Cow Hey - 14 Trip to Prestwich -continued and Epilogue

"Now could you tell me what your diagnosis was exactly. In your letter you talked about schizophrenia and manic-depression insanity," I said to the doctor.

"He was not a schizophrenic, which is good news for the family, as that condition is much more likely to have a habit of recurrence within families. I think he was what I would call a manic-depressive - although the more normal term for the depressive part is melancholia. He would be in a state where he talked all the time and was very agitated - that was the manic phase. Then at other times he would speak very little or not at all, and have little interest in life. That is the depressive state. As I think I told you in my letter, this syndrome is characterised by periods where the patient seems perfectly normal and then they might revert to the psychotic state. Alcohol and stress, such as the death of a loved one, appear to be a trigger for many people with this condition. Your father grieved terribly when your mother died, and as I think you have stated yourself, he did drink heavily."

"Yes he did."

"Many famous people are thought to have suffered, or are suffering from this same condition. It tends to show up in people who have an artistic temperament, and often they produce their best work when they are in the manic phase. Have you heard of the artist Vincent Van Gogh?"

"I think so," I replied.

"It is thought that he suffered from it. Plagued by psychiatric illness throughout his life, van Gogh committed suicide last year. Evidence suggests that he had manic depression insanity, a chronic mental illness thought affects many creative people. Many people believe that artists overcome suffering with their creative acts, but suffering may also overwhelm the artist. 'If I could have worked without this accursed disease, what things I might have done,' he wrote in one of his last letters."

"So how can I and my brother and sister avoid becoming like Pa was?"

"I cannot make any guarantees, but I would suggest that you avoid alcohol in all forms completely. You are yet so young that you will not have got a taste for it, so it should be no effort for you to avoid it. And you should take regular exercise in the fresh air. Every day you should walk for at least a mile. Do you do that?"

"I walk quite a distance to school and back each day and I work on the farm too."

"And good diet is essential. I am doing research at the moment about TB. We have a great number of cases of TB within this establishment, and I am trying to ascertain whether milk might be a contributing factor. I recommend that milk should be boiled, if you get your milk from cows that might be contaminated with bovine TB. Anyone who contracts TB has a very lowered resistance to other diseases, and as such is more susceptible to physical and mental health problems.

"Now can I answer any more questions?"

"I can't think of anything else, but I must tell you that as we approached this place, I felt that it could not have helped but be a good thing for Pa. The whole atmosphere is pleasant and relaxed. Thank you for what you did to help him. And thank you for your time with us today. I feel much more relieved about the whole situation now. And I will pass on your advice to my brother and sister."

"Well, it was nice meeting you and I am pleased that you think our institution might have been a positive aspect in your father's situation. It was truly tragic that we lost him. Only about 5% of our inmates commit suicide. Most recover, at least partly, and go on to return to their community. Again, my commiserations with your loss."

He shook our hands once more and then ushered us out to the front door again. We slowly made our way back to the road, where we caught a taxi to the station, and then did the reverse trip.

"Thank you so much, Mum, for coming here with me today."

She looked so pleased that I had finally managed to use that word when addressing her.

"I didn't do much, and I didn't say much," she said.

"You didn't need to. You just needed to be with me, and you were." I gave her a quick hug, and she turned away, her eyes starting to look tearful.

"Let's make plans for something else now," I said. "This project has been at the top of our minds for months, and now it is over. I feel like I don't have to worry about Pa's death or whether I will get it myself in years to come."

"And what will your next project be then, missy?" she asked me.

"I would like to teach you to read and write. I have had some experience in teaching at my other school, and I know that you find it difficult. Did you have any schooling at all?"

"A year or two, perhaps, but I was a sickly child and often it was more trouble than it was worth. And when I was 12 I got a job at the factory in Compstall, and kept up with that until Pa died. Then I had Ma to care for, and I managed the house and the farm all those years, without much need to read or write."

"But why don't we have a go. If you don't like it, or feel it is a waste of time, then we will just quit, and find another project."

So hand in hand, adopted mother and daughter went smiling and happy backtracking through Manchester and back to Marple station where we were very pleased to see that Da had remembered to come and pick us up.

 Epilogue:

This story is fiction but it is based partly on real people. Because I could not be sure about Joseph having been an inmate at Prestwich Asylum, I have changed the names of him and his family. The other names are of real people and for the most part, they were where they were and doing what I had them do during this period of 1891,

But I can trace the family members over another few years.

Blanche and the Allsops left Cow Hey, and moved to Stanley Terrace on Glossop Road, near Lane Ends. And in 1901, Cow Hey was owned by Squire Higgenbotham, farmer, a nephew of Ann Allsop. Blanche became a maid, but she lived at home with her adopted parents, so one surmises that she worked for someone who lived nearby. I cannot trace her beyond that date, and don't know if she married or when she died. I have written another book that she is in, so will post it soon.

Fred continued to board with Miss Margaret Hattersley, and John Dawson. In the 1901 census he is listed as a stone mason.

Blanche's grandfather, Thomas Hodkinson who lived in Bollington died in the summer of 1891. Her grandmother, Sarah Hodkinson, died in1895.

I lost tract of her sister, Charlotte, but she was not still working for the same family in Bollington by 1901.

Florence Hodkinson, Blanche's cousin in Bollington in 1901 was a cotton winder at the Mill and boarding with a Bollington family.

The other half of the Cow Hey farmstead was owned by Joseph Froggett, farmer, in 1901. He is mentioned in the 1912 Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, as living at Cow Hey, and being the Caretaker and Manager of the Ludworth and Mellor Joint Sewerage Board.