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b.1860-d.1908

Luke Carroll was the son of Luke Carroll and his wife Elizabeth (née Moore) who were married in the church of St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, in the 2nd quarter of 1856. Luke senior was born in Colchester in 1831 while Elizabeth was born in St Clement’s, Middlesex, in 1837.

Horton Cemetery records state that our subject, Luke, was 42 when he died in Horton Asylum in 1908, which would mean he was born in 1866. This, however, is incorrect as the baptismal register for St Giles in the Fields shows that Luke was born on the 19th of June 1860, and baptised in the church on the 15th of July 1860. 

It has not, however, been possible to find Luke’s birth registered in the GRO records. We learn from the baptismal register that, at the time of their son’s baptism, Luke and Elizabeth were living at 34, Short’s Gardens, St Giles,  and Luke was employed as a tailor. 

Did Luke have an older brother?
Interestingly, we find in the GRO records the birth of a  Luke Carroll, (mother’s maiden name Moore) registered in St Giles in the 1st quarter of 1858. This Luke sadly died aged just 11 months and was buried in Victoria Park Cemetery, Hackney, on the 30th of January 1859. The child’s address is recorded as 37, Short’s Gardens. It may be fairly confidently assumed that this was our subject Luke’s deceased older brother. 

A growing family – and two mysteries
In the 1861 Census the Carrolls are living at 34, Short’s Gardens, a property they share with six other couples or small families. Luke senior’s occupation is again given as ‘tailor’ while Elizabeth is employed  as an  ‘envelope folder’. Confusingly, our subject Luke’s age is given as 10 years rather than, one would assume, 10 months.

On the 17th of August 1866 Elizabeth gave birth to her second (or, probably, third) son, Alexander, who was baptised on the 9th of September 1866 at St Giles in the Fields. Another son, Joseph, was born in the 2nd quarter of 1868.

1871 Census
By the time of the 1871 Census the family had moved to 14, Vere Street in St Clement Dane’s. Luke and his wife are now described as ‘tailor’ and ‘tailoress’ and our subject Luke is employed as a machine boy. (Could this have been in the printing industry, his later profession?)  It has not been possible to find Alexander in the 1871 Census but he reappears in 1881.

Another son, called Denvill, also features in the census, his date of birth estimated as 1862. There is no one of this name registered in the GRO records but a girl, Denbigh Carroll (mother’s maiden name Moore) was registered in St Giles in the 3rd quarter of 1862. Had the boy been accidentally registered as a girl – perhaps because of the uncommonness of the name – and then his name mistranscribed in the 1871 Census? It would certainly appear so.

Interestingly, two of the Carrolls’ neighbours at 34, Short’s Gardens were newsvendor Denbigh Hartwell and his wife Anne who, like Elizabeth, was an envelope folder. It is possible the Carrolls named their son in honour of their friend. 

The final resident at 14, Vere Street is 6 year-old Elizabeth Carroll. However, her relationship to the rest of the family is not indicated on the census and it has not been possible to find her birth registered in the GRO records. Was she a daughter who later died? We do not know as it has not been possible to trace her after this census, but on the 14th of June 1873 Elizabeth did give birth to a daughter – also called Elizabeth – who was baptised in St Clement Dane’s Church on the 6th of July 1873.

The 1880s – marriage to Mary Ann Mahoney
By the time of the 1881 Census the Carrolls had moved once again, this time to 15 Denzell Street in St Clement Dane’s. We learn from the census that Luke senior is still working as a tailor and – although the writing on the census is very faint – it would appear that his three sons, Luke, Alexander and Denbigh (written ‘Denbey’) – were all employed as printers. 

In the 4th quarter of 1887 Luke married Mary Ann Mahoney in the church of St Giles in the Fields. We know that Mary Ann was born in St Clement’s in 1866 but, because of the commonness of her name, it has not been possible to trace her with any certainty before her marriage. 

