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Grangegorman records

herself_there

Has anyone had any luck recently with accessing or getting any information from patient records from Grangegorman? I have tried via the grangegorman.ie email on two occasions but no word back. From older posts I see that it was the priest in St Brendan's who held the records but they were then passed on to the volunteers who run the Grangegorman museum. I also read somewhere that they had since been passed on to the national archives and are in the process of being organised and archived properly.

Can anyone shed any light on this and if you know the best person to contact? I have a relative who was admitted in the 40's and would love to know more.

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-Leelo-

Cailleachdubh wrote: »

Is there anyone else worth contacting apart from Carmel Kitching? I still haven't received an answer from them 5 months later, after sending all the records I have. Very disappointed as we are having a family reunion soon and these records would be a great source of conversation for the day.

I received an email from a different lady after initially emailing Carmel Kitching, she told me to send all the documents to her once I had compiled them, you could try email her to follow up? I can pm you her name and email address if you like?

Cailleachdubh

That'd be fantastic Leelo, thank you!

Cailleachdubh

Incidentally, has anyone discovered that their ancestors who died in Grangegorman were buried in its cemetery? Any way of accessing those burial records? I know, I know - one thing at a time!

perisna

Hello herself_there, I note you've mentioned contacting former staff members of the hospital. I am currently researching Grangegorman/St. Brendan's and was wondering if you could point me in the right direction in terms of finding this info or, if you would be aware of any you have contacted who might be comfortable with speaking to me; I'm interested in knowing the staff's general experiences working in the hospital

tabbey

Cailleachdubh wrote: »

Incidentally, has anyone discovered that their ancestors who died in Grangegorman were buried in its cemetery? Any way of accessing those burial records? I know, I know - one thing at a time!

Grangegorman cemetery is a military cemetery, it has nothing to do with the hospital.

The only connection is that they are both in the same large townland.

riverina

The woman I am researching who died at Grangegorman was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery - perhaps check there, they have great records accessible online.

herself_there

Hi,

I'm afraid I didn't get anywhere with my research into grangegorman as I just dont have the time at the moment to gather all the records I need and follow up on emails. I'll hopefully have more time for this early next year.
As well as having a relative who was a patient in grangegorman, my great grandmother also trained there. I believe she was one of the first batch of nurses trained in psychiatric nursing in the country (around 1915 I think). So if you ever do get any further with staff records, I'd love to hear about it!

perisna wrote: »

Hello herself_there, I note you've mentioned contacting former staff members of the hospital. I am currently researching Grangegorman/St. Brendan's and was wondering if you could point me in the right direction in terms of finding this info or, if you would be aware of any you have contacted who might be comfortable with speaking to me; I'm interested in knowing the staff's general experiences working in the hospital

Whereisgerry?

Hi there,

I've contacted the hse about access to my great grandfather's file from Grangegorman. They have responded to me telling me that I need Next Of Kin consent. My great aunt and great uncle are still alive but I don't want to ask for their permission as they don't know I have these details and I don't want to annoy them. They obviously went through a lot when they were very young and I don't want to drag it all up.

Has anyone else been asked to provide next of kin details?

pinkypinky

No, next of kin is pretty well defined. If you don't want to ask them, then you need to wait for them to be dead, and then go to whoever is next.

Whereisgerry?

pinkypinky wrote: »

No, next of kin is pretty well defined. If you don't want to ask them, then you need to wait for them to be dead, and then go to whoever is next.

Thanks Pinky pinky! I was hoping you would reply. Are you the next of kin for your records? I think my mother (as a grandchild) would qualify as next of kin once my great aunt & uncle pass away. I think I might have a long wait on my hands as they are fighting fit, spritely 85 and 82 year olds!! I don't want to upset them by asking this info - I'm not sure if they even know as they were only toddlers when their father died.

pinkypinky

Actually, I wasn't the next of kin, as a great-grandchild of the person, I am the same connection as you. All 7 of her grandchildren were still alive at the time. I'd say it's the fact that there are children of your g-grandmother alive that is the problem.

