Index
Thomas 1796 - (Emigrated to USA)
William 1802 to 1858 (Emigrated to USA)
William 1821 to 1881(A gamekeeper treated in mental hospital)
William Pepperdine SALTER 1842 – (letter to relatives in USA)
This is now the largest PEPPERDINE family in the USA.
Thomas PEPPERDINE 1796
By Pauline Pepperdine WAGATHA in "PEPPERDINE Exchange" December 1991
Woodland Settler
Death and bad luck relentlessly stalked Thomas PEPPERDINE and his small
family in 1827 as they slowly made their way from Scopwick, Lincolnshire,
England to the Port of New York after a voyage of thirteen weeks. The family
consisted of Thomas, his pregnant wife Mary nee BUTLER and two year old William.
Probably after hearing about the vast woodlands of western New York State, the
rich soils, the beautiful supply of wild animals, the abundance of water, and
the cheap land, they set off on their journey westward. Because the Erie Canal
had been completed by that time, we believe that they travelled by steamboat up
the Hudson River and across the state riding a barge boat towed by horses at a
speed of about a mile and a half an hour. Passengers paid a cent and a half a
mile for accommodations that were crowded to say the least
Illness struck all three in Rochester where they disembarked to seek help. Their
high hopes and dreams of making a better life for themselves were dashed when
Mary gave birth to son John, who lived only a short time, and Mary herself
passed away. Great grief was heaped upon Thomas, making him vulnerable to a
robbery in which he lost a large quantity of valuables including silks and
linens.
Within a year, Mr PEPPERDINE had returned to Syracuse, married Mary RICH and
along with his new bride and young son continued his journey, coming to the town
of New Albion in Cattaraugus County. Some of Mary’s family already resided
there, having come a few years before. Thomas established a homestead on Snyder
Hill paying two hundred dollars for one hundred acres of land. Since this was a
heavily wooded area he immediately began his years as a farmer by clearing some
land, building a cabin (William later called it a shanty), and planting food for
his family and crops for the animals, which included oxen.
Mary RICH lived twelve years after her marriage producing six children and dying
only three years after the youngest was born in 1841. This left Thomas with a
large young family, to raise without a helpmate. He soon married Anna HUNTON, a
widow with four children herself, so we can imagine how the walls bulged
In a letter written by son William in his later years to family in England he
states that his father was “a very quiet man who seldom talked about his
homeland or satisfied his children’s curiosity about their ancestors.” We do
know that he was a preacher of the Methodist faith, that he did better himself
considerably through hard work and that he was one of the earliest pioneers in
the area.
If he could only have known that future generations of his family would admire
him for his religious beliefs, his integrity, his perseverance and his courage!
His physical traits – blue eyes, blonde hair, big ears, long feet and tall
stature – have appeared in all succeeding family members and he left us with a
great sense “of family” which will long endure.
A beautiful hand-pieced quilt with homespun lining made by first wife Mary
BUTLER still exists along with Mary’s hymnal inscribed in her handwriting dated
1808. Unfortunately these are not owned by a member of our family. A small
armless rocking chair, supposedly brought from England is on display in the
Cattaraugus Historical Museum and family members possess the original marriage
certificate of Thomas and Mary BUTLER's marriage dated March 1824.
Mr PEPPERDINE and his second wife lie in lovingly tended peaceful Snyder Hill
cemetery with daughter Ella buried beside them. Their eroded broken monument is
nevertheless beautiful entwined hands below Mother and Father. They certainly
were that to all of us
Sources (1) 1894 Gazetteer and Biographical Memorial of Cattaraugus County. (2) RICH – PEPPERDINE Family History. (3) A Hundred Years and More of Cattaraugus New Albion Happenings 1979. (4) William’s hand written letter. (5) Family stories. (6) Snyder Hill Cemetery Records
New York Notes
By Rosanna Hamilton in "PEPPERDINE Exchange" Dec 1991
Thomas PEPPERDINE of Cattaraugus, New York fits nicely as the Thomas born to
John PEPPERDINE and Abigail POTTERTON in Scopwick, Lincolnshire, England in
1796. We have no record of Thomas and his third wife, Anna having children
together; however it was recorded in the RICH-PEPPERDINE Family History that he
and his second wife Mary RICH were the parents of: Sally born 25 Oct 1829, Betsy
born 17 Nov 1831, Nelson born 10 Apr 1834, Milly born 4 Apr 1836, Bela born 5
May 1838, Arabela born 5 May 1838.
