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b.1873-d.1902
Very few details are known about this man but, from the records available. He was born in about 1873 in China. His name was either Chou/Chon/Chow Tou/Ton depending on which document was written out for him once he arrived in England.
Dreadnought Seamans Hospital
His admission to the Dreadnought Seamans Hospital on 6 June 1902 stated that his name was Chow Tou, and that he was an OS (ordinary seaman), aged 28, born in China. His creed was recorded as ‘A’.
His ship’s name was not given but instead “14 Limehouse Causeway” was recorded. His medical condition was recorded as being an enlarged spleen.
14 Limehouse Causeway was a Chinese lodging house run by Charles King (who was Chinese)
Workhouse Admission
Chow was kept at the Dreadnought Seamans’ Hospital until he was admitted to Bromley House, Stepney Union Workhouse, Stepney on 12 June 1902. Here, he was recorded, in the workhouse records, as being Chou Tou, aged 28 and a Roman Catholic. Three days later the records show that his diet had been changed, presumably to help with his symptoms.
Horton
On 1 July 1902 he was discharged into the care of Horton Asylum in Epsom as a lunatic. After he died there on 13 September 1902, his death certificate says he was Chon Tou, a 29-year-old seaman of Stepney Union Workhouse and, following a postmortem, that he had died from “*pericarditis with effusion about 1 week. Heart disease”.
His body was buried in grave 49 in Horton Estate Cemetery on 19 September 1902.
Editor’s Comments
Was Chow a lunatic? My feelings are that he was not, but possibly being unable to make himself understood and being in pain made nursing for him very difficult. I doubt very much that a Lunatic Asylum was the best place for him to be sent to. *Pericarditis with effusion is a buildup of fluid around the heart, putting pressure on it and affecting its ability to work properly. This fluid may have been blood resulting from a chest injury, but we do not know what led up to this seaman being left to end his days in England, nor do we know if his family back in China had any idea of what had happened to him.
