Elizabeth had half-siblings from both of her parents.  Her mother Ann had an illegitimate son Frederick, who was born in July 1854 in the Wycombe Union Workhouse, near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire 4.  Elizabeth’s father had six children with his first wife Mary who had passed away in December 1856 aged 44 5, 6, 7. 

The 1861 Census showed the Dew family in Woodbridge Hill, Stoke Next Guildford 8.  Nine-month-old Elizabeth’s father William was 50, noted as an agricultural labourer born in Jersey, with her mother Ann, 32, from Exeter.  Four of Elizabeth’s half-siblings were living there – her mother’s son Frederick, aged six, and from her father’s side, Henry, 19 and Daniel, 17, both agricultural labourers, plus Mary, 15. 

Shortly before Elizabeth’s sixth birthday, her father William died in April 1866 from phthisis (tuberculosis), aged 55, at Woodbridge Hill 9.  The following year, in January 1867, her mother Ann married widower John Blundon at St John the Evangelist, Stoke Next Guildford 10.

In the next Census, 1871, Elizabeth, a 10-year-old scholar, was living with her mother Ann, 43, and stepfather John, noted as a 53-year-old labourer but probably somewhat older, at Ryde’s Hill, Worplesdon 11. 

Elizabeth became an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse around 1879, when she was about 19.  Although there are no admission records available for the Workhouse, her hospital record 12 years later would show that this had been the case.  The 1881 Census confirmed Elizabeth there as an inmate, listing her as an unmarried 20-year-old domestic servant 12. 

There was no indication on that Census, however, as to why Elizabeth was not at home with her mother Ann, stepfather Joh, and half-brother Frederick at nearby Stoughton Terrace, Stoke Next Guildford 13.

Almost ten years later, on 2nd January 1891, 31-year-old Elizabeth was admitted to the Surrey County Asylum at Brookwood, near Woking 14.  She had been taken there by the Guildford Union’s Relieving Officer Mr H. Portsmouth who said that Elizabeth ‘had been in The Union for the last 12 years but never been much trouble but lately was said to have become troublesome and violent if put out in any way’.   Mr Portsmouth went on to say that two other Workhouse inmates, Charlotte Risbridge and Ellen Gill, had complained about Elizabeth’s behaviour, saying that ‘she shouts for hours together at night swearing and using the most obscene language … if remonstrated with she becomes violent, and on many occasions, struck Charlotte’.

Elizabeth’s admission record noted that she was deaf.  Although it did not say for how long she had been so, it added: ‘it is impossible to get any remarks from her, but her aspect and general manner leads me to believe that she is of unsound mind’.

Elizabeth’s mother Ann was named as next-of-kin, still living at Stoughton Terrace at the time of the 1891 Census in April 15.  She was now widowed for a second time as husband John had passed away in 1885, aged 77 16.  Ann’s son, now using his birth name Frederick Wheeler, was with her. 

Following her admission to Brookwood, Elizabeth’s behaviour had improved, and in early 1895, the Asylum’s medical superintendent recommended that she could return to the Guildford Union Workhouse.  In the report, he said: ‘her demeanour and actions are rational, and she continues quiet, well behaved and orderly and employs herself in service and ward work. I do not consider her insane or a proper person for detention in the asylum’.  So, she was duly discharged back to the Workhouse on 6th February 1895.

This did not go to plan, however, as Elizabeth was re-admitted to Brookwood Asylum on 22nd May 1895 17, 18.  The Asylum doctor was told by the Matron of the Guildford Union Workhouse, Mrs Mary Ann Hill, that three days earlier ‘Elizabeth Dew was in a state of great excitement, shouting, swearing and kicking and also that she is frequently in this condition’.  Charlotte Risbridge, the inmate struck by Elizabeth four years earlier, informed Mrs Hill that this time Elizabeth ‘threw a knife at her’.

Elizabeth’s 1895 admission record said that she was 35 years old, 4’ 10” (1.47m) tall, weighed 6st 5lb (38 kg) and was ‘suffering from dementia’.  Her half-sister Mary Ann Perkins was now listed as the next-of-kin because Elizabeth’s mother Ann had passed away in April 1895 during Elizabeth’s brief time back in the Workhouse 19, 20.

As before, Elizabeth’s behaviour changed when she was in Brookwood where she remained for the rest of her life.  A typical report, dated 9th December 1909, said that Elizabeth was ‘harmless and amenable and capable of useful work. Her bodily health is good’. She continued in this way until the final weeks of her life, passing away in Brookwood on 7th July 1913 from kidney disease, aged 73.

