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b.1890-d.1914
Percy’s family and early life
Percy was born, the eldest of seven children, on 2nd December 1890 and baptised on 22nd February at St John the Divine, Richmond, Surrey.
The family are living at 7, Sheendale Villas, Richmond, Surrey an area of newly developed small villas which are now part of a conservation area.
Percy’s parents married in St Mary’s Church, Barnes on 12th Jan 1890.
Henry William was 26yrs old; occupation a Sadler, Henrietta was just 20yrs old. We know from the census that Henry William was born in Bristol in the 3rd Q of 1861 and Henrietta (née Pritchard) in Newington, Surrey in 1870.
On 12th Nov 1894 Percy is admitted to New Road School, Lambeth aged just 4 yrs. The address given is 79 Sterndale Road, Battersea.
In 1897 we find Percy has been admitted to the Brook Fever Hospital, Southwark. Could this have been due to the onset of his Epileptic fits?
The 1901 Census
In the 1901 Census we find the family living at 9, Penton Residences, Clerkenwell and Percy, now 10yrs old, has been joined by Henrietta Elizabeth bn 1892 in Richmond, May Florence bn 1895 in Battersea, Lily Maud bn 1898 in Paddington and Henry George bn 1901 in Clerkenwell. Henry William’s occupation is now given as a ‘Harness maker’
Penton Residences were built in 1878/9 for the ‘Sanitary Dwellings Co Ltd’
“Residences was an aspiring name chosen to match the character of its intended tenants” but by 1909 there was “considerable difficulty letting the flats due to the run down nature of the surrounding housing”. Booth classifies the area as “poor”. The area is just off the Pentonville Road where there were many Tanners and leather related factories in this area so presumably work for Henry William.
Ewell Colony
In 1909 the Lunacy Register appears to show that Percy was admitted to the Ewell Colony as a private patient, however his admission record says he is chargeable to Holborn Union.
‘The 1890 Lunacy Act required a reception order from a magistrate for private as well as pauper patients – so the document from the relative (or whoever) became an application, which it has remained. [Application from a relative was only required for private patients].’
We cannot imagine what might bring a family to willingly seek to admit their son to this kind of care but Ewell Epileptic Colony was a new and forward looking facility. The ‘Colony’, part of the Epsom Cluster of five mental hospitals, had been opened in 1903 to care for “the Epileptic insane of the Metropolis”.
This new approach housed patients in a collection of villas, avoiding the stigma of living in a mental asylum. The patients were expected to contribute to their costs by working on the hospital farm or in the kitchens, laundry or bakery all of which supported the Epsom cluster of hospitals.
Particulars on admission.
Percy father Henry gave details of his history. He said that Percy had been backward in learning and speaking, weak minded in early childhood and at school. No educational standard reached by the age of 14yrs. Percy suffered fits from the age of three which have become more frequent of late. They occur chiefly at night with no warning; he foams at the mouth, makes a noise and goes black in the face. He complains of pains in the head afterwards. Seven years ago (1902) he was in hospital with Scarlet Fever but has had no other illness.
Observations made by Dr Thos’ Evans state that, “He is mildly demented, subject to Epileptic fits. His memory is defective, gets very confused in the mind on the slightest excitement. Not able to follow any occupation. Principle cause Epilepsy, associated factors Scarlet Fever” Diagnosis Imbecility with Epilepsy.”
Condition on admission. Slight build, weight 7st 101b. 5’ 4’’. General health, fair. Grey eyes, Auburn hair. Features, “rather blunt. expression dull.”
Percy gives the time of year as March 1899, winter. Says he “never took drink.”
In April it is noted that Percy is fairly well behaved but rather surly in manner and does not associate much with others. He is lazy and inclined to resent instruction.
There is no real change throughout the year and into the next. In March 1910 he is noted as indolent, irritable and has a lack of control over his temper.
Things seem to settle down a little and in June of that year he is reported, “fairly well behaved and works fully.” Unfortunately this does not last long and in August he quarrels with another Colonist over some tobacco and a fight results, leaving Percy with a black eye. His seizures remain fairly static but in November he is again slightly injured in a fight. Percy spent some time undergoing treatment for problem with his toe and is eventually sent to Pine (medical villa) for treatment.
Here he fights with a Colonist and we are told that “Bryant was the aggressor.”
In February 1911 the Senior Registrar reports to the Committee in Lunacy,
Following the usual repetition regarding his condition we learn that, “ he cannot write and can only read a little. He has fairly frequent attacks and presents many of the stigmata of degeneracy.” Throughout the rest of the year Percy works on the farm but remains quarrelsome and prone to fighting.
Percy’s medical notes
Percy is shown on the 1911 Census where it is said that he had been Epileptic “from birth.”
In January 1912 Percy is transferred to hospital after a succession of fits “28 in the past 24hrs” where he is put on Chloreton powders and brandy. On Feb 12th it is noted that he has “developed some signs of suggestive Pneumonia in his right lung but his fits have now stopped. Regular tube feeding for a day or two but is now taking food well.” However he becomes restless and delirious and had to be put into a side room. His temperature has returned to normal but his condition still gives cause for some anxiety, bedsores have developed on the buttocks.”
By Feb 23 he shows considerable improvement and is now getting up a little in the evening and on 26 March, “he is now recovered from his illness but still remains rather weak in the legs.” Just nine days later he had a succession of fits during the night and was transferred to hospital in the morning. But by the 28th he is, “now up again in his normal state.” However we are told that he needs careful and constant supervision “he cannot trust himself to behave if he is left alone.”
In September Percy is back working on the farm where he gives little trouble, however he is “noisy and night when he is having fits which keeps the others awake, so he is given medication to keep him quiet”.