In the 1850 census Sally at age 20 was enumerated in another household in New
Albion. She lived two more years and died at age 22.
Betsy at age 18 was enumerated with the Charles NEAR family in Dayton,
Cattaraugus, New York. In the 1860 census Betsy A PEPPERDINE age 28 was listed
with occupation “domestic” having both real and personal estate of her own.
Betsy later became the second wife of Philip Brookins RICH and had two children,
a daughter named Malvina RICH born October 5 1864.
Nelson at age 16 in 1850 was far removed from his family and was listed as a
labourer living with Joseph and Louisa BROOKS in the town of Onondaga, Onondaga
county, New York. This is near Syracuse where Thomas lived before moving to
Cattaraugus county and from where his mother’s family had come. He had attended
school within the year. Milly (Milla) at age 14 was still living with her father
Thomas and his new wife Anna HUNTON and had attended school within the year
The name Bela was not listed in any census but William records that he was a
sailor. The date given for his death in the RICH-PEPPERDINE Family History was
1866. Arabela was not listed in the 1850 census and the death date given for him
in the RICH-PEPPERDINE Family History was 1869. The name was typed “Arabela” in
this source but he should not be mistaken as female. “Arabella” was listed in
the 1860 census as a male age 22, enumerated in the home of his half brother
William. His current occupation at that time was farm labourer. The information
in the Rich-PEPPERDINE Family History was taken from the letter written by
William PEPPERDINE and after studying the letter I would like to suggest the
possibility that “Bela” is a nick-name for “Arabela” and that perhaps they are
not twins but the same person. There may be other sources or family stories of
which I am not aware that would clarify this but at present I see good reasons
for the suggestion
Thomas’ third wife Anna was the widow of John HUNTON and it was recorded that
she had 4 children by her first husband. The names of all of these children have
not been researched but two were living with Thomas and Anna and Milla in 1850.
These were Ozro HUNTON age 18 and John HUNTON age 15. After the death of Thomas,
Anna was enumerated in 1860 with children surnamed PEPPERDINE. Ozra H PEPPERDINE
age 28 and John PEPPERDINE age 25. I have not found any other references thus
far to these two HUNTON boys using the PEPPERDINE surname in any other record.
Perhaps it was just a one time mistake of a census taker.
There is much more research that can and should be done in New York to help
present a better picture. Most of the current documentation relates to the
descendents of William PEPPERDINE the only living son of Thomas and his first
wife Mary BUTLER through whom the PEPPERDINEs living in New York today trace
their lineage. At present there is limited information about Mary Rich’s
children and so far no indication that Nelson or Arbela (or Bela) left an heir
to carry on the PEPPERDINE surname
William PEPPERDINE 1802 to 1858
By Rosanna Hamilton in PEPPERDINE Exchange December 1991
William PEPPERDINE was born in England in 1802. He immigrated to the United
States prior to the census enumeration of 1830. He was a resident of Greene and
Scott counties in Illinois and lived over 20 years in the United States until
his death at about 54 in September of 1856. He is the immigrant ancestor of a
large branch of PEPPERDINEs in the United States today. Many of his descendants
have moved from Illinois and are found largely in States of the Midwest, but are
also as far away as California, Pennsylvania and Florida
>On 7 April 1832 three years before his marriage, William bought an 80 acre
tract of land for $150,00 in Greene county, Illinois. Three months later in that
year he mortgaged this property for $100.00 to David HODGES on a one year term
at 12% interest. On 7 January 1834 seven months later, the payment of mortgage
was acknowledged as paid in “full satisfaction”. On 23 March 1835 he sold this
same tract of land which was the west half of the north east quarter of section
36 in township 12 range 13 west, for $300.00 to Slocum H COLVER. That same day
he bought a 40 acre tract of land from Charles and Elizabeth WIGGINS for
$150.00. This piece was located in south half of the east half of the south west
quarter of section 36 in township 12 north range 13 west. Slocum H COLVER who
bought his 80 acre tract, may have been the same man as S H CULVER, MG (Minister
of the Gospel) who married William 3½ weeks later on 16 April 1835
William’s bride was “Ezarilla” HICKS. Exarilla’s name has also been found as
Zorilda, Zuila, Isarilda, Rilda and Rildy. It was more commonly recorded as
Isarilda. Isarilda came from a large family with 13 brothers and sisters, 14
children altogether born to Nancy (nee Thomas) of Richmond, Virginia and David
HICKS born in 1756 in North Carolina. Nancy and David were married in 1787. “The
oldest child, Vines was born 4 February 1788 at Richmond, other children were:
Joseph, George, Barbara who married Joef Jennings in 1830, Elizabeth who married
a Keyes and a Tugger, Zuilda who married William PEPPERDINE, Nancy who married a
PATTERSON, James, Rebecca, Merritt, Polly who married a MILLIGAN, William,
DIBDEN, Jessie who married Nancy HOWARD. Isarilda’s father David HICKS was the
son of Aaron HICKS of Virginia.
