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b.1860-d.1924
Buried on New Year’s Day 1925
On January 1st 1925, the weather in Southern England was tempestuous. Wide scale gales continued from the end of December into the first couple of days of 1925. Force ten gales were recorded at the Kew observatory on January 1st. It was on that blustery day John Dale was buried.
When he died, John had been a patient at Long Grove Asylum. The records for Long Grove have not survived and therefore I had to look elsewhere for information.
I usually start a search by checking the census records, but this wasn’t particularly helpful in this case. The 1911 and 1921 Censuses both tell us that John was born circa 1860, was single, a labourer and born in London.
To confuse matters though, the 1911 Census gave his name as “J. Dale alias R. Garrad”, and the 1921 Census adds a little more, with “John Dale, properly Robert Garrad”. A search under Robert Garrad produced no matches but with John Dale I had more success.
Workhouse Admission
A check of the London Workhouse Admission & Discharge records finds John Dale, labourer, born 1859 being admitted to the City Road Workhouse (Holborn Parish) on 20 May 1905. He was then discharged to Horton on 14 July 1905.
John remained in Horton until 15 September 1914 when he was discharged ‘relieved’. Relieved means that he was sent to another asylum and, in John’s case, probably Long Grove as that’s where he died.
Despite these findings, the lack of surviving records means that John Dale’s background and family remain uncertain. Numerous entries for “John Dale” exist in the Holborn workhouse records, but none can be definitively linked to this individual. I hope that in time more conclusive records will come to light.