April 2021, updated May 2024

References

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

  1. Elizabeth Dew (23 Jun 1860) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; Registration District Guildford; County Surrey; Volume 2a; Page 45
    Copy of original certificate from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  2. Elizabeth Dew (6 Jul 1860) Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1917; Parish of Stoke Next Guildford, St John the Evangelist, Surrey; Reference STK/4/2; Page 200
  3. William Dew and Ann Wheeler (5 Sep 1857) Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937; Parish of Stoke Next Guildford, St John the Evangelist, Surrey; Reference STK/2/5; Page 143
  4. Frederick Wheeler (23 Jul 1854) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; Registration District Wycombe; County Buckinghamshire; Volume 3a; Page 135
    Digital copy of original certificate from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  5. William Dew and Mary Martin (25 Feb 1832) Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937; Parish of Worplesdon, St Mary, Surrey; Reference WOR/2/3; Page 62
    Note :  Mary Martin baptised as child of Dinah Martin, name William Tedder crossed out (10 Oct 1813 Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1921; Parish of Pirbright, St Michael & All Angels, Surrey; Reference PI/3/1; Page 2).
    Dinah Martin married William Tedder on same day as Mary’s baptism (10 Oct 1813, William Tedder & Dinah Martin Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937; Parish of Pirbright, St Michael & All Angels, Surrey; Reference PI/2/2/2; Page 1).
  6. William Dew (14 Apr 1833) Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1921; Parish of Worplesdon, St Mary, Surrey; Reference WOR/4/1; Page 91
    James Dew (8 Nov 1835) Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1921; Parish of Worplesdon, St Mary, Surrey; Reference WOR/4/1; Page 105
    George Dew (Jul-Aug-Sep 1838) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; Registration District Guildford; County Surrey; Volume 04; Page 188
    Henry Dew (Apr-May-Jun 1841) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; Registration District Guildford; County Surrey; Volume 04; Page 170
    Daniel Dew (Jan-Feb-Mar 1844) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; Registration District Guildford; County Surrey; Volume 04; Page 169
    Mary Ann Dew (Oct-Nov-Dec 1846) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; Registration District Guildford; County Surrey; Volume 04; Page 205
  7. Mary Dew (13 Dec 1856) Surrey, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1997; Parish of Stoke Next Guildford, St John the Evangelist, Surrey; Reference STK/1/5
  8. William, Ann, Henry Daniel, Mary, Frederick, Elizabeth Dew (1861) England Census; Registration District Guildford; Civil Parish Stoke; County Surrey; ClassRG9; Piece 427; Folio 18; Page 28
  9. William Dew (26 Apr 1866) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915, Registration District Guildford; County Surrey; Vol 2a, Page 34
    Digital copy of original certificate from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  10. Ann Wheeler and John Blundon (20 Jan 1867) Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937; Parish of Stoke Next Guildford, St John the Evangelist, Surrey; Reference STK/2/5; Page 249
  11. John, Ann, Eliza Blunden (1871) England Census; Registration District Guildford; Civil Parish Worplesdon; County Surrey; ClassRG10; Piece 808; Folio 26; Page 18
  12. Elizabeth Dew (1881) England Census; Registration District Guildford; Civil Parish Stoke; Institution Guildford Union Workhouse; County Surrey; Class RG11; Piece 778; Folio 94; Page 10
  13. John, Ann, Frederick Blundell sic (1881) England Census; Registration District Guildford; Civil Parish Stoke Next Guildford; County Surrey; Class RG11; Piece 776; Folio 33; Page 28
  14. Elizabeth Dew (2 Jan 1891–6 Feb 1891) Brookwood Hospital Woking; Female Case Books 1867-1900; Reference 3043/5/9/2/21; Page 194. Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking
  15. Ann Blunden, Frederick Wheeler (1891) England Census; Registration District Guildford; Civil Parish Stoke; County Surrey; Class RG12; Piece 559; Folio 37; Page 36; Schedule 222.  FindMyPast.co.uk
  16. John Blunden (Oct-Nov-Dec 1885) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915, Registration District Guildford; County Surrey; Vol 2a, Page 56
  17. Elizabeth Dew (22 May 1895-23 Sep 1909) Brookwood Hospital Woking; Female Case Books 1867-1900; Reference 3043/5/9/2/24; Pages 200/201. Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking
  18. Elizabeth Dew (22 May 1895-7 Jul 1913) Brookwood Hospital Woking; Female Case Books 1867-1900; Chronic Female Cases Number 3; Volume 18; Folio 200; Reference 3043/5/9/3/5; Page 152. Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking
  19. Mary Ann Dew and Charles Perkins (31 Oct 1868) Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937; Parish of Stoke Next Guildford, St John the Evangelist, Surrey; Reference: STK/2/6; Page 23
  20. Annie Blundon (11 Apr 1895) Surrey, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1997; Parish of Stoke Next Guildford, St John the Evangelist, Surrey; Reference STK/5/5; Page 97