Further to your query about attitudes towards single mothers etc. One possible way of hiding away an expectant single mother appears to have been to have them committed to a mental hospital. There were five such Hospitals in the Ewell area of Surrey, all built around 1900. It would seem that those unwanted by society somehow ended up in these establishments. People such as single mothers, epileptics, and victims of TB all seem to have been put away, some never to be let out! A.A Cox Ewell, Surrey.

Andrew, Thanks for this information. I had completely forgotten that the mental hospitals were used to hide "embarrasments." Regards Richard  Brown Bromley Kent ----- Original Message ---- From: Andrew Cox <cxndrw@yahoo.com> To: Surrey list <ENG-SURREY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, 28 September, 2009 11:36:07 Subject: Re: [SRY] A Question about Society in the early 1900's Further to your query about attitudes towards single mothers etc. One possible way of hiding away an expectant single mother appears to have been to have them committed to a mental hospital. There were five such Hospitals in the Ewell area of Surrey, all built around 1900. It would seem that those unwanted by society somehow ended up in these establishments. People such as single mothers, epileptics, and victims of TB all seem to have been put away, some never to be let out! A.A Cox Ewell, Surrey.       *************************************** Send your List messages using **PLAIN TEXT** and always **TRIM AWAY** superfluous old messages in replies. List Admin can be contacted at:  Eng-Surrey-admin@rootsweb.com.   ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-SURREY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message