My great-grandfather George McIntyre died at the Sunderland Borough Asylum in Ryhope in 1912; his death certificate recorded "general paralysis over one year" and family legend would have it that he fell down a lift shaft whilst working for the Sunderland Gas Company at Ayre's Quay. I thought the asylum was only for mentally ill patients. Did they take other patients such as those paralysed, or should I be led to believe that his injuries affected him mentally and this was the reason he was there? Also, does anyone know where "The Lonnen" was in Hendon. My grandmother recalls that she and her sister used to walk from Grangetown through "the Lonnen" to Hendon (the Sans Street and Villiers Street area) and recalls it was a rough dirt track but can't remember exactly where it was? Any ideas anyone? Thanks Rob

Sans St or Villiers St - both of which were side streets off High St East - were situated in the East End not Hendon. As Stan has already pointed out General Paralysis of the Insane or Dementia Paralytica was one of the results of syphilis in its tertiary stage affecting the higher centres of the brain & the pyramidal motor tracts.Signs & symptoms include : progressive dementia - sometimes with delusions of grandeur progressive paralysis of both legs fits are common very marked fine tremor of lips & tongue Argyll Robertson pupils (present in all neuro-syphilitic diseases) with unequal, very small & irregularly outlined pupils which fail to contract to light. Patients with GPI often also have another form of neuro-syphilis: Tabes Dorsalis characterised by deformed but painless swollen joints and a distinctive ataxic gait where the patient walks with feet wide apart with marked stamping of the feet. If your ancestor had ataxia it might have well have resulted in a fall which led to his diagnosis as these patients do tend to fall about especially when the eyes are closed or they are in a dark environment. There were still patients with this dreadful disease in the 60s when I nursed at Cherry Knowle - the Mental Hospital in Ryhope - and at least one lady in her late fifties was newly diagnosed at this time. Hope this "fleshes out" the diagnosis for you, Rob. Regards Marie ----- Original Message ----- From: "ROB SHEPHERD" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 9:34 PM Subject: [ENG-DUR-SUNDERLAND] Sunderland Borough Asylum (Ryhope) & The Lonnen > My great-grandfather George McIntyre died at the Sunderland Borough Asylum > in Ryhope in 1912; his death certificate recorded "general paralysis over > one year" and family legend would have it that he fell down a lift shaft > whilst working for the Sunderland Gas Company at Ayre's Quay. I thought the > asylum was only for mentally ill patients. Did they take other patients such > as those paralysed, or should I be led to believe that his injuries affected > him mentally and this was the reason he was there? > > Also, does anyone know where "The Lonnen" was in Hendon. My grandmother > recalls that she and her sister used to walk from Grangetown through "the > Lonnen" to Hendon (the Sans Street and Villiers Street area) and recalls it > was a rough dirt track but can't remember exactly where it was? Any ideas > anyone? > > Thanks > > Rob > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >