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b.1837-1926
Hannah was born in Brightling Sussex and was baptised there on 23 July 1837. She was the daughter of George Freeland, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Mary Relf.
The 1841 Census finds the family living in Workhouse Street, Brightling. Hannah was there with her parents and three siblings (William aged 11, Mary 9, and Sophia 1).
By 1851 the family had moved to the Long House in Brightling. (This terrace of 18th century cottages still exists, now known as Longhouses, in Hollingrove Lane.) Three more children had now been added to the household: Henry, Sarah, and Edward.
Ten years later, in 1861, Hannah was working as a servant in the local rectory.
Hannah – a Lady’s Maid
Sometime in the 1860s, Hannah was engaged as a lady’s maid by Emily Sarah Vansittart. Miss Vansittart was quite wealthy. Her home was at 27 Onslow Square in Kensington but she seems to have enjoyed travelling. At the time of the 1871 Census, she was visiting Hove with Hannah in attendance.
Neither Miss Vansittart nor Hannah have been found in the 1881 Census (possibly travelling overseas), but Hannah’s brother-in-law William Charles Denning (husband of her sister Sarah) is recorded as a male servant at the house at 27 Onslow Square.
At the time of the 1891 Census, Miss Vansittart and Hannah were boarding in Hove once again, and with them was Hannah’s niece: William’s daughter Alice Sophia Denning, who at the age of 17 was Miss Vansittart’s private secretary.
An Inheritance
Emily Sarah Vansittart died in 1898. In her will she bequeathed £500 to her butler William Denning; an annuity of £60 per annum to Hannah, and the sum of £100 plus an annuity of £60 to Alice Sophia Denning.
The £500 bequest to William Denning allowed him to retire at the early age of 52. He bought an 8 room house on Putney Common which he named “Onslow House”. Hannah was there with him and his family in the 1901 Census.
Worrying Mania
Around this time, Hannah began to experience attacks of “worrying mania”. Medical notes record that the first attack in January 1901 lasted 6 weeks. The attack was renewed a year later. Alternating periods of senile insanity went on until July 1904 when she developed delusions concerning her treatment of her niece.
That attack of insanity persisted, and finally in January 1906 she was ordered to be admitted to Banstead Asylum. Her family immediately agreed to pay for her as a private patient, which meant that she would receive better conditions and improved treatment.
She was transferred to Manor Asylum in March of 1906.
The certifying doctor recorded that:
“She is disturbed in mind and worried by various imaginings, the creation of her own fancy. At times (she) thinks she has accused her niece of various misdeeds and bad actions for which there is not the slightest foundation – at other times imagines that her niece has forsaken her. This idea impels her to violent and noisy manifestations of grief. Her aspect is worried and anxious.”
Frequent Visitors
The visitors’ book shows that she had very frequent visits, particularly from her niece Alice, and also from her brother-in-law William, and her sister Sarah.
Hannah was discharged into the “care of friends” (under Section 72 of the Lunacy Act*) in July 1908 but she was back in Manor Asylum by the time of the 1911 Census.
She remained in the Epsom asylum cluster until she died at Horton Hospital on 13 August 1926. She was aged 89, and her death was ascribed to senile decay.
Hannah was buried at Horton on 15 August 1926 in grave 283b.
* Section 72 (Discharge of Private Patients): This section dictated that private patients could be discharged on the written authority of the person who originally signed the petition for their admission. The superintendent could only block this if they certified the patient was genuinely dangerous.
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