After William and Isarilda were married for 6 months they sold their 40 acre
tract to Hiram PARE for “two hundred and one dollars and fifty cents”. Another
40 acre tract was acquired which was located in the south west quarter of the
north east quarter of section 30 township 12 north in range 12 of the third
principal meridian. This piece was mortgaged 12 June 1837 at $129.00 to Glover
Short for a one year term at 12% interest. On 31 October 1837 William and
Isarilda sold the property to HOUGLAND & GOUDKOP for $150.00.
William laboured in agriculture and later worked as a cooper. Two of his sons,
John and Mahlon Turner PEPPERDINE became brick masons and had their own business
known as “PEPPERDINE Brother”. A notice in a Greene County Directory reads:
PEPPERDINE BROTHERS. John and M T, sewer pipe. drain tile and fire brick factory
Sec 26 P.O. Athensville. John PEPPERDINE was born Aug 2 1849 at White Hall
married Oct 11 1871 to Miss Anna ATHEY of Pittsfield Pike Co, this union has
been blessed by four children viz: Lawrence C, Henry D, Earl and Pearl (twins)
M T PEPPERDINE was born at Exeter, Scott Co July 18 1850 married Nov 18 1877 to
Mollie E, daughter of William and Louisa Ballard Greene Co. PEPPERDINE Bros are
engaged in the manufacture of drain tile and fire brick, they have all the
facilities and practical knowledge necessary to ensure the production of a very
superior article, they guarantee their tiles to be made of the best material, a
full stock in all varieties and sizes constantly on hand and for sale at the
lowest possible rates.
> William’s two other sons William S and Thomas P PEPPERDINE both died in 1863
in Tennessee being killed in the American Civil War. William S had been married
and his death left his young wife Priscilla Ann with a two year old son John M
and an infant son of one month Jessie. Thomas had “laboured industriously for
his own and his mothers support” and at his death his mother Isarilda was
“dependent upon the charities of her neighbours to a great extent for her
support”. She applied for and received a small pension thereafter which
continued until her death about December 1888. The pension records state that
Isarilda was a widow and that her husband (William) had “died in the County of
Green and State of Illinois on or about the last days of September 1856”.
Not all of their descendants are known
Sources: (1) General Column of the “Boston Transcript” 1906-1941, (2) History of Greene County, Illinois, Chicago: Donnelley, Gazette & Lloyd, Publishers, 1879 p 609, (3) Land records for Greene Conty, Illinois. (4) Marriage Register, Greene county, Illinois, book 1 p 140, (5) Pension records for Thomas P PEPPERDINE application #42,316 certificate #22,797, (6) US Federal Censuses 1830 – 1860
William PEPPERDINE 1821 to 1881
William’s treatment in the Lawns Hospital in Lincoln, followed by a history
of the hospital
| William was admitted twice the entries in admissions register read: | ||
| Date of last previous admission. | None | 1847apl23 |
| Number in order of admission. | 1217 | 1233 |
| Date of admission. | 1847apl23 | 1847aug7 |
| Christian and surname at length. | William PEPPERDINE | William PEPPERDINE |
| Sex and class. (Private, Pauper, male or female. | Private male | Pauper male |
| Age. | 27 | 27 |
| Condition as to marriage. | Single | Single |
| Condition of life and previous occupation. | Gamekeeper | Gamekeeper |
| Previous place of abode. | Hackthorn Hall | Hackthorn Hall |
| County union or parish to which chargeable. | Lincoln union | |
| By whose authority sent. | Father | Overseer Hackthorn |
| Dates of medical certificates and by whom signed. | Sympson and Hainsworth 1847apl23 | James Garning 1847aug7 |
| Bodily condition. | Good | Debilitated |
| Name of bodily disorder if any | none | none |
| Form of mental disorder. | Mania | |
| Supposed cause of insanity. | A quack doctor's treatment | |
| Duration of existing attack. | One week | Three months |
| Number of previous attacks. | none | one |
| Age on first attack. | 27 | 27 |
| Date of discharge or death. | 1847aug7 | 1847nov12 |
|
Discharged |
Discharged | Recovered. |
Mentions of William PEPPERDINE occur in both surgeon's notes and House Surgeon's Journal (ref LAWN2/1/9), these have been sorted into chronological order as follows:
1847apl23 Provisionally admitted at a weekly payment of ten shillings, William PEPPERDINE, a gamekeeper from Hackthorn Hall single, age 23 a member of the Church of England. The duration of the present attack is said to be about 3 months he has never had any previous attack but has been observed to be eccentric for nearly a year. He is not subject to epilepsy, has not shown any decided propensity to suicide but has been violent and dangerous to others. He has at present a wildness of expression on his countenance, talks incoherently and absurdly on various subjects. His bodily health and appetite appears to be good.
1847apl24. William PEPPERDINE, a gamekeeper from Hackthorn, was admitted yesterday, for this his first attack, which commenced only on Monday last. Unmarried and of the Church of England. He comes assigned. I have not yet seen him but perhaps as I go through the front grounds.
1847apl25 Sunday. He is quiet but talkative, suspecting medicine. Amusing the other patients with his conversation (yesterday).
1847apl26 Monday. He will this morning give little or no account of himself. Tongue white, face pale. (details of recommended medicines given)
1847apl30 Friday. He is better.
1847may1. He is slightly improved.
1847may7. He loses flesh, is pallid and is apt to turn suddenly cold. Let him have wine daily.
1847may8, Saturday. He appears weak and pale and appears to suffer from cold he is less incoherent in his mental state.
1847may13 He looks much better and has been better since he took wine.
1847may15, Saturday. (a note of a general nature).
The west room of the upper south female gallery has a very comfortable
appearance being carpeted. A child of a year old is playing the horn to the
amusement of the patients, some are engaged in needlework and all are orderly
and good tempered conversing pleasantly with each other and with myself during
the time I was with them.
1847may20. He is upon the whole improved but is prone to common if little mischievous acts such as taking off the other patients hats and throwing them over the wall.
1847may27 (a note of a general nature)
Several improvements have been effected lately in the house arrangements for the
comfort and well being of the patients such as. Washing rooms for the patients
accessible to them at all times of the day with looking glasses and brushes etc.
Board floors introduced into all the privies and bath rooms. Hot water
accessible to the attendants at any time. The airing courts planted as gardens.
The wire guards removed from the windows of all the day apartments. Inspection
windows introduced into the most helpless patient's day rooms. A large mat
introduced into the epileptic patients room for the patients to lie upon while
having fits.
1847june1 Tuesday. He taking wine (as are three others).
1847june14 Monday. He is tolerably well. He is pale and thin but takes his food with good appetite. No improvements in the state of his mind. To omit wine.
1847june28 Monday. He is delicate and thin let him have six ounces of meat at dinner and an egg at breakfast.
1847july1. He is improved mentally but is very thin notwithstanding extra diet. Let him have double diet.
1847jul9, Friday. He is very thin and is falling off daily he was better when he took wine.
1847jul31 He is improved in health and also in mind.
1847aug7, Saturday. He was removed by Colonel (name unreadable) of Hackthorn but not improved. Provisionally admitted at a weekly payment of ten shillings William PEPPERDINE of Hackthorn Hall single age 27 was admitted on the 23 apl last since which time he can surely be said to be improved. He was sent to Hackthorn today in order that he may be readmitted as a pauper. (This is an indication that his master was no longer prepared to pay for his continuing treatment).
1847aug8 Sunday. He is to be kept in the house this windy and damp morning. He appears pale and thin with an anxious expression of countenance, he is in the habit of eating rubbish or weeds when alone. To remain indoors for a few days.
1847aug9 Monday. When out the other day he drank some beer which he says was not so good as usual. Tongue is dirty.
1847aug10, Tuesday. He appears pale and thin his hands are tremulous, countenance anxious. He eats his food but appears not to enjoy it having no appetite. Tongue clear.
1847aug11 Wednesday. He has a more furred and moist tongue let him remain in and let medicine continue. He appears weak. pale and thin and complains of pain in the head. His tongue has some white fur on it this morning.
1847aug12, Thurs. He had a more natural appearance this morning.
1847aug13 Improved, better this morning
1847aug14, Saturday. his tongue clear but more red on edges than natural.
