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#11
12-01-14, 20:43
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OC.....I was thinking that. She never married (unless she did and divorced between census, but not likely).
It just goes to show how little the census really tells us of the lives of people. Mind you, anyone looking at any census I have filled in would think we are a nice normal family as well.......lol
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#12
12-01-14, 21:05
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I've googled and it seems they do know more than they said on AR - they certainly have the census info and they have her death cert. They say she died in 1917, still in the workhouse, but I think the year is a typo - her death is indexed in 1912.
Someone made the remark that her sampler was the equivalent of a rant on FB today! OC
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#13
12-01-14, 21:09
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My sister and I went to the wonderful patchwork exhibition at the V & A in 2010. It had a wonderful patchwork from a Men's Prison in the UK and it had quite a lot of interesting remarks stitched into some of the squares.. Julie
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#14
14-01-14, 07:19
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Didn't see the AR episode, but have had a look at Lorina Bulwer sampler (a letter to a Maharaja?) - I'm flabbergasted. It's astonishing - all capital letters, no punctuation. She rambles - seems delusional at times. Quite a bit of family history, though, but how much is correct? At one point, she claims she is actually royal birth.
I reckon Lorina had some form of schizophrenia and experienced delusional episodes. Here's a transcription of the Norfolk sampler: http://frayedtextilesontheedge.files...04-824-1_2.pdf
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#15
14-01-14, 07:56
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My thoughts, after looking for her in the censuses and other records, were that she was put in the institution after her mother died. Maybe she was 'a bit simple' (in words of that era) and wasn't able to look after herself or maybe she was physically disabled.
The National Probate Calendar shows she died 5 March 1912 and was of The Infirmary, Caister Road, Gt Yarmouth. Administration was granted to Edgar Turner Bulwer, a retired woollen draper (her brother?) and her effects were £359.2s.6d.
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"What you see depends on what you're looking for." Sue at Langley Vale
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#16
14-01-14, 09:25
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Apparently all the people she mentions on the sampler do exist, except for a mysterious "doctor" who has apparently done some rude things to her sister!
I don't think she was "simple" I think she had a serious mental illness, perhaps made worse by the menopause? Whatever it was, she must have been an embarrassment to her family if she went around in public saying some of the things she wrote on the sampler! OC
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#17
14-01-14, 11:16
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I also have been following this thread with interest, and what I find very odd, is she left nearly 35,000 pounds in today money...maybe from her parents...but....just seems odd to me (so much)....also was she really simple??? I think her brother just wanted her out the way...
 ..her parents seems to manage OK with her for many years....just seems odd to me...or am I missing something. anyone read The forgotton seamstress, by Liz Trenow, it could be the same woman (its not) but the story is very similar, in this story all she done...was get pregnant!! baby took away from her and spent nearly all of her life in a institution..she also made a beautiful quilt , which 100 years later it is discovered in it a mysterious message embroidered into its lining, maybe Lorina, wasn't 'mad' and it was the only way she could express herself...also they wouldn't be allow to have needles unless they were reasonable sane...to many questions ...Lilly
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#18
14-01-14, 11:39
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I think once her mother died - or maybe before that - if she was ranting in the street she would very quickly have been put away where she couldn't embarrass "decent" people, lol. But there is a whole untold story here, as Libby says.
OC
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#20
14-01-14, 14:15
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I suppose yet another possibility is Alzheimer's. She produced two of these stupendous samplers in a space of three years, then nothing, which might mark the final decline in her mental powers. I am reminded of how nasty and spiteful my grandmother became when advanced into Alzheimer's - she lost all inhibition but she had a tremendous amount of energy and could rant on for hours on end.
Incidentally, I think that if Lorina had some money she would have paid to be in the asylum. It would only be free for those with no means. OC
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