Great news!
Image taken from page 9 of 'Charpentier's Illustrated Guide to Southsea, the Dockyard, Isle of Wight, etc' dated 1892 courtesy of British Library on Flickr - No known copyright restrictions Now, I just have to let those of you who read my blog here , that I did actually hear back from the lovely folk at Portsmouth History Centre this week. How about that? Aren't I lucky? They said: I have found the record of your great grandfather, Edward Connor in the registers of St James's Hospital. I can confirm the date of his admission was 5 th May 1897 & he was discharged on 3 rd May 1899, as you have already discovered. The details given, in vol. ref H8/4/4/5 are as follows: Age : 69 Marital Status: Married Employment: Fitter, HM Dockyard Previous place of abode: Imbecile wards, Portsea Island Union (now known as St Mary's hospital - Alex's note) Form of mental disorder: Dementia Supposed cause of insanity: Senile dementia...