What impression did Glenside have on those who lived and worked there?
A statue of Cary Grant stands in Millenium Square in the centre of Bristol
Cary Grant was a world famous Hollywood film actor (born Archibald Leach) and was raised here in Bristol.
Read on to discover the uniquely sad link we have with him here at Glenside.
Archie, as he was known before he found fame, lived with his parents Elias and Elsie Leach. His mother had been unwell for a while, suffering bouts of depressions following the death of her first baby John, just before his first birthday, in 1900.
Archie was 11, when he was told that his mother had gone away on a long holiday. She had in fact been considered by the relieving officer to have significant mental ill health and had been granted health care at Bristol Asylum. Her admission notes state she heard voices and had delusions that there were women in her house who were trying to poison her. Classic symptoms of a psychotic disorder.
The First World War was well underway and so many wounded were coming into Bristol that the two small civilian hospitals in Bristol could not cope. Bristol Asylum was requisitioned by the War Office and transformed into Beaufort War Hospital, specialising in orthopaedic injuries. Elsie was one of the last patients to be admitted to Bristol Asylum before all the patients were sent to other mental hospitals in the South West. Just 40 patients remained to help look after the soldiers.
A commemorative blue plaque hangs on his childhood home, 50 Berkeley Road, Bishopston, Bristol.
Elsie Leach entered the hospital on 3rd February 1915.
She was one of the last patients to be admitted before it became Beaufort War Hospital. We believe she went to an asylum in Wells, but all hospital records during the war have been destroyed, so it is hard to confirm.
Elsie did not return to Bristol until 1919, when the mental health hospital reopened. The war and the lack of money may have made visiting his mother difficult and perhaps this contributed to him being told his mother had died.
Young Archie found himself in reluctant care of his grandmother. He went to Bishop Road Primary School, and then to Fairfield School based in Montpelier. Archie's father remarried and found work in Southampton.
Despite Cary Grant's life being an incredible rags-to-riches story, he certainly didn’t achieve overnight fame. It was a long time before he could transform himself into his Hollywood alter ego, and that journey began at Bristol Hippodrome, where he met Bob and Margaret Pender of the Pender Troupe. Seeing potential in enthusiastic young Archie they took him under their wing and quickly became like surrogate parents, training him as a stilt-walker and acrobat along the way. At the age of 16 he was invited to join them when their troupe set off on a tour of the USA.
As a child he attended nearby Bishop Road Primary school and later Fairfield Grammar School in Montpelier.
Archie put in countless performances on the vaudeville circuit and inched his way up the Hollywood ladder to eventually become Cary Grant, the world-renowned film star.
Shortly before Cary Grant's father died, he asked Cary to come back to Britain to see him. He was 31 when his father told him, his mother was still alive and being well cared for at Bristol Asylum.
Cary Grant made the journey to Bristol to see her. Arranging with the hospital to have her discharged into his care.
Elsie Leach left the asylum on 26th July 1936. Cary made arrangements to provide for his mother, by purchasing a flat in Bristol for her to live in and paid for her care.
Cary Grant had a trouble reconciling his relationship with his mother, but would fly over from Hollywood to visit her in Bristol at varying intervals.
Elsie Leach died in 1973, at age 95, and is buried in Canford Cemetery,
Westbury-on-trym.
Two blue plaques exist in Bristol remembering Cary Grant's former homes. His childhood home, 50 Berkeley Road, Bishopston (pictured above), with the other at 15 Hughenden Road near Horfield Common where he was born in 1904.
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Glenside Hospital Museum is entirely volunteer-led, and we rