In this special Podcasthon episode, host Andrew Martin welcomes back genealogist and Series One guest – Jane Hough. He hears about how her research has progressed, her activities with Few Forgotten Women, and Jane tells him about her genealogical academic studies and love for Wills.

NOTE: This episode focuses on mental health history, and features outdated terminology describing diagnosis and treatments that we as genealogists encounter during our research. It also references suicide.

This episode does not include medical advice. Please consult your local qualified healthcare provider.

Listen to the episode

Also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, and others…

The Life Story – Lilian Maude Evans

Jane has chosen to tell the life story of her Great Grandmother Lilian Maude Bowdler (née Evans) – the only one of her Great Grandparents whom Jane has no photograph.

Whilst Jane was searching for entries against the surname Bowdler on the British Newspaper Archive, she found a news report documenting the arrest of Maude (as she is better known) in 1922 who was wandering the street in distress late at night – her arrest was likely made under The Vagrancy Act (1824).

Presented with the choice of the workhouse or prison, Maude chose the workhouse, but what was intended as a short stay became years, and she was eventually assessed as a ‘pauper lunatic’ and sent to an asylum.

To help us discover what Maude may have experienced, we’re joined by genealogist, tutor, and co-author of ‘Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots – A History of Insanity in Nineteenth Century Britain and Ireland‘ (2017) and ‘Murder, Mayhem and Madness – Criminal Insanity in Victorian and Edwardian Britain‘ (2019) – Kathryn Burtinshaw.

Maude’s life in the asylum seems to be one without much treatment – and the case notes that Jane has obtained and shared with Kathryn, do not include references to medicines or experimental treatments. However, her life in the asylum also appears to have been one without contact from her family – with descendants thinking she’d died in the 1920s, but in reality she lived into the 1950s.

Whilst Jane’s research has uncovered some difficult truths, it has at least added 30 years on to Maude’s life.

The Brick Wall – Richard and Mary Hutchinson

It’s a research brick wall in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England that has Jane asking for help.

Jane knows that her 3x Gt Grandparents Richard and Mary Hutchinson (both born in the 1790s) are living in Huddersfield for the 1841, 1851, and 1861 censuses, but their earlier origins, and demise, both remain a mystery.

From the marriage of their daughter Harriet in a Roman Catholic church in 1846, Richard is noted as a silversmith, and at times on the censuses, he’s that or a clockmaker. Jane also notes that Harriet’s marriage was the only Catholic marriage on this line.

• Where were Richard and Mary pre-1841?
• What became of Richard and Mary after the 1861 census?

If you think you can offer Jane a research clue or idea, then you can send her a message via her website www.allthosebefore.org.uk or via her Bluesky account. Alternatively, you can send us a message and we’ll pass it along to her.

In the meantime, Jane knows exactly what kind of help Andrew will offer, but will she go for it a second time?

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Episode Credits

• Andrew Martin – Host and Producer
• Jane Hough – Guest
• Kathryn Burtinshaw – Guest

Resources

A list of resources and websites mentioned in this episode:

• A Few Forgotten Women
  Researching women’s history
• The Genealogist
  Jane’s source of Dorset records.
• Gloucestershire Family History Society
• Great Grandparents 6: Lilian Maude Evans
  Jane’s blog article on ‘Maude’.
• Kathryn’s books
  Kathryn’s books at publisher Pen and Sword.
• Pinpoint Ancestry
  Kathryn’s research company.
• Podcasthon
  2025’s charity awareness-raising podcast initiative
• ‘The Laundress’ with Jane Hough
  Jane’s first episode in Series One.