16th 17th improving
1847aug18. He is improved and may again have meat. Feels better and says he wishes to get up. He appears pale and emaciated his hands very tremulous he appears to require stimulants.
1847aug23, Monday. He appears for the first time on a list of patients to be taken into the country. "William PEPPERDINE is better and allowed out beyond the walls for the first time".
He appears again on the list 25th, 30th and 31st August and 2nd, 4th, 9th, 10th, 20th, 21st and 30th September. On 5th and 19th of September and 3rd October he has allowed to visit church on Sunday. On Saturday 2nd October he was with a party visiting Lincoln horse races with an attendant.
1847aug25. He is coming on well
1847sep15. He is much improved in mind and seems to be excited by the advent of the shooting season, the period of his former activities as a gamekeeper. Nevertheless he is generally more cold than is natural.
1847oct5, Tuesday. He appears improved, is employing himself in cleaning the galleries.
1847oct6 He is improving fast in the state of his mind and also in his health.
1847oct9, Saturday. He is daily becoming more active and strong, his mind is also much improved.
1847oct10, Sunday. No patients to church as weather very rainy.
Oct11th and 14th again on list of patients for country outings.
1847oct21 He is much improved in general health and may return to ordinary diet of the house.
1847oct23, Saturday. He continues to improve in the state of his mind and is recovering bodily health.
1847oct24, Sunday on list to visit church.
1847nov2, Tuesday. He continues to improve in the state of his mind.
1847nov5. He is greatly improved in the state of mind and appears to be fast approaching towards convalescence.
1847nov4, Thursday. He continues to improve.
1847nov5, Friday. He was visited by his mother who said she could not observe any singularity of manner or difference from his usual self.
1847nov6, Saturday. He remains convalescent.
1847nov7, Sunday. On list for church. He has conversed very rationally with me today he thinks he is capable of following his usual employment of gamekeeper which appears to me to be the case.
1847nov8. Considered fit to be discharged, recommended. Discharged by the board as recovered and information given to the overseers of Hackthorn by letter this afternoon.
“The county liked to feel that some altruistic purpose was mingled with its amusements, the stuff ball and its encouragement to native manufacturers being a case in point. The very first scheme for establishing county assembly rooms in 1737 had one eye on raising funds for a county hospital, and once the hospital was established, in 1768, it became the county's favourite charity. A county lunatic asylum (now the Lawn Hospital) followed, although it was not opened until 1820. In November 1818 the newly, elected county members, rather than hold an extravagant election ball, gave £100 each to the hospital and asylum funds.” Rural Society and County Government in Nineteenth Century Lincolnshire R J OLNEY
“Dr Edward Parker CHARLESWORTH, whose father was a fellow of Trinity, Cambridge, was an able and hard worker, and the influence which these qualities earned for him was used in a most dictatorial way. Sometimes he drove his associates to feel that it was better to be wrong and against him than right and with him. The doctors were constantly quarrelling among themselves, he was in his element.
The work for which he became famous was done in the reform of the treatment of insanity. He became a governor of the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum (now the Lawns), and was constantly doing battle with the anti-reformers, being sometimes in power and sometimes out. In 1828 he published his Remarks on the Treatment of the Insane, and having the support of Gardiner HILL, the resident physician, was able to write in 1835 that, having a willing board and willing agents, he was simplifying the lock and key system and knocking off restraints. After his death in 1853 a statue of him was unveiled by Dr CONOLLY, who paid tribute to his long fight for humane treatment of the insane.
An annual publication, 'Lincoln and Lincolnshire Cabinet and annual Intelligence' first appeared in 1827. The second edition contained a detailed account of The Lawn. Georgian Lincoln Sir Francis HILL
'The Lawn' Mental Hospital was founded in 1819 by voluntary subscriptions, and can receive 96 private patients and voluntary boarders of the educated class, giving charitable assistance to those unable to contribute the full cost of treatment. Situated on the southern slope of the hill near the cathedral and the castle, the present hospital is a spacious building with a south frontage 260 feet long. In 1854 a statue was erected to Edward Parker CHARLESWORTH M D who died in 1853 after 33 years served as physician of the hospital. Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1930
“Union Road. Built as the lunatic asylum in 1819-20 by Richard INGLEMAN of Southwell. The main front faces south and is cement faced. High centre block, five bays, three storys, with a giant Ionic portico (not part of INGLEMAN's design). On the portico wall a mounting range of Vitruvian openings. Low wings to right and left with two-bay wings brought slightly forward. At the junction of Union Road and Carline Road is Thomas Milnes' statue of the benefactor, Dr CHARLESWORTH, now boskily enshrined with roses, etc".The Buildings of England -Lincolnshire PEVSNER
“The Lawn was established in 1820 under the reforming spirits of Drs WILLIS and CHARLESWORTH, who believed in not restraining patients. This had extensive grounds and liberating views southwards. On its closure in 1985, it was purchased by the City Council and is now a successful visitor and conference centre, including a display about the history of the hospital and its place in the treatment of psychiatric patients.. The frontage of the lawn is neo-classical.”