February 1913 Senior Registrar to Committee in Lunacy:
“He is an imbecile suffering from Epilepsy. Weakminded, Childish, quarrelsome and poorly developed intellectually. At present dull, stupid, having recently suffered a large number of fits which still continue to occur. He cannot give the month or day of the week…… He is in poor health due to the fits and confined to bed.”
However in March Percy is telling the doctors that he has only had one fit since Christmas (he has in fact had 58 in that quarter) and he wants to go home. He thinks that he could get work.
On 20th April he helped to cause a scene in the villa making a noise and running about. He struggled when brought back and bit the attendant. Following another spell in bed he is retuned to the Villa in early May. We hear of no further changes until November when he is sent to hospital with a high temperature, and pain in his right side which is put down to constipation. Breathing problems develop but is back in the Colony at the end of November. It is noted in December that his chest problems have “largely cleared but have left some long term damage .”
1914. Over the following two month he is back in hospital twice owing to confusion and restlessness and in Feb we are told that “He kept on demanding his pay to enable him to go home” In March it is said that although he is frequently sent to hospital he is “weak minded and simple but quite content and happy now.”
April 5th hospital again… 9th further fits, unconscious and nasal tube to be fitted in the morning…10th Breathing poor, no more fits and patient semi conscious,…11th Much weaker this evening. Died 7.55pm
Signed M.A.Collins, Medical Superintendent.
Sadly Percy only lived to be 23yrs old, he died on the 11th April 1914 and was buried in the Horton Estate Cemetery on17th April 1914 in grave 1017b.
Percy’s family.
In 1911 when Percy was in Epsom his parents, Henry William and Henrietta continued to live in the Penton Residences and had added two more children to their family. Sidney Frederick, bn 1904 and finally, Daisy Alice, bn 1910. Henry William is shown as a “leather case maker”.
Later in the same year that Percy died, 1914, WW1 began and his father, William Henry Bryant enlisted. Although past 50 yrs he joined the Royal Army Service Corps and held the rank of ‘Saddler’. His skills would have been invaluable for the maintenance of the tack needed for the thousands of horses used during the war. Henry William appears to have died whilst still serving, on 25 Jan 1922 although by this time he was in England and is buried in Islington.
Henrietta, Percy’s mother, lived on into her 70’s and appears in the 1939 Reg’ living in Chertsey, Surrey with her daughter Daisy and son Sidney. She died in Dec 1944 and was buried on 29 Dec 1944 in St Mary’s, West Byfleet, Surrey.
Henrietta Elizabeth bn 6 Nov 1892. Baptised at St Mary Magdalene Church, Richmond on 22nd Jan 1893. At the time the family were living at 13, Hyde Rd, Albert Rd, Richmond in the house shown below.
In 1897 she was admitted to the Campbell Street School, Paddington by which time they had moved to 9. Adpar Street, Camberwell, a “poor area of tightly packed houses and flats.”
In 4th Q 1910 Henrietta, aged just 18 yrs married David W Lee, they are found on the 1939 Reg’ living at 124 Oyster Lane, Woking. No children have been found.
Henrietta died in 1968 in Thanet, Kent.
May Florence bn 25 May 1895 and baptised at St Andrews Church, Battersea on
7 July 1895. The family were then living at 79 Sterndale Rd, Battersea.
On 17 Oct 1914 May married Robert Charles Drawbridge, they spent their life in the Hackney/Shoredich area of London and appear to have had nine children.
May died in 1964 in the Romford district of Essex.
Lilly Maud bn 28 Sept 1898 in Paddington and was baptised on 4 Dec 1898 at St Mary’s, Paddington Green. In Sept 1926 Lily married Ernest George Galletly and in the 1939 Reg they are living in Ramsgate, Kent. In 1959 they sailed from Tilbury to Melbourne, Australia on the “Strathmore”. Their previous address is given as 243 married quarters RAF Malling, Kent.
Lilly Maud died on 12 Aug 1989 in Hobart, Tasmania. They appear to have had three children.
Henry George bn 12 Feb 1901 Clerkenwell. Baptised 19 Mar 1901 at St Silas Church, Penton Street. Henry appears to have joined the Dorset Regiment on
7 April 1919 but the records suggest that he deserted on 16 Jan 1920. No other information found.
Sidney Frederick bn 13 Mar 1904 and baptised at St Silas’s Church on 3 April 1904. In 1908 Sidney became a “lost boy” for one night in the Islington workhouse.
The 1939 Reg show him living with his widowed mother at 3, Fairleigh Rd, Chertsey, he is an “aircraft fitter. Previously Sidney served in the Royal Navy, he signed on for 12yrs in 1922 but gained a “fee discharge” in 1924. Sidney married in 1939 to Doris Bowman, he died in 1973.
Daisy Alice bn 24 April 1910. Baptised on 7 May 1910 at All Saints Mission Chapel, Islington. In the 1939 Reg she is living at 8, Kelvine Rd, Islington and is a “Radio Worker”, later in the electoral roll of 1945 she is living alone at
18, Oyster Lane Woking, near her sister Henrietta. No further info found.
Author’s note.
When Percy was admitted to the Ewell Epileptic Colony in 1909 his youngest sister Daisy Alice was yet to be born and his oldest sister, Henrietta Elizabeth, was planning her wedding the following year. When Percy died in 1914 war was looming, his father Henry William would soon enlist in the army and May Florence was to be married in the October. It makes me wonder how much Percy’s illness and admittance to the asylum impacted the family. Was it a relief to have him “out of the way”? Did his death just get swept up in the turmoil of life?
There is no record of any visitors or letters for Percy or any note to say that anyone attended his funeral.
