Grave 80
     

Julia Jacobs

1827  – 1897

An honest woman Yetta 
daughter of Mr Samuel passed away
Wed 10 Shevat 657 small counting
May her soul be bound up in the bounds of everlasting life
The Lord gave and He took away

פנ
אשה ישרה מרת יוטאבת ר׳ שמואל מתח ביום
די שבט תר נז לפק
ת׳ נ׳ צ׳ ב׳ ה
יי נתן ויי לקח


SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
JULIA
THE BELOVED DAUGHTER OF
SAMUEL AND PHŒBE JACOBS
WHO DIED JAN. 13TH 1897-5657.
AGED 71.
DEEPLY LAMENTED.
MAY HER SOUL REST IN PEACE.
THE LORD GAVE AND THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY.


Julia Jacobs is the daughter of Samuel (grave 87) and Phoebe Jacobs (grave 88). Her sisters Harriet (grave 89) and Rachel (grave 90) are also buried in Bath. 

She was  born in 1826 in Whitechapel London.  She had a  brother, who died aged 15, and seven sisters, all born in Whitechapel.  She never married and suffered from mental illness for much of her life.

Sometime in the 1840s the family made the hazardous journey by sailing ship to western Australia where  the he gold rush had attracted many immigrants. Perhaps they went because Samuel, a clothes salesmen, saw business opportunities or perhaps to find husbands for their daughters?   Indeed three of Julia's sisters did marry in Victoria between 1851 and 1854. However, it is in Melbourne in 1849 that Julia was first unwell, her illness ascribed to "sunstroke". In March 1855,  Julia , her parents and three of her sisters, Harriet, Rachel and Maria, returning from Victoria, Australia and lived in Paddington. Another of Julia's sisters,  Maria married  and went to live in Vienna. 

The family moved to Bath in 1861/2 , probably because of Samuel's health. He died in 1866 a rich man and Harriet's  mother died a year later. 

Julia continued to live in Bath with her two unmarried  sisters , Harriet and Rachel.   In the 1871 census they are living in 2 Somerset Cottages, Prior Park Road. Their occupations are recorded as 'bond holders/income from foreign bonds'. But in April 1880 Julia was admitted to the St Cuthbert's Asylum in Wells. Her sisters reported that she had attempted to throw herself over the parapet of their house at 5 Lambridge Street. Her sisters wrote to her and visited when Julia's health permitted them to do so.     

 Harriet died in 1885 leaving her  personal effects of £973 12s 8d. to her sister  Rachel who  died three years later on 15 March 1888.  Her personal estate was £2,026 1s. 9d.  which she left to "my sisters who shall be living at my decesase". 

Julia's surviving sisters were abroad so she  was then alone except for her brother in law Emmanuel  Davis. He had returned to Birmingham with his 4 children after the death of his wife Amelia, Julia's sister,  in Australia. In June 1888 Emmanuel arranged for Julia to be transferred  as a private patient to  Glendossil Asylum in Henley in Arden where she died in 1897. . She had not made a will.  So it seems that Julia had lived in mental asylums for at least 16 years. Emmanuel must have arranged for her body to be transported to Bath where she was buried near to her parents and sisters. 

Census records
  1841   39  South St Manchester Square   London
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
  1861   59  Cambridge St   London
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
  1871   2   Somerset Cottages Prioir Park    Bath
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
  1881   1   St Cuthberts Asylum   Wells
Name | Age
Birth
Relationship
Occupation
Associated addresses
  1862-1870   12  Bladud Buildings   Bath
  The Jacobs family lived here from 1862. End date uncertain, but by 1871 after their parents deaths, Phoebe and Harriet and Rachel are living elsewhere