A SAD AND LONELYLIFE

Born in 1833, Helen Symington emigrated to Victoria in 1856. Very soon thereafter she was admitted to the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum. The Psychiatrist Superintendent was none other than Dr. Robert Bowie, son-in-law of William Symington. Her life ended in the Beechworth Asylum for the insane.

Helen was the youngest child of James Symington and Catherine Menzies. Old Parochial records state that she was born Sanquhar on 16 November 1833. [1] I believe that she died on 9 November 1876 in the Hospital for the Insane at Beechworth, Victoria. [2] 

The 1841 Census has her living with her parents at 1 Blawearie, Sanquhar and aged 12. The date of the 1841 Census was 6 June 1841, indicating she was born in 1828 or 1829. The 1851 Census for Scotland contains no record of a Helen Symington but it does record an "Elen Symington", born in Sanquhar and her age stated as 21, the domestic servant of James Buntin, a draper, and his wife Mary, living at house number 8, Gurthie's Land, in the parish of Kilmarnock. [3]  Given that the census was taken on 30 March 1851, she would have been born in 1829 or 1830. The age does not match that of the daughter of James and Catherine recorded in Old Parochial birth records in 1833 yet no birth is revealed in Sanquhar of any other person named Helen or Elen Symington for the relevant period.

By 1856 she had emigrated to Australia and her sister Agnes was urgently seeking for her. 

On Wednesday 4 June 1856 at 11 a.m. the Earl Grey arrived at Geelong from Southampton with 267 immigrants. [4] The passenger list includes Ellen Symington aged 22 years, housemaid, allegedly a native of Middlesex. She was engaged by C. Wyatt, a nurseryman and grazier on the Barwon River. Also aboard the Earl Grey were William Russell, carpenter, engaged at Chilwell and his wife Ann (Helen Symington's eldest sister) and their children Catherine, Jane, William and Agnes.

It seems that within weeks of arriving in the colony Helen had gone missing and was eagerly sought by her youngest sister Agnes who had also emigrated. Agnes placed a series of notices in the local newspapers:

The Argus Friday 25 July 1856 page 1 HELEN SYMINGTON, -your sister Agnes is at Mrs. Dickinson's, Alma Cottage, back Abbotsford-street, North Melbourne.

Soon thereafter, the admission of a Helen Symington to the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum is recorded on 15 September 1856: [5] Number 230 in the General Register of Female Patients received into the Lunatic Asylum, Yarra Bend, was Helen Symington, pauper, age not stated. She was admitted from Collingwood, per “warrant of H. E.” [6] The form of insanity is not recorded. No names and addresses of any relatives are recorded in the patient list. She was discharged on 17 December 1867, then  transferred to the newly opened Beechworth Hospital for the Insane on 20 December 1877. [7] Her diagnosis on admission to Beechworth was recorded as simply “dementia.” 

A letter from Dr. Robert Bowie, Surgeon Superintendent of the Asylum, to the Chief Medical Officer of the Colony is more informative: [8]

September 13th 1856

My Dear Sir, 

            A young lady Helen Symington has been brought here by the family of my Brother in Law Mr. Symington. She is dangerously insane and at times very violent-she has no means of supporting herself and has been principally supported lately by Mr. Symington, who merely took an interest in her from having the same name, & coming from England in the same ship.

If you would have no objection to allow her to be admitted immediately, I will undertake to see all the proper steps taken, and contrive to accommodate her without dissappointing (sic) the patients next based to whom I gave the recommendation this afternoon.

I remain, R. Bowie (l.s.)

P. S. She has been taken back to Melbourne until your sanction to her immediate admission be processed. R. B.

William Symington (1802-1867), brother-in-law of Dr. Bowie, had arrived with his family in the ship John Bright in December 1855. Only the cabin passengers are listed in the shipping report. Although Bowie claimed Helen Symington arrived on the same ship, a small tea clipper, no list of any passengers in steerage is available. 

However, a Nellie (i.e. Helen) Symington did arrive in the Colony in the Earl Grey in June 1856; a fellow passenger was Ann Russell (formerly Symington), eldest daughter of James Symington of Sanquhar and grand-daughter of the steamboat inventor.

Helen Symington's youngest sister Agnes married James Darton in July 1857 at Beechworth where their brother James (1828-1908) was already established. Her brother William (1824-1890) arrived in Australia in 1862 and was gold mining at the Nine Mile (Stanley) in the sixties.

