Seventeenth annual report of the Somerset County Pauper Lunatic Asylum : from the 1st of January to the end of the year 1864.

  • Somerset County Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Seventeenth annual report of the Somerset County Pauper Lunatic Asylum : from the 1st of January to the end of the year 1864. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and the remainder pasture. It is situated in front of, and in view of the asylum, at the other side of the Frome road. The farm now consists of 76J axres of freehold and 39 acres rented ; about 12 acres are covered by buildings and airing courts, 3 by chaplain’s garden and copse, leaving about 20 acres, including the garden, under spade cultivation, 36 under the plough, and 44 acres pasture and meadow, which is exactly 100 acres available for providing the house with vegetables, milk, and some butter and pork. Death of the Chaplain. Near the termination of the year a gloom was cast over the establishment by the death of the chaplain, the Rev. X. N. Paszkowicz, L.L.D., whose kindness and courtesy had endeared him to all the inmates for a period of nearly eight years that he officiated among them. Although for some months aware of the dangerous nature of his disease— aneurism of the thoracic aorta—he could not be prevented from taking part in his duties, and, within a week of his death, read the morning service in the chapel, and visited the wards. A cold caught on the Sunday but one previous, when he administered the Sacrament in his church, aggra¬ vated the cough, and probably hastened his end. His “dear asylum bell,” as he used to call it, when it rang for prayers, on the 12th December, sounded his requiem. He gave minute directions about his funeral, which were carried out. He was bn ried at his own desire, in what he called his “ working dress,”—the surplice he last wore, his prayer book, Polish testament and letters were buried with him as directed. He was a native of Poland, served in the army in 1830—31, and was severely wounded. They laid down their arms to the Austrians. He ultimately came to England, where he became naturalized, and married an English lady. He was a graduate of the university of Warsaw, gained a living for some time by tuition, subsequently he took holy orders in the diocese of Worcester. He had a sensitive mind, and felt keenly for the sufferings of his countrymen. Latterly he had intense bodily suffering at times, which he bore with singular fortitude and resignation, and with an earnest desire to fulfil his duties to the last. The burial took place on Sunday afternoon, the 18th Dec., in the churchyard at Horrington. The church was filled by