Whereisgerry?

pinkypinky wrote: »

Actually, I wasn't the next of kin, as a great-grandchild of the person, I am the same connection as you. All 7 of her grandchildren were still alive at the time. I'd say it's the fact that there are children of your g-grandmother alive that is the problem.

Yeah, I guess that's probably it. Makes sense! I don't want to bother them with questions about their background as it's always been a closely guarded secret. I will find out more in years to come. Thanks for your replies!

Cailleachdubh

Whereisgerry? wrote: »

Hi there,

I've contacted the hse about access to my great grandfather's file from Grangegorman. They have responded to me telling me that I need Next Of Kin consent. My great aunt and great uncle are still alive but I don't want to ask for their permission as they don't know I have these details and I don't want to annoy them. They obviously went through a lot when they were very young and I don't want to drag it all up.

Has anyone else been asked to provide next of kin details?

Who did you contact in the HSE out of interest? I've been emailing CK snd AK for two and a half years with no response!! So annoyed and frustrated! Latest attempt was about a month ago. The least they could do is acknowledge my request! Any ideas what I should do next?

Whereisgerry?

Cailleachdubh wrote: »

Whereisgerry? wrote: »

Hi there,

I've contacted the hse about access to my great grandfather's file from Grangegorman. They have responded to me telling me that I need Next Of Kin consent. My great aunt and great uncle are still alive but I don't want to ask for their permission as they don't know I have these details and I don't want to annoy them. They obviously went through a lot when they were very young and I don't want to drag it all up.

Has anyone else been asked to provide next of kin details?

Who did you contact in the HSE out of interest? I've been emailing CK snd AK for two and a half years with no response!! So annoyed and frustrated! Latest attempt was about a month ago. The least they could do is acknowledge my request! Any ideas what I should do next?

Hi Cailleachdubh,
I will send you a name and email address later on this evening as I don't have access to my personal mail at work. If you don't hear from me just send me a PM and I will get the details for you. I initially contacted CK and my email was forwarded to a man named Sean something. I got a reply within a day or two from him.
Just as an FYI... If you aren't a direct next of kin then forget it. I was looking for details on my great grandfather but 2 of his children are still alive so I didn't get any further with my research.
Gerry

Whereisgerry?

PM Sent. If anyone else needs this info please let me know.

shar01

Whereisgerry? wrote: »

PM Sent. If anyone else needs this info please let me know.

Hiya,

I'd be grateful for the info. Although I'm probably snookered in that the person I'm trying to get info on was "adopted" by the same folks who adopted by grandmother so no next of kin...

Thanks in advance.

S.

Whereisgerry?

shar01 wrote: »

Whereisgerry? wrote: »

PM Sent. If anyone else needs this info please let me know.

Hiya,

I'd be grateful for the info. Although I'm probably snookered in that the person I'm trying to get info on was "adopted" by the same folks who adopted by grandmother so no next of kin...

Thanks in advance.

S.

PM Sent!

Cailleachdubh

Cailleachdubh wrote: »

Who did you contact in the HSE out of interest? I've been emailing CK snd AK for two and a half years with no response!! So annoyed and frustrated! Latest attempt was about a month ago. The least they could do is acknowledge my request! Any ideas what I should do next?

As an update to this, I am hopeful that Some progress is being made on this at last (thanks to Whereisgerry and some persistent emailing!!). It appears my previous emails & attachments may have been blocked by the HSE server. So after resubmitting my documents, request has been made to the National Archives on my behalf, under the freedom of information Act. As I understand it, this is still not a guarantee that I will be allowed access to the documents, once/if found. However, I'm really excited that I could have news ag last in the next month or so!

Whereisgerry?

Hi Cailleachdubh,

What is your relationship to the person you are requesting info on? Have you been asked about your status as next of kin? I recently got info on my great grandfather from the dept of justice through an FOI request and no one asked me to prove I was related. Maybe mental health records are different though

(

My great grandfather seems to have been badly injured during his time in Grangegorman - I know he was physically fine when sent there so I would really like to know what happened him. Damn this next of kin business!!

pinkypinky

Health records are all the same. You should be asked to prove your direct connection. I had to provide b/m/d for myself, father, grandfather and his mother to get her records.