Pg 92 The grounds cover 8 acres Lincoln, History and Guide Michael J JONES
The following is a summary of an article entitled “The ‘Great Experiment’: The Place Of Lincoln in the History of Psychiatry” written by Leonard D SMITH and published in “Lincolnshire History and Archaeology Volume 30 1995”. He ends his article with a long list of source documents which I have not tried to reproduce here.
1837) the decision was made at Lincoln Lunatic Asylum (later known as “The Lawn Hospital”) to abolish mechanical restraint as a means of controlling the mentally ill. A debate in the medical journal “The Lancet” in 1840 1841 spread to “The Times” and the Lincolnshire press. The doctors involved in this decision were Robert Gardiner HILL (1811-1878) and
Edward Parker CHARLESWORTH (1783-1853).
Before the eighteenth century there were few institutions designed specifically to care for the mentally disturbed who were consequently looked after in the community by their relatives.
1790s) London, Manchester, York, Liverpool and Newcastle began to build asylums. These were financed by public subscription as were the local hospitals to which they were usually closely linked. The provision of a local asylum became a matter of civic pride.
He ends his article with a long list of source documents which I have not tried to reproduce here.
The intermittent mental illness of King George III (1760-1820) raised public awareness of the problem and possibly more sympathy for other sufferers in the community. In fact the King had become quite violent until treated between Nov 1788 and Feb 1789 by Francis Willis, an earlier Lincolnshire physician. He went on to treat the disturbed Queen of Portugal and was very much against physical restraint and in favour of freedom for patients.
1808) Parliament passed a County Asylum Act which promoted the provision of asylums but did not make them compulsory.
1812) Nottingham asylum opened with the York asylum having opened twenty years earlier Lincoln was under pressure to set up the necessary fund raising procedures.
1807) £4,000 had been accumulated and £7,500 by 1809.
1817) Lincoln had accumulated sufficient funds without the assistance of the county of Lincolnshire.
April 1820) Building was finally opened.
The Board of Governors purchased their place by an annual subscription. Weekly Board meetings attended to routine operations and Quarterly Board meetings met to decide long term policy.
Three physicians (each attending for a month in rotation and all employed by the county hospital) were paid fees by the patients or their relatives (or parish overseers in the case of paupers.
1822) Fees were waived for paupers.
The day to day management was in the hands of a Director who acted as apothecary, secretary and deputy treasurer but in matters of treatment was subordinate to the doctor.
The Board put emphasis on cleanliness and order but in reality the treatment of patients was very dependent on apparatus designed to restrain patients and limit their freedom.
1808) Dr CHARLESWORTH began working at the Lincoln County Hospital.. He was born in 1783, son of the rector of Ossington Nottinghamshire. He gained his qualification at Edinburgh in 1807.. Doctors appointed to asylums rarely had any experience of relevant treatments and he set out to educate himself . He played a leading role in City life and became president of the subscription library in 1814 when it opened. He involved himself in local disputes and eventually paid his subscription to join the Board of the Asylum whose proceedings he began to dominate.
1821) He argued for better exercise facilities in fresh air and that different kinds of patient should be segregated so that the strong need not be manacled to protect the weak. In this he was opposed by Dr Robert HETT, another visiting doctor and member of the Board. No progress was made for 4 years. The inadequacy of the building was raised again in 1827 and opposed by the other visiting doctor Alfred COOKSON but CHARLESWORTH’s ideas were accepted. He classified patients by class (upper, middle and lower) and by degree of insanity (insensible, ordinary and convalescent). The better the condition and class of the patient the more they were accommodated in the front rooms of the building and allowed exercise outdoors. The more disturbed of all classed were confined to rear rooms and exercised in enclosed court yards. The scheme permitted an increase in beds from 58 to 78 but was initially employed in male wards only the females having to wait a few more years for funds to finance similar arrangements.
1828) CHARLESWORTH published a small book on the methods he had used which contained hints that he was dissatisfied with the amount of restraint which was still employed and warned of the tendency to regard the asylums as places in which the troublesome were accommodated in order to remove them from society rather than attempt a cure. His book gave details of his current methods including diet, exercise, hygiene, warmth, ventilation. treatment methods both medical and moral Always to be kind and smile at patients and treat them as if they were rational. Restraint should be limited to leather belt or chain around the waist with iron wrist manacles attached to it by chains. Strait waistcoats were only to be used for very unmanageable patients. Muffs used on the hands to prevent tearing of clothes.
Oct 1828) CHARLESWORTH wrote an open letter to the Board warning of the danger that patient’s privacy could be used to hide possible mistreatment and that members of the Board must guard against becoming unmoved by the sight of ill treatment. A system of weekly inspections by Board members was introduced and more open access granted to outsiders. All instruments of restraint were to be held in one place when not in use, so that it could be seen at a glance how many were being used at any time.
The strait waistcoat was only to be used when requested in writing by one of the doctors and a patient must be attended, if it was used at night. A journal entry was required whenever restraint was used.
Oct 1829) The Director was then Thomas FISHER and he was criticised by CHARLESWORTH at a Board meeting. The charges were not upheld by the Board but the dispute spread to the local press. At one point FISHER resigned and successfully reapplied for the advertised vacancy.
Oct 1830) At a meeting of the Board attended by 180 members he was dismissed. FISHER paid his subscription and joined the Board.
The new Director Henry MARSTON assisted CHARLESWORTH in his aims until he resigned April 1834. The post of Director had been retitled House Surgeon and his duties were limited to house management. All responsibility for patient treatment being handed to the doctors.
Samuel HARDEN was the next House Surgeon and he also co-operated with the reforms. For periods of several days no restraints were in use.
July 1835) CHARLESWORTH (now chairman of the governors) appointed Robert Gardiner HILL as House Surgeon. HILL was born in Louth and gained medical qualifications in London.
End of 1835) The periods without use of restraint had increased to weeks.
March 1836) A period of 3 months without restraint had been achieved although there were 74 patients.
April 1837) No restraint had been used on the male wards for a period of 16 months apart from a short period when HILL was absent. HILL now publicly advocated the total abolition of restraint in a lecture in Lincoln June 1838 published the following year and followed by a book.
April 1839) There had been no restraint for 23 months according to the annual report but in reality the staff were becoming vulnerable to injury by patients and accusations of ill treatment by patients who had to be restrained by hand. Staff turnover began to accelerate.
One of the visiting doctors was now William COOKSON (nephew of Alfred COOKSON). He noticed the difficulties of the staff and began to undermine HILL’s authority. In “The Lancet” and local papers he attacked HILL’s methods.
Samuel HADWEN now joined the Board and advised that HILL was advancing too quickly and the number of staff dismissed for mistreatment suggested that the patients were suffering.
March 1840) HILL faced so much opposition that he resigned giving six weeks notice. Conditions had deteriorated so much that he himself ordered the restraint of a particularly unmanageable female patient.
April 1840) William SMITH replaced HILL. HILL had to build up his own private practice but this did not prevent him from joining the Board. HILL and CHARLESWORTH now opposed COOKSON and HADWEN on the Board. All were in favour of more humane treatment of mental patients but differed as to the rate of progress which should be adopted.
Staffing difficulties and acute disorder became normal. CHARLESWORTH had a habit of instructing staff directly without consulting SMITH. HILL drew up a powerful argument for his case which the Board now accepted but COOKSON and HARDEN continued opposition publicly in “The Lancet”.
Early 1842) SMITH had introduced a reform of his own by abolishing solitary confinement
Feb 1844) COOKSON resigned as a visiting doctor and died a few weeks later.
CHARLESWORTH and HILL now had control but due to the small size of this asylum they abandoned classification of patients by 1845. All patients were allowed more freedom inside and out except epileptics and others requiring constant observation.
In later years HILL upset CHARLESWORTH by publicly claiming that abolition of restrains was his idea. Although he built on the ideas of CHARLESWORTH and HILL the real reformer was John CONOLLY of Hanwell asylum in Middlesex who saw to it that the reforms were introduced in asylums all over the country
William Pepperdine SALTER 1842 -
Copy of a letter from William SALTER in Scopwick previously reproduced in
PEPPERDINE News Dec 2000
Scopwick
Lincoln
England
May 7, 1906
Dear Madam,
I may as well introduce myself to you at the commencement of my letter and tell
you that my name is William Pepperdine SALTER and a son of Sarah PEPPERDINE who
was aunt to your grandfather and consequently I am cousin to him. I am 64 years
of age and occupy the same bit of land (which belongs to the Rt Hon Henry
CHAPLIN) that my grandfather and you grandfather’s grandfather did.
