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| Ruins of St Bartholomew, Heigham, Norwich, Norfolk |
James Wright (b. 20 May 1808 in Heigham, Norfolk), son of Richard Wright and Mary Blake, married Mary Ann Minns (b. 17 Jan 1805 in Heigham, Norfolk), eldest daughter of Robert Marsh Minns and Mary Kett, at the now lost church of St Bartholomew, Heigham on 28 Aug 1831. Witnesses were Lydia Wright, James Wright's aunt (wife of his father's brother, John) and Robert Marsh Minns who was either Mary Ann's father, or elder brother.
(The handwriting and name of the curate on this marriage record are the same as those on Mary Ann's sister Hannah's marriage the following year.)
James and Mary Ann Wright had three children:
- James Wright b. 15 Jun 1833, bap. 30 Jun 1833 and buried, aged 3 months, on 6 Oct 1883, both at St Bartholomew, Heigham
- James Wright bap. 7 Aug 1836 at St Bartholomew, Heigham
- Mary Ann Wright b. 11 Oct 1838. Her DOB is as declared on her baptism (at the same time as her cousin, Eliza Blazey) on 21 Oct 1863, although the parish's Bishops Transcripts show that she'd already been baptised, at St Bartholomew, Heigham, on 24 Oct 1838. (Ref. 620).
All three of the original baptisms list James Wright's occupation as Weaver.
In 1841, Mary Ann Wright (35) was living in Union Square, Heigham, Norfolk with her two children, James Wright (5) and Mary Wright (3). James Wright was not in the household and we find him, age rounded down to 30, as an Inmate at The Infirmary Bethel, in the parish of St Clement, Norfolk.
James Wright, Inmate in The Infirmary Bethel (Bethel Hospital, Bethel Street, Norwich) died on 2 Dec 1841 (1841 D Quarter in NORWICH Volume 13 Page 169), age rounded up to 35, with his cause of death listed as Epilepsy. James Wright, of the Parish of St Clements, was buried at St Bartholomew, Heigham, on 8 Dec 1841. (The church was destroyed by German bombs on April 27, 1942 and the graveyard was grassed over in the 1950s. No trace of any grave remains.) Burial of those who died in workhouses and workhouse infirmaries, so presumably also in asylums, could be in the deceased's own parish at the family's request, often at the expense of the parish.
"In 19th-century Europe, epilepsy was considered a highly hereditable disorder, associated with a familial tendency toward insanity, alcoholism, violence, criminal behaviour, migraine, and gout." - A diary of epilepsy in the early 1800s. "Living with epilepsy in past centuries was challenging; before the introduction of bromides in 1859 and phenobarbital in 1912, there were no effective therapies for seizures." And even in 1860, the condition was still thought to be contagious, or linked to insanity, so, as we see with James, people with epilepsy were often confined to asylums or workhouses.
In 1851, Mary Wright (46) Widow, Dressmaker, was living at 1, Manchester Buildings, Hamlet of Heigham, Norwich, Norfolk (Manchester Buildings (yard?) - Union Place) (The Old Courts and Yards of Norwich PDF) with her son James Wright (14) Brushmaker's Apprentice; and daughter Mary A Wright (13) Scholar. Also living in her household, as Lodgers, were her brother-in-law and sister, Francis and Hannah Blazey, and five of their children: Francis (18); Harriet (12), Samuel (9), Hannah (5) and Elizabeth (3).
Mary Ann Wright, widow of James Wright, Weaver, died, aged 54, on 10 Jun 1859 (1859 J Quarter in NORWICH Volume 04B Page 103), at 1 Manchester Buildings, Heigham, Norwich, from 'Disease of the Brain' - as a medical term, this could mean many things including encephalitis (inflammation) - which was registered by her sister, Hannah Blazey, present at her death.
[NB: Difficult to tell without a medical degree, but with both James and Mary Ann having died from diseases that could have been caused by infections that can damage brain tissue and cause seizures (like meningitis or encephalitis), I wonder if they may both have been affected by the same initial contagion.]
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| The Bethel Hospital cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Evelyn Simak - geograph.org.uk/p/5833231 The Bethel Hospital, named after its location in Bethel Street, dates from the late 17th and early 18th centuries and has some later additions. In 1899, the Norwich architect E Boardman was charged with rebuilding and repairs. Originally built "for the benefit of distrest Lunaticks" in 1713, the Grade 2 listed building currently is a children's psychiatric clinic. |