kate smith

 

Subject:              Kate Smith      (b 1879 – d 1882)

Researcher:     Heather Turner

Woking 2-year-old falls victim to TB

Kate Smith’s short life saw her unmarried mother admitted to an asylum when Kate was just 4 months old.  Kate herself then became an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse where she passed away aged just 2.

Kate was born on 5th October 1879 at Westfield, Woking, the second illegitimate daughter of Sarah Ann Smith, a ‘housemaid’ 1.  Kate’s elder sister Ellen had been born at nearby Barnsbury Farm, Woking in March 1876 2.

Sarah had almost certainly gone to the home of her parents George and Catherine Smith in Westfield to give birth to Kate so that they could help Sarah through childbirth and take care of Kate’s sister Ellen 3.

Post natal psychosis

When Kate was four months old, on 3rd February 1880 her 42-year-old mother Sarah was admitted in a severely disturbed mental state to the Brookwood Asylum from Haslemere where she was working as a domestic servant 4.  She was brought to Brookwood by a friend who said that Sarah had ‘been getting strange’ since Kate’s birth.  The doctors heard that Sarah had told a neighbour that ‘her master had given her poison’ and believed that she ‘was accused of having murdered a man… she had the legs of the murdered man in a box’.  The admission report also recorded that Sarah ‘complains of hearing voices and suffers from insomnia’ and ‘appears to have been suffering from dementia, the result of debility from prolonged lactation being quiet and apathetic’.

It seems clear from these notes that Sarah was suffering from post-natal psychosis 5.  Her condition was clearly not understood at the time, as part of her treatment was noted to be a ‘purgative’.

Kate’s short life

Without their mother, Kate and her sister Ellen remained with their grandparents, Kate being baptised at Woking’s St John’s Church on 22nd February 1880 6.  There is nothing to indicate whether her mother Sarah was allowed to be there with her daughter.  Indeed, Sarah’s condition was not improving.  About six months later, she had a visit at Brookwood from friends after which ‘she became excited and inclined to violence’.      

By the time of the April 1881 Census, 18-month-old Kate was an inmate of the Guildford Union Workhouse 7.   There are no records available to show when or why she was admitted, but her sister Ellen, aged 5, was still living in Westfield with their grandparents George and Catherine 8.

Perhaps George and Catherine could not cope with a new-born, or maybe Kate’s health was the reason for her admission to the Workhouse, as on 11th May 1882 she died there from tuberculosis, aged 2 years 7 months 9.  She was buried five days later at St John the Baptist, Woking 10.

Death of Kate’s mother

Kate’s mother Sarah remained in Brookwood Asylum for the rest of her life.  Over time, her mental condition worsened, and her physical health deteriorated.  After a fall in March 1892 when she bruised her left hip, she was confined to bed.  It was only after her chest was examined a few days later that it was discovered that Sarah was suffering from advanced phthisis (tuberculosis) of both lungs. With no effective treatment, Sarah’s suffering was controlled by opium until she passed away in March 1892. Like her daughter, she was also buried at St John the Baptist, Woking 11.

Better fortunes for Kate’s sister Ellen

Ellen remained in Woking, working as a domestic servant and cook before marrying gardener Daniel Burchett there in July 1904 12, 13.  They raised their family in Royal Oak Road, Woking 14.  In 1947, widowed Ellen was admitted to the Warren Road Hospital, which until 1930 had been the site of the Guildford Union Workhouse where her sister Kate had died over 65 years previously.  She passed away there on New Year’s Eve, 1947, aged 71 15.

December 2019, updated December 2025
Edited by Mike Brock

We’d love to hear from you if you are a relative of Kate Smith or Ellen Burchett.  Please contact us by email at spikelives@charlotteville.co.uk

Spike Lives is a Heritage project that chronicles the lives of inmates, staff and the Board of Guardians of the Guildford Union Workhouse at the time of the 1881 Census.  The Spike Heritage Museum in Guildford offers guided tours which present a unique opportunity to discover what life was like in the Casual/Vagrant ward of a Workhouse. More information can be found here 

Sources and References

Original Surrey parish records and Brookwood Hospital Case Books are available at the Surrey History Centre, Woking. Digitised parish records were sourced through Ancestry.co.uk.

  1. Kate Smith 5 Oct 1879 England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; Guildford, Surrey; Volume 2a; Page 58. Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  2. Ellen Smith 6 Mar 1876 England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915; Guildford, Surrey; Volume 2a; Page 53. Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  3. Sarah Ann Smith 2 Dec 1838 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England, Parish Registers; Reference: WOR/4/1; Worplesdon, St Mary
  4. Sarah Ann Smith 3 Feb 1880 Brookwood Hospital, Woking; Female Case Book No 6 26 Apr 1878–20 April 1880; Reference: 3043/5/9/2/11
    Sarah Ann Smith 29 Mar 1892 Brookwood Hospital, Woking; Chronic Female Case Book No 2 19 July 1879–17 Mar 1889; Reference: 3043/5/9/3/4
    Available at Surrey History Centre, Woking
  5. Postpartum psychosis NHS website for England; Mental Health Conditions nhs.uk
  6. Kate Smith 22 Feb 1880 Baptism Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England, Parish Registers; Reference: Wokp/2/4; Woking, St Peter
  7. Kate Smith 1881 Census return for Guildford Union Workhouse, Union Lane, Stoke Next Guildford, in the parish of Stoke, Guildford, Surrey. PRO: RG11, piece: 778, folio: 94; p.10
  8. George, Catherine & Ellen Smith 1881 Census return for Westfield, in the parish of Woking, Guildford, Surrey. PRO: RG11, piece: 772, folio: 95; p.21
  9. Kate Smith 11 May 1881 England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915; Guildford, Surrey; Volume 2a; Page 51. Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk
  10. Kate Smith 16 May 1882 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England, Parish Registers; Reference: WOKJ/4/2; Woking, St John
  11. Sarah Ann Smith 2 Apr 1892 Burial Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England, Parish Registers; Reference: WOKJ/4/3; Woking, St John
  12. Ellen Smith 1891 Census return for Garden Villas, Station Road, in the parish of Woking, Guildford, Surrey. PRO: RG12, piece: 556, folio: 14; p.21
    Ellen Smith 1901 Census return for York Road, in the parish of Woking, Guildford, Surrey. PRO: RG13, piece: 596, folio: 126; p.16
  13. Ellen Smith & Daniel Burchett 30 Jul 1904 Marriage Surrey History Centre, Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England, Parish Registers; Reference: Wokcc/2/2; Woking, Christ Church
  14. Daniel, Ellen, William Daniel, Burchett 1911 Census return for 1 Glenville Villa, Royal Oak Road, parish of Woking, Surrey. PRO: RG 14/3036, ED 09, Sch 154
    Daniel, Ellen, William, Sidney, Kitty, Ronald Burchett 1921 Census return for 6 Royal Oak Road, sub-registration district of Woking, Surrey. PRO: RG 15/3172, ED 9, Sch 132; Book: 03172
    Ellen, Ronald E Burchett 1939 Register for 6 Royal Oak Road, borough of Woking, Surrey. PRO: RG 101.1929I, Enumeration District Dmww
  15. Ellen Burchett 31 Dec 1947 England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007; Surrey South Western; Volume 5g; Page 792. Digital copy from General Register Office GRO.gov.uk