I’ve used a variety of sources to trace the patients of Temple Lodge: census records, newspaper reports, and the two surviving Temple Lodge Minute Books. I am trying to find out more about the lives of these women, but those who are identified only by a surname or initials may remain a mystery.
I have so far identified the following women as being patients of Temple Lodge: Maria Adams, Daisy Blanche Aldin, Elsa May Bagley, Clarice Maude Barwell, Edith Ellen Boughton, Fanny Agnes Brook, Minnie Bugler, Dora Cardwell, Elizabeth Ann Carless, Emily Mary Grace Carlile, Mary Chew, Julia Cohen, Susan Gertrude Collyer, Bessie Jane Conibear, Fanny Crosky, Frances Elizabeth Day, Alice Emmeline Docker, Jessie Gibson, Susan Mary Grant, Madeline Gostick, Emily Harding, Kate (Catherine Ruth) Hair, Katherine Hawkins, Elizabeth Hellier, Edith Beatrice May Holmes, Emma Holt, Jane Webster Hume, Isabel Huntley, Annie L Jenkins, Elizabeth J King, Jane King, G J Knolden, Margaret Knowles, Annie T Lindley, Ellen Millard, Ada Nixon, Mary Ann Olding, Elizabeth Circe Parkin, Ethel Pearce, Rose Perry, E Prew, Alice B Price, Marian Pyle, Annie Elizabeth Roe, Mary Ann Rolles, Mary Rollinson, Mary B Rooney, Amelia Caroline Simpson, Emma Shaw, Sarah Shilston, Maud Florence Skinner, Louisa Sloane, Jane Sly, Fanny Taylor, Augusta Ann Thorpe, Mary Tremaine, Edith Jane Turner, Mary Warne, Ellen Wellington, Jane Maria Weston, Margaret Eleanor Wilde, Alice Williams, Mrs Wray, and Clara Stella Wyatt.
I will be adding case studies to this website as time permits. I have so far identified 64 women who were patients of Temple Lodge, and a further 8 women who were possibly patients there. 20 from the 1901 census, 17 from the 1911 census, 26 from newspaper reports, and one from the minute books, although I have not yet had time to go through the minute books thoroughly. The release of the 1921 census will bring another cohort of patients, and will enable me to discover more about the patients I have already researched. I will be able to research most of the women I have identified as being patients, however, for some I only have a surname, and therefore I am unlikely to be able to discover any more about them.
Pie chart showing patients marital status: single, married, widowed, divorced/separated, or not known – hopefully as I research these women further, I will determine the marital status of those whose marital status is currently unknown.
Graph showing ages of patients when they were in Temple Lodge. CETS homes did not admit patients over 50. There were no patients in their 60s, and only one patient in their 70s, who had been a patient for 7 years!
So far, I have death certificates for 19 of the 64 Temple Lodge patients. The above graph shows their age at death. I will update this as I discover more. The term alcoholism was rarely used on death certificates until late Victorian times (Wills, 2013). Two deaths were due to senility.
These were the other causes of death:
Acute bronchopneumonia, chronic bronchitis and chronic myocarditis
Valvular disease of the heart (considerable duration)
Cancer of gallbladder
Cerebral atrophy (years) and pneumonia & (7 days)
Epithelioma of the tongue, cachexia and heart failure
Pernicious anaemia
Cerebral haemorrhage & respiratory failure
Uraemia, myocardial fibroid degeneration, and arteriosclerosis
Chronic alcoholism & nephritis many years; delirium tremens 5 days, coma 3? Weeks
Bronchopneumonia
Stomach cancer
The above causes of death may not be directly attributable to alcohol consumption, although it may be a contributory factor.
Of 23 patients who I had relevant details for at the time of creating this chart, 8 of the 23 had been employed in an alcohol-related profession, or who had a husband or father who was employed in an alcohol-related profession. I was surprised how high a proportion this was, and will be interesting to see if the proportion stays this high as I research the rest of the women. Could it be that alcohol was more difficult for ‘middle class’ women to obtain, or that there was a stigma attached to women buying alcohol?
However, of the 47 women I’ve searched online newspapers for, 23 had been reported in newspapers as having appeared in court. However, three of these were in court for suicide attempts, which whilst illegal at the time, is completely different to other criminal convictions that the women had committed e.g. drunk and disorderly, swearing, and stealing (see pie chart below).
