Cyrus Elliott (buried 1874)

At a glance

At a glance
Surname: 
Elliott
First name: 
Cyrus
Other Christian names: 
Alexander
Gender: 
Male
Children: 
No
Burial number: 
4
Born: 
14/11/1809
Died: 
07/03/1874
Buried: 
14/03/1874
Occupation: 
Surgeon. Governor of an Asylum.
Heene Hallmark: 
Yes
Commonwealth War Grave: 
No

The Grave

The grave
Cyrus Elliott (buried 1874) headstone
Cemetery area: 
EB
Cemetery row: 
5
Cemetery plot: 
31
what3words location: 
https://what3words.com/buddy.seat.tubes
Burial remains: 
Unknown
The headstone
Endowed grave: 
No
Headstone description: 
The fourth burial in Heene Cemetery and the oldest gravestone to still be seen. Highly Polished Granite. Hipped roof on top of altar tomb
Headstone inscription: 
Cyrus Alexander Elliott Esq., Elm Villa, Broadwater died March 7th 1874 aged 64
Grave location map

Life story

Life story

Cyrus Elliott was baptised on the 10th Dec 1809 at St Mary, Newington, Surrey, son of Cyrus and Mary Elliott. In 1841 he was listed as a Surgeon in a Licensed Madhouse in Old Brompton. (There seems to be no evidence for his qualification as Surgeon.) In 1857 he was resident at Munster House in Fulham. It was a leasehold house and premises for which he paid £150 per year. 

From a History of Fulham: Munster Road was first recorded in 1397 when it was a rough path running through farmland known as Fulham Fields'  which stretched from North End Road to the River Thames. 

Munster House, Fulham
Munster House, Fulham

In the 16th century the area was dominated by Munster House. Set in eight acres at the junction with Fulham Road the house became known as Monster House due to two hideous stone lions adorning its frontage. It stood for around 400 years and was used variously as a school and a lunatic asylum before being demolished in 1894. Cyrus also ran Effra Hall Lunatic Asylum in Brixton (see below) and owned Hanwell Park Farm.

Advertisement for Munster House, Fulham
Advertisement for Munster House, Fulham

Dr Elliott moved to Worthing in the late 1850's, possibly bringing some of his patients to breathe the sea air. In 1858,he is listed in Melville's Directory as living at Heene Villa in Heene Lane and running a lunatic asylum there. In 1861,He moved to a property known as "Knowles Cottage" in Broadwater. He rebuilt and enlarged the building and changed its name to  Elm Villa. The locals knew it as "The Mad House". Cyrus built a vinery at his home, reputedly using large panes of glass left over from Crystal Palace. It was the first Worthing glasshouse to use large panes. (The hefty tax on glass was repealed in 1845) . From 1866 to 1873, Cyrus bought several properties in Broadwater Street. After he died, his executors held his properties until his widow remarried, then they were sold. 

In 1862, Cyrus became involved in a scam when he was appointed a director of the Worthing Mining Company in South Australia. This was a copper mine which was supposed to have had rich veins of copper but in fact had very little and was a worthless fraud. All investors, some of whom put in as much as £1000 each lost their money, including Cyrus. The company was liquidated in 1871. 

In 1864, Cyrus and George Battock bought part of Heene Farm. George Battock was a director of the London Mutual Life Assurance Co. and together with Cyrus, and George Alfred Dean an architect, formed a company intent on developing Heene and the West Worthing area. After St Botolph's Church was built in 1873, Cyrus gave £105 towards church funds and donated a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Baroccio.

In 1865, in Brentford,  he married Anne Maria Duncan, who was born in Chelsea about 1830. They had no children. 

In 1867 land which Cyrus Elliott owned was taken over for the building of the Gasworks in Worthing .

After his death on 7 Mar 1874, Anne Maria continued to live at Elm Villa. She married again in January1876 to another surgeon named Charles Ford Webb. The marriage only lasted 9 months before Charles took his wife to the Divorce Courts. The couple divorced on 17 Nov 1876. Anne moved out of Elm Villa when the property was sold for £2250 by the executors and into 9 Ambrose Place, Worthing. She died in Tulse Hill in 1892.  

At some time during the 1860s, Dr Elliott  built on the southern edge of his land (originally known as The Quashetts) an arch made of large flints that he had collected from the chalk hills around Worthing. It was originally intended to be a screen to the town beyond. The arch stood collecting ivy until 1967 when its condition became precarious and it was demolished. Today, the road leading to the site of the arch has been re-named Ivy Arch Road, and The Quashetts retained as a footpath between Little High Street and Broadwater Street West. (From the Folly Fellowship).

 

 

Burial researcher: 
Carol Sullivan

Further information

Birth
Date born: 
14/11/1809
Marriage
Marriage 1
Spouse one first names: 
Anne Maria
Spouse one last name: 
Duncan
Marriage one date: 
14/10/1865
Marriage one address: 
St Mary, Hanwell, Middx

Death

Death (details)
Date of death: 
07/03/1874
Age (at time of death): 
64
Cause of death: 
Unknown
Address at time of death: 
Elm Villa, Broadwater Street, Worthing, Sussex, England
Personal effects
Executors: 
Anne Maria Elliott (widow), Henry Dearsley (fish merchant), Henry Pawle Ree (MD), Thomas Hoskins (gentleman).
Probate pounds: 
£14,000

Census and miscellaneous information

Census information
1841 census: 

Living at Cowper House, Old Brompton

 Cyrus Elliott, 36yrs, Surgeon

1861 census: 

Cyrus Elliot Munster house
Cyrus Elliot Munster house

 Living at Munster House, London Road, Fulham.