The 1890s – the birth of a child
In 1890, Luke’s father died aged 60 and in the 1891 Census we find Elizabeth, now a widow, living with her son Alexander, a printer’s labourer, and daughter Elizabeth, a hair weaver, at 80 Drury Lane. 

It has not been possible to find Denbigh in the 1891 Census, or, indeed, in any record after the 1881 Census. Joseph is now married and employed as a printer’s warehouseman. He and his wife Rose, also a hair weaver, are living with their children Joseph, aged 2, and nine-month old Alexandra at 25 Russell Court in St Martin-in-the-Fields.

In the same census  we find our subject Luke, his wife Mary Ann and their 3 month old son Luke (born in the 1st quarter of 1891) living at 21, Portpool Lane in Holborn. Luke is still described as a printer. However, it was shortly after this census was taken that Luke’s health began to deteriorate.

A deterioration in Luke’s health
From Luke’s medical records we learn that he was epileptic and was treated at Colney Hatch Asylum from the 10th of February to the 19th of May 1893 though it has not been possible to find his stay recorded in the Lunacy Patients Admission Register.

The Carroll family was Roman Catholic, and we know from admission registers that Luke and Elizabeth’s little boy, Luke, attended St Vincent’s Roman Catholic School for Boys in Mill Hill from the 6th of December 1894 until the 25th of February 1895 and again from the 25th of June 1896 until an unspecified date (though we know he was listed as a boarder at the school in the 1901 Census). 

However, his admission to the school suggests that the mental health issues that would dominate Luke senior’s later life were already having a detrimental effect on the family as St Vincent’s School (or Orphanage) – founded by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul – received boys boarded out by the workhouse authorities.

Admission to the Manor
On the 24th of January 1896 Luke senior was admitted to St George’s Workhouse, Mint Street, Southwark and then transferred to Newington Workhouse where he remained until the 13th of April 1896. 

He was then admitted to the St Giles and St George Workhouse in Holborn, situated at the junction of Endell Street and Short’s Gardens, where he had lived as a child. He would remain there until the 9th of March 1900 when he was admitted to the Manor. At this time Mary Ann and her son Luke were living at 13, Sardinia Place, St Giles. (On the 6th of June 1899 Mary Ann was admitted to the Cleveland Street Infirmary for an unspecified reason but was discharged a week later ‘recovered’.)

Luke’s medical notes
Luke’s medical notes on his entering the Manor state: “He is epileptic and of late is morose and insolent: in connection with a recent attack he has become maniacal, constantly attempting to get out of bed in an excited manner. Today he is quite incoherent and sullen. He is in a constant state of agitation and will not lie quickly in bed but is constantly attempting to get away.”

An attendant at the Manor, John Green, stated that “He is violent, that he has, on four occasions recently refused food and medicine saying that he (Green) was attempting to poison him”.

Later reports describe Luke as a “weak-minded epileptic with no memory. He has about one epileptic fit a week. For the next day …he is incapable of doing anything or looking after himself. He shows signs of dementia.”

Unfortunately, Luke’s medical records from the Manor are incomplete and frequently illegible.

A transfer to Horton – and a brief respite 
Luke remained at the Manor until the 3rd of March 1902 when he was transferred to Horton Asylum, his condition described as ‘not improved’. However, there must have been some improvement in Luke’s condition while at Horton as eighteen months later, on the 11th of September 1903, he was discharged, described as ‘relieved’ – meaning that he was on the road to recovery and behaving acceptably. 

We do not know where Luke went on being discharged – or if he resumed his work as a printer – but one may assume he returned to his wife and son in Sardinia Place, St Giles.

Readmission to Horton and death
However, Luke’s return to a normal life was short lived as, on the 18th of January 1907 he was readmitted to Horton Asylum where he died on the 1st of March 1908 aged 48. He was buried on the 7th of March 1908 in Horton Cemetery, grave 626a.

Unfortunately, although we know from the Manor records that Luke was visited during his stay there by his wife, his brother Alexander and his sister Lizzie Toms (née Carroll) it has not been possible to trace any member of his family with any certainty after his death.

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