James Paynter

Abt 1860 - 1891  (~ 31 years)

• Name	James Paynter
  Birth	Abt 1860	Victoria, Australia
  Gender	Male
  Death	6 Jun 1891	Ararat Hospital for the Insane, Ararat, Victoria, Australia
  Burial	8 Jun 1891	Ararat Cemetery, Ararat, Victoria, Australia
  Person ID	I129	FHC006 - White Tree
  Last Modified	1 Apr 2021

  
  

  Father	James Camborne Paynter,   b. Abt 1827, Ferryside, Carmarthenshire, Wales d. 14 Dec 1893, Framlingham, Victoria, Australia (Age ~ 66 years)
  Mother	Jane Crawley,   b. 1838, Hertford, Hertfordshire, England d. 30 Sep 1899, Framlingham, Victoria, Australia (Age 61 years)
  Marriage	27 Nov 1857	Christ Church, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  Family ID	F949	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  At the age of twenty-three he was admitted to the Ararat Hospital for the Insane on 3 February 1883. The Hospital was sometimes referred to as the Asylum. There was a note on the Alphabetical List of Patients under Names and Addresses of Relatives: James Paynter's father resides at Mortlake, no means. I assume this means that his father James had no money to pay for his son’s hospitalisation. When James entered the Hospital, the Property Book recorded that he had 5 shillings and twopence in a purse. The money was duly handed over to the Master of Finance. James died on 6 June 1891 at the Hospital after spending over eight years there. His death required a Magisterial Enquiry and these documents contained quite a bit of information about him. The enquiry was conducted the day after his death by a Coroner. The official cause of death was recorded as ‘Disease of the Brain and Liver, otherwise Chronic Hepatitis and Epilepsy’. He was only thirty-one years of age. The Medical Officer at the Asylum made a statement which makes heartbreaking reading. From the records of the Asylum I find that the deceased James Paynter aged thirty-one years was admitted into this Institution on the 3rd February 1883 on the authority of the warrant now produced. He was then suffering from Epileptic Mania and in good bodily health. On the 20th day of May last he came under my care when he was in feeble health confined to his room and to bed suffering from general dropsy; since that time he has had several epileptic convulsions both during the day and at night, which together with the dropsy have gradually weakened him until he sank and died on the 6th. An Attendant also made a statement. The deceased patient James Paynter came in my charge on the 29th March 1891. He was then transferred from C Ward to the Hospital Ward. He was put to bed suffering from dropsy. He remained in bed until the morning of the 6th day of June. He was then seized with a succession of epileptic fits. He gradually got weaker and sank and died at about 11.35 A.M. On the 6th day of June 1891. He took his food well until he died. He never regained consciousness from the time he took the last fit.? I am not sure where James was buried as there was no death certificate for him. 1 Alphabetical Lists of Patients in Asylums, Ararat. VPRS 7446, P1, Unit 3 Image. Register of Personal Property, Ararat Hospital for the Insane. VPRS 1708, P0, Unit 1. Inquest. VPRS 24, Unit 581, Item 1891/662. Public Record Office of Victoria.