The reason you are having this from me is that our vicar (the Rev C HALL) had handed your letter to me as being a representative of the PEPPERDINE family. He requested me to tell you that he searched the Scopwick register for the marriage of Thomas PEPPERDINE and Mary BUTCHER*** but cannot find any trace of it. My impression is (from what I think I have heard my mother say’ they were married at Rowston, a village about a mile and a half away and I will enquire for you if you wish it, as I know the clergyman very well. There have been BUTCHERs living in that village until recently. Indeed there is a widow of that name residing there now, but I do not think they were of the same family. I believe the BUTCHER family you referred to died out or left this neighbourhood long ago and I can give you no information about them
As regards the PEPPERDINE family, the father and mother of Thomas PEPPERDINE were John PEPPERDINE and Abigail POTTERTON who both lie buried in Scopwick churchyard. Their children were Thomas PEPPERDINE and William PEPPERDINE (Both Thomas and William went to America).
John PEPPERDINE, I believe the eldest, lies buried in Scopwick churchyard and has one daughter living at Scopwick whose name is Elizabeth BLACK. She has one daughter in the United States and sons and daughters in England.
Richard PEPPERDINE who died at Bicker near Boston in 1847 and was brought to Scopwick for interment, he has one daughter living at Lincoln about 80 years old
Mary PEPPERDINE (married name Lee) who died at Collingwood and was interred at Nottingham, she has two daughters living one in the United States and one in London
Sarah PEPPERDINE (married name Salter) youngest and my mother, she died in 1864 aged 51 and lies in Scopwick churchyard side by side in the same row with her father and mother, her brother Richard, her husband Thomas SALTER (my father) who died in 1889 aged 79 years and her daughter Jane SALTER who died in 1901 aged 56. Another of her daughters (the eldest of the family) is buried at Nocton 4 miles away. She died in 1904 aged 64. There are three of us left, myself, my sister Ann Elizabeth (married BLUNSON) living at Scopwick and my brother John Pepperdine SALTER who is station master at Potterhanworth 5 miles away. My sister Jane and I lived together till she died. Since then I have lived by myself and a niece comes and does for me.
I think I have told you all I know and I am sure that you will be tired of reading, But there is one thing I must tell you which will no doubt interest your grandfather. My father was a wonderful man to keep documents and at present time I have lying on the table before me a bundle of letters your grandfather’s father and his uncle William wrote when they first went to America. In one letter dated Feb 6 1848 he says, “Wm PEPPERDINE, my son, married and has one child and I have got him a farm and he lives on it”
In another dated May 1st 1836 he says. “I must now inform you that our family still increased, we have 3 girls and 2 boys the last born the 18th April which we think of calling Milly”.
In another dated May 23rd 1841 he says “I now will try to give you a statement of my situation which is very dark at present. I have the heavy news to tell you of the death of my wife which took place April 25th of consumption. She has been unwell as much as 18 months, I am now left with 6 children and most of them sick”. Instead of calling his daughter simply Milly as he wrote in 1836 he called her Millie Maria, for Millie Maria wrote in her father’s letter of May 30 1856 “My father now living with his third wife, I am one of his four children that is now living, my mother has been dead fifteen years, my eldest sister Sally died 2 years ago and my brother Nelson?? older than I am. I have two brothers and one sister living. One brother Arabela is a sailor on Lake Erie the other William is married and lives six miles from us, has got three children and is doing well”
This seems to be the last letter received or at least is the last I have. But I must now stop you will be tired of reading but thought your grandfather might be pleased to hear a few words that his father had passed to England many, many years ago. I may say that I am pleased to have had this opportunity of writing to my relatives overseas and hope that this will find you well, that your grandfather still an old man may be spared to you many years to come. The United States has grown a lot in influence and power in his lifetime and I hope that the good understanding that exists between your country and mine the two English speaking nations and the two most powerful may always continue/ I do not think the people of the United States would allow their government to stand idly by and see England crushed neither would the people of this country (if it was possible) to subdue the United States for after all blood is thicker than water
I remain
Yours sincerely
W P SALTER
*** In fact Thomas PEPPERDINE married Mary BUTLER in Ruskington in March 1824