Below are some brief summaries – as I write a blog post about each woman, I will add a hyperlink to their name which you will be able to click on to read their full story.
Emily Harding – Emily Harding was born Emily Parkhouse c1867 in Taunton, Somerset. She was the daughter of James Parkhouse, a labourer. She was convicted multiple convictions for bad language. A newspaper article – “Life in King Street: a Cat and Dog Existence” gives a good description of their lives and martial problems. Husband & father were labourers. Mention in the Minute Books of the free place being offered to Emily Harding. 1911 in Temple Lodge.
Kate (Catherine Ruth) Hair – Kate was born in 1842 in Payhembury, Devon. Her father Henry Tooze was a vicar. Kate’s father died in 1856, 3 years later, her mother Elizabeth remarried, and the family moved to Jersey. Her mother died there 3 years later. A couple of months after her mother’s death, her step-father was declared bankrupt, and applications to seize the furniture were made. Kate went to India and in 1868 married James Hair, Executive Engineer, Ganges Canal, living in Roorkee. Kate suffered a succession of bereavements, and her family were blighted by mental health problems. Kate died aged 71 in 1914.
Katherine Hawkins – I have found three newspaper articles, but further research is required.
Elizabeth Hellier – Elizabeth was both a patient and (later) a servant at Temple Lodge. Further research is required.
Edith Beatrice May Holmes – Edith Beatrice Chapman was born in 1870 in Norwood, daughter of Henry James Chapman (an auctioneer and surveyor) and his wife Judith Elizabeth Johnes Harriet (nee Braine). In 1890, aged 20, Edith married John Henry Brown, a 40-year-old proprietor of an inebriate home in Westgate-on-Sea. He died less than 2 years later. Four years later she married an engineer, Edward Dartford Holmes. In 1911 Edith was a patient in Temple Lodge.
Emma Holt – Emma was in Temple Lodge for 7 years!! Further research required.
Jane Webster Hume – Jane was born in 1840 in Gateshead, Durham. She was the daughter of Cuthbert and Agnes (nee Webster) Harrison. Jane married Edward Rayner Hume, a commission agent (travelling salesman). Two of their children died under two years of age. Petition for divorce filed 10th August 1876 – her husband alleged she committed adultery with three named men. She accused him of cruelty and adultery with a named woman. There were many newspaper column inches covering the divorce. In 1883 her husband committed suicide by shooting himself in a railway carriage.
Isabel Huntley
Annie L Jenkins
Elizabeth J King
Jane King
Caroline Jane Knowlden – recorded in the 1901 census as G J Knolden, as a patient in Temple Lodge. Known by her middle name of Jane.
Margaret Knowles – I have found two newspaper articles, but further research is required.
Annie T Lindley
Ellen Millard
Ada Nixon – Ada was born in 1889 in West Ham. She had an affair with a married soldier, Clarence Hookey, a private in the Army Ordinance Corps. They eloped and made a suicide pact. While staying in a hotel, he took some veronal, and died. She was charged with his murder but found not guilty, as he had been unwell with flu and the dose he had taken caused his death as his body was in a weakened state. She started using the name Ada Peters, and bore a child by her lover, but shortly afterwards married her cousin Oliver Nixon and was again known as Ada Nixon.
Mary Ann Olding – Mary Ann Maria Tuggey was born in Portsea in 1862. In 1889, aged 27, Mary Ann married William Olding, a 29-year-old carpenter. They had two children. In 1899, Mary was charged with trying to commit suicide by drinking chlorodyne. Her mother-in-law testified that she was addicted to drink and called a doctor. By the time of the 1901 census, Mary was a patient in Temple Lodge. She died in Portsmouth in 1918.
Elizabeth Circe Parkin – Elizabeth was born in 1856 on board HMS Circe, moored in Devon. She was the daughter of William Bennetto and his wife Jane (nee Hodgers). William was “a carpenter of HMS Circe”. Elizabeth married Jabez Francis Parkin, a successful builder, in 1882. They had two children. By 1900, the marriage was in trouble; Jabez published a notice in the newspaper saying he would not be liable for any more of her debts. Elizabeth died in 1944.
Ethel Pearce
Rose Perry
E Prew
Alice B Price
Marian Pyle – Marian was born c1860 in Barnstaple, Devon. When the 1911 census was taken she was a patient in Temple Lodge, had been married 30 years, had 11 children, 4 of whom had died. Despite her unusual name, it has proven very difficult to find any information at all. The search continues!