Cyrus A Elliott 50yrs proprietor of Asylum, Martha P Leech Matron plus Assistants, Attendants and Servants

1871 census: 

Black and White Photograph of the ruins of he Ivy Arch that Cyrus Elliott built
Black and White Photograph of the ruins of he Ivy Arch that Cyrus Elliott built

 Ivy Arch built on the boundary of Cyrus Elliott home, Elm Villa, Broadwater Road, Worthing 

Living at Elm Villa, Broadwater Street, Worthing

 Cyrus A Elliott 61yrs Asylum Keeper, Anne 35yrs, Elizabeth Leech aged 43, visitor, chemist. Plus 4 servants.

Miscellaneous information

London Gazette November 26th 1867

"A close or piece of arable land situated in the parish of Broadwater, in the county of Sussex, now belonging or reputed to belong to and in the occupation of Cyrus Alexander Elliott, Esq, bounded on the north and east by land belonging, or reputed to belong to Harriet Newland, Frances Newland, and Emily Rowland, and now in the occupation of Mr Nelson Laker, on the south by land belonging …. the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company, and on the north west by the highway leading from Worthing to Broadwater."

Research carried out by John Bell and shared with Friends of Heene Cemetery:- 30/8/2021

Dr Elliott was given licence to conduct business at Munster House as the proprietor of a private lunatic asylum in 1850: 5th Annual Report of the Commissioners in Lunacy to the Lord Chancellor, 30th June, 1850. Metropolitan: Mr C.A. Elliot is licensed to run Munster House as a Private Lunatic Asylum, with 35 private Male Patients. in the book on Fulham, there is a quote from his advertisment card, in which he gives full details of the many desirable features of Munster House. There were many rooms, and he appears to have built an extension to provide for more patients.

Received from John Bell 31/8/2021

Today, I found the record for Cyrus appearing as a witness at the Old Bailey in a case concerning a contract for a horse.  Giving his evidence, Cyrus says, "I live at Cowper-House Asylum, Old Brompton...The prisoner came to me respecting a horse which I had for sale...."The date of the action was 1st Jan, 1844.  The census for 1841 has the Cowper-House record: "Public Institutions:  Name of Institution:  Cowper-House Licensed Madhouse, Old Brompton, Little Chelsea, Parish of Kensington."  There appear to be two Elliots in this record, and initials alone are not used, so it is not simple to decide who was staff and who was a patient, though someone selling a horse does not sound like a patient with all the restrictions.  For Cyrus, there is this entry, " Cyrus Elliott  surgeon, 36", and the other Elliott appears as "Mr Elliott 26, surgeon."

I have found that CYRUS was not only the proprietor of the Munster House Asylum, but of two others, and that his sister, MARY THERESA ELLIOTT was the proprietor of the ELM HOUSE Asylum in Chelsea.  Cyrus wrote the publicity advertisement for this place, but seems to have been the proprietor of COWPER HOUSE and EFFRA HOUSE as well as Munster. He is also associated with at least one farm, which might explain how he was able to sell a fine horse.

Received from John Bell 4.9.2021

The Editors of the London Medical Directory for 1845 inform the public, that there are impostors in the Metropolis, in considerable numbers, who take houses and call themselves surgeons.  I am afraid Cyrus Alexander Elliott appears to have been such an impostor.  The registration of a Medical Practitioner was mandatory, and as mentioned in my last mail, no such registration has been found for Cyrus. Your own researcher seems to have come to the same conclusion after her search.

There was a younger brother called WILLIAM THEODORE ELLIOTT, who did register his name. His qualifications are impressive, and he contributed to the Lancet.  Eventually he is found residing at Rotherhithe, but his death is recorded for Munster House, with burial in private ground in Old Brompton on the  18th December, 1871.   He is also found in the 1841 census, together with his brother Cyrus, at the Cowper-House Asylum, but his name is squashed between that of "a Lady" and that of "a Lady", so that it is not immediately clear as to his status.  Was  he a patient or a medical helper ? His brother appears falsely in that census as a surgeon, as he does in other papers, except in the ones that matter. I will be getting his death certificate.

In Cyrus Alexander's marriage record, there is a statement that Cyrus Alexander Elliott's father was a Captain in the Royal Navy.  In his Will, dated to 1830, the father is a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and since he died the following year, he had a very short time [being weak in body], to proceed through the rank of Commander to Captain. The new rank of Commander was introduced in 1827.  This Will has nothing to relate about the children, and leaves everything of whatever kind to his wife, MARY,  whose maiden name was ALEXANDER.

There is the Munster House census return for 1861,in which Cyrus Alexander Elliott gives Gosport as his place of birth.  In this census he appears as the "Proprietor of  Asylum".   It is certain that he was born in Southwark, St Mary Newington, Surrey, and not Gosport. There will be a reason for this falsehood.  The original Register entry for St Mary Newington has survived.  His parents were Cyrus Elliott, a Royal Navy Lieutenant, and Mary Alexander [hence her son's middle name].