Samuel Hart Turner

BIRTH & BAPTISM First name(s) Samuel Hart Last name Turner Baptism year 1803 Baptism date 13 Mar 1803 Father's first name(s) John Cock Father's last name Turner Mother's first name(s) Hannah Place Great Maplestead County Essex Country England Archive Essex Record Office

MARRIAGE First name(s) Samuel Hart Last name Turner Residence St Runwald Colchester Marriage year 1830 Marriage date 09 Apr 1830 Place Colchester, St Runwald County Essex Spouse's first name(s) Sarah Spouse's last name Harvey Spouse's marital status S Spouse's residence Great Wesborough Country England Event type Marriages Archive Essex Record Office [They had no children]

Essex Herald 10 Oct 1837 WOODHAM FERRIS.--- Samuel Hart Turner and Charles Bourne, objected to by the Conservatives, were struck out, the former on the grounds of change of residence, and the latter from insufficiency of residence. [This refers to preparations for the first elections to be held under the Reform Bill which allowed ordinary men who met the eligibility requirements to vote in a general election. Eligibility depended on property either owned or leased, and stable tenancy - to ensure only 'upright citizens' got to vote. In fact it was designed to ensure that the poor never got to vote. Chartists were very active seeking more democratic franchise and the Conservatives used any and all tactics to prevent ordinary men voting - rather like the tactics used in the US by Republicans to restrict black voters.

London, Bethlem Hospital Patient Admission Registers And Casebooks 1683-1932 First name(s) Samuel Hart Last name Turner Residence Halstead, Essex Role Patient Event year(s) 1840-1841 Admission year 1840 Discharge year 1841 (very faint register but he definitely died there in 1840) Hospital Bethlem Series Admission Registers 1683-1902 Archive reference ARA-19 Type Admission register Year range 1838-1843 Page 78 Record set London, Bethlem Hospital Patient Admission Registers And Casebooks 1683-1932

[According to the register, security was provided for Samuel by Thomas Cooper, cabinet maker and William Watkinson, cordwainer, both of Halstead. He was discharged 'paralytic' Nov 27th from Bethem Hospital and died, preumably at Halstead, on 4 Dec 1840.]

First name(s) Samuel Hart Last name Turner Occupation A Liner Draper Age 37 Birth year 1840 Residence Halstead, Essex Role Patient Event year(s) 1840-1841 Discharge year 1840 Death year 1841 Hospital Bethlem Series Patient Casebooks Covering The Dates 1815 To 1919 Archive reference CB-026 Type Patient casebook Sub type Curable patients Year range 1840-1842 Page 10

His admission record is in docs. It states that Samuel probably decompensated on the death of his wife in 1840, which is the year Hannah died. He was admitted in a delusional state and discharged late November 'paralytic'. Ordinarily this would mean he had tertiary syphilis which can also be associated with delusions, but there would usually be a gradual onset of symptoms. Means a modern diagnosis is difficult to imagine.

There is always the possibility of another Samuel Hart Turner running around this part of Essex, but I feel pretty confident this is our man.

Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in London. The hospital is closely associated with King's College London and, in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, is a major centre for psychiatric research. It is part of the King's Health Partners academic health science centre and the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health. Originally the hospital was near Bishopsgate just outside the walls of the City of London. It moved a short distance to Moorfields in 1676, and then to St George's Fields in Southwark in 1815, before moving to its current location in Monks Orchard in 1930. The word "bedlam", meaning uproar and confusion, is derived from the hospital's nickname. Although the hospital became a modern psychiatric facility, historically it was representative of the worst excesses of asylums in the era of lunacy reform.

Illustrated London News 1843 The visiting days are two Mondays in each month. The Government pays 15s. a week for each criminal in this hospital. The average change for the pauper lunatic in the county asylums is 7s. a week; and for idiots, or lunatics, in the workhouses, from 2s.10d. to 3s. 6d. a week.

   The income of Bethlem and Bridewell Hospitals amounts to £33,000 per annum, and with the exception of £3000 voted by the city of London for the building of the new hospital, the whole is the accumulation of private benevolence!

   The number of patients in the hospital at the present time is about 390, of whom 194 are supposed to be incurable, and 85 are criminals.

DEATH & BURIAL First name(s) Samuel Hart Last name Turner Gender Male Birth day - Birth month - Birth year - Age - Death quarter 4 Death year 1840 District St. George Southwark County London Volume 4 Page 324 Country England [Confirmation that Samuel died 4 Dec 1840 at Royal Bethlehem Hospital, St George's Fields, Southwark]