It seems almost inconceivable that her presence in the Beechworth Asylum was unknown to her brothers and sisters who lived in the region. However, many patients had been transferred from Yarra Bend to the Beechworth Asylum which had opened in October 1867. No next of kin was recorded in her file. The transfer would have been for purely administrative purposes.

Forgotten or ignored by her family, Helen Symington died in the Asylum for the Insane on 9th November 1876 from uterine haemorrhage. On 31st October she had become confined to bed, debilitated by anaemia. Dr. Henry Trigellis Fox performed the post mortem examination and found a large uterine fibroid and also a fatty liver. An inquest into her death was held by the Deputy Coroner at Yackandandah. The "Inquisition" was held on 12th November. The inquest proceedings revealed that she was “about forty-five years of age” and a native of Scotland. [9]

Ovens and Murray Advertiser Tuesday 14 November 1876 page 2

INQUEST AT THE LUNATIC ASYLUM. —An inquest was held on Sunday morning at the Hospital for the Insane, Beechworth, to enquire into the death of one Ellen Symington, who had died on the previous Thursday. The cause of the unusual delay in holding the inquest was the absence of both Mr Pitcairn, the coroner, and Dr Dobbyn, the deputy-coroner; and the enquiry was held before Dr Muller, deputy-coroner of Yackandandah, and a jury. The following evidence was adduced: — Dr Fox deposed that he had made a post-mortem examination of the body viewed by the jury; the body was pale, and presented no external marks of violence; found the substance of the brain softer than natural; there was fatty degeneration of the liver, a large fibroid tumor in the womb, and also a small clot of blood; there was also a smaller tumor under the peritoneum; his opinion was that deceased died from repeated hemorrhage, caused by the tumor in the womb. Dr Deshon, resident medical officer, deposed that the patient was transferred from the Yarra Bend to this asylum on the 20th December, 1867; have been attending deceased since Friday, the 3rd November; she was generally in bed during that time, in an extremely weak condition; she was suffering from a tumor in the uterus, which had been discovered on examination by witness and Dr Dick; last saw her the night before she died; was called to see her in the morning, but she was just dead before he arrived — about half-past six ; she was about 45 years of age, and a native of Scotland; she was suffering from dementia. Kate Magree, an attendant of the hospital, deposed that deceased had been under her care since the 19th January, 1876, during which time she was some time in the hospital, suffering from hemorrhage; the last attack she had was a very bad one; was present when she died; she had all kinds of medical comforts— porter, wine, &c.— and was seen by the doctors twice a day; she died on the 9th November. The jury found that deceased died from uterine hemorrhage on the morning of the 9th instant.

Her death certificate gives her occupation as “servant”  but offers no information about her family. She was buried in an unmarked grave in the pauper’s section of the Beechworth cemetery on 12 November 1876.

The  Helen Symington who died in the Beechworth Asylum, was born in Scotland and the age was right for her to be the daughter of James Symington of Sanquhar. It would be incredible, yet quite possible, that her brother James and sisters Ann and Agnes, all living in Beechworth, would have been unaware that she was in the Asylum. Perhaps she had been disowned but her immediate family. Dr. Bowie would have known nothing of the branch of Symington family descended from James Symington and there is no record of Dr. Bowie writing to any relatives when Helen Symington was admitted to the Yarra Bend Asylum.

[1] SRO OPR Sanquhar 848 

[2] BDM Victoria Death Registration Number 11066/1876

[3] 1841 Scotland Census Parish of Kilmarnock Piece 597 Enumeration District 17 Folio 0 page 18 Schedule 76

[4] Geelong Advertiser Thursday 5 June 1856 page 2

[5] PROV VPRS 7446 P1 Alphabetical list of Patients in Asylums (VA2863) Unit 1 (Yarra Bend) 26 October 1848-11 November 1912

[6] PROV VPRS 7416 /P1/Unit1 General Register of Female Patients received into and discharged from the Lunatic Asylum, Yarra Bend”

[7] PROV VPRS 7446 Alphabetical List of Patients at Beechworth Asylum Unit 4 (1867-1884)

[8] PROV VPRS 7549/P1/2 Letter Book 1856-1858 Robert Bowie, letter number 56/354

[9] PROV VPRS 24/P0/352 file 1876/321