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b.1872-d.1921

Although our subject was baptised and registered as Ernest James Quinland Brady, his name appears as James Ernest Brady in Lunacy Patients Admission Registers. 

Ernest’s parents

Ernest was the eldest child of James William Brady and his wife Emily Rhoda (née West). James was the son of James William senior of St Paul, Deptford. In the 1881 Census James’s place of birth is given as “Island of Ceylon” but it has not been possible to confirm this. 

Emily’s parents were butcher George West and his wife Rhoda (née Wood) of Brompton in Kent.

James and Emily were married at St Mary-at-Lambeth Church in Lambeth on the 27th of September 1871. At the time of their marriage James was 30 and Emily 26.

A growing family – and a move to Brighton.

According to his baptismal record, James and Emily’s first child, Ernest, was born on the 19th of November 1872. His birth was registered in Saint Saviour but it has not been possible to find an address for the family at that time. 

On the 31st of January 1874, Emily gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Maud Augusta Emily. On the 13th of February 1876 Maud and Ernest were baptised in Christ Church, North Brixton in Lambeth. In the baptismal register the family’s address is given as 31, Chrysell Road in Brixton and James is described as a commercial clerk.

The couple’s third child, Alice Mary Rosina, was born in the 3rd quarter of 1876. At some point after her birth the family moved to Brighton. The birth of Emily and James’s fourth child, Clarence William Charles was registered in Brighton in the 2nd quarter of 1880 and he was baptised in St Peter’s Church, Brighton, on the 8th of August 1880. From the baptismal register we learn that the family was living at 76, Park Cresent Road and James was now employed as an ironmonger. 

Four family tragedies.

However, by the time of the 1881 Census, which was taken on the 3rd of April that year, baby Clarence had died before reaching his first birthday. This was the first of four tragedies that would befall the Brady family in the next two years. 

While the family was still mourning Clarence’s death, James died in the 3rd quarter of 1881 aged just 41. One can only imagine the family’s shock and sadness at the death of their husband and father. Although James died in Brighton he was buried in Southwark on the 9th of July 1881.

Following her husband’s death, Emily moved to 112, Malpas Road, Brockley in Lewisham with her remaining children, Ernest, Maud and Alice. It may be assumed she moved to be near her parents, George and Rhoda, who were living at 192, Brockley Road in Lewisham at the time. However, whatever stability Emily was able to provide for her children would prove to be short-lived as she herself died at home on the 23rd of March 1883 aged just 38. In her will Emily left an estate of £40-8s-2d and guardianship of her children to her father, George. The family’s hopes for a return to some sort of normality after so much misfortune  were dashed, however, when George died shortly after his daughter, in the 2nd quarter of 1883.

One wonders what effect this fourth death must have had on the mental health of the children, so soon after the death of their mother.

The 1891 and 1901 Censuses

In the 1891 Census we find Emily’s mother, Rhoda, now aged 72 and widowed living at 11, Ladywell Road in Lewisham with her son, Frank, and grandchildren Ernest, aged 18, Maud, aged 17 and 14 year-old Alice. Ernest is described as a saddler’s apprentice. 

Rhoda died in the 4th quarter of 1894. We do not know if the siblings continued to live together with their Uncle Frank in Ladywell Road after Rhoda’s death but in the 4th quarter of 1900, Maud married hotel employee Charles Stanley Nash in Lewisham and in the 1901 Census we find them living at 14, Aislibie Road in Lee, South-East London with Ernest and Alice. Ernest is now described as a harness maker.

Ernest’s mental health problems.

It is only after the 1901 Census that we learn of Ernest’s mental health problems – problems that would endure for the rest of his life – though we do not know the cause, nature or severity of his illness or how it was treated. 

Ernest was admitted to Bexley Asylum on the 8th of December 1908. (If he received treatment for his illness before this date it has not been possible to find the relevant documentation.)  He would remain there until the 27th of February 1908 when he was discharged as ‘relieved’, that is, behaving acceptably and sufficiently well to return home or to an ordinary hospital. 

Admission to Long Grove and death.

Unfortunately, we do not know where Ernest went after leaving Bexley Asylum but four years later he suffered a relapse and was admitted to Long Grove on the 25th of May 1912. He would remain there for the rest of his life, dying on the 10th of October 1921, a month before his fiftieth birthday. He was buried in Horton Cemetery on the 14th of October in grave number 156a.

Ernest’s sisters

Maud and Charles had two daughters, Winifred May (born 3rd quarter of 1902) and Evelyn Lilian (born 4th quarter of 1908). Maud died in Lambeth in the 3rd quarter of 1938 aged 64.

On the 4th of December 1907, Alice married solicitor’s clerk William Lumb in St Mark’s Church in Kennington. The couple had a daughter, Clarice Constance, born in the 1st quarter of 1910. Alice died in Croydon in the 1st quarter of 1940 aged 63.

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