Highfield Helpers in November

The outdoor team with the Highfield Helpers have tidied the Garden of Rest in preparation for winter, they have been able to clear down to the few gravestones that are left in the area.

Thanks to the volunteers we are able to visit the graves and now share a little bit of the history

If you would like to make a difference to your local area and enjoy having a laugh, tea and cakes whilst getting fit then do join us on a Tuesday from 9am.

A little abit of history on some of the gravestones.

Samuel Alderman Lomas has two gravestones, Each undoubtedly refers to the same person who died on 24 November 1901 aged 63 years. One stone has an additional name, Muscot Atkin Lomas, who died on 30 November 1907 aged 67 years.

In 1849 Samuel was admitted to the Earlswood Asylum. Muscot followed him there a year later.

Samuel and Muscot then moved to the Three Counties Asylum within weeks of each other in 1862; Muscot aged 22 years and Samuel aged 24 For the next 37 years the Three Counties Asylum was their home.

They moved to Hill End in 1899, they were visited on the day of their admission by their brother Joseph . Otherwise Samuel had no further visitors and Muscot had only three other visitors during the eight years of his admission. Their brother Joseph dies in 1899, On 16 August 1901 both Samuel and Muscot became the first of the hospital’s private patients, presumably beneficiaries of Joseph’s legacy. The hospital fee for private care was a guinea (£1.05) a week. Joseph’s legacy probably funded not just their care but also their gravestones

Thanks to a paper by Clare Hilton we are able to know a little about their lives.