Irish military records also worked like this for a great-grandfather of mine. However, when I tried to get my grandfather's, they wanted to know if he had any living children and then insisted that one of them apply instead of me.

Cailleachdubh

Whereisgerry? wrote: »

Hi Cailleachdubh,

What is your relationship to the person you are requesting info on? Have you been asked about your status as next of kin? I recently got info on my great grandfather from the dept of justice through an FOI request and no one asked me to prove I was related. Maybe mental health records are different though (

My great grandfather seems to have been badly injured during his time in Grangegorman - I know he was physically fine when sent there so I would really like to know what happened him. Damn this next of kin business!!

He's my great-grandfather (we spoke about this before via PM!).

Good news - I received my records today. Unfortunately, not as much information as I would have like but I'm nevertheless delighted with what I got. It's just the committal documents and documents pertaining to his death. Found out he was on in the hospital for 3 months before he died there.

I'm wondering whether he also spent time in the Richmond War Hospital (on the same site I believe). Does anyone know whether clinical records from here are available?

Whereisgerry?

Sorry! Yes I had forgotten. Terrible memory! Delighted to hear you got the records Cailleachdubh. Was there a photo of your great grandfather? I had read somewhere that Grangegorman had photographed most of its patients on admission. Was there any record of who visited your great grandfather?

pinkypinky

My great-grandmother's file had a photo, which was fantastic. I was able to match her up with older unidentified photos.

Whereisgerry?

Thx Pinky! I would be delighted to see a picture too. Obviously, I don't expect exact details but what kind of info did you receive in your file? Was there info on your great grandmother's general well being / visitors?

pinkypinky

If you read back in this thread, I posted the details previously.

pinkypinky wrote: »

I've been to the sorting office and collected the file.
Bowled over!
There is a photograph of her, description, etc.
Lots of medical stuff.
Letters from her children, etc.

One of the best things: list of people who were allowed visit, all identified by family relationship. This has yielded the married name of 3 sisters, so I'm looking at adding about 12 new people to the family tree once I confirm some marriage certs.

That was a couple of years ago now - I've added about 50 people to the tree since then, stemming from this success.

Cailleachdubh

Whereisgerry? wrote: »

Sorry! Yes I had forgotten. Terrible memory! Delighted to hear you got the records Cailleachdubh. Was there a photo of your great grandfather? I had read somewhere that Grangegorman had photographed most of its patients on admission. Was there any record of who visited your great grandfather?

I was really hoping there would be a photo, as I had read the previous post from Pinkypinky, but unfortunately there was none in my case. There are no surviving photos of my great-grandfather in the family so I was disappointed with this alright.

No records of who visited him, but there were 2 next of kin names given on his committal warrant - his wife and his sister. Apart from the Commital forms, the other documents were: 2 documents stating time and date of death and one copy of a telegram to his wife informing her of his death.

His case-notes were not located, unfortunately, so there is no medical/clinical detail in the notes.

Teresad1987

Whereisgerry? wrote: »

PM Sent. If anyone else needs this info please let me know.

Hi
I dont know if your still on this or if your would still have this info? If you do could you let me know

Thanks

pummice

A relation of mine was in Grangegorman and it turns out he died in a fire at the facility. I got some information about him from HSE but no information about the fire.

Whereisgerry?

Teresad1987 wrote: »

Hi
I dont know if your still on this or if your would still have this info? If you do could you let me know

Thanks

PM Sent!

Sonia989

Sorry to be posting in such an old thread but I just wondering if anyone has any more information on who to contact to access old Richmond Lunatic Asylum records? Feels cruel to type that! Just discovered my 3x Great Grandfather was admitted for trying to Commit Suicide in 1887, and I'd love to know more to add any details to my tree. If someone could PM me, I'd really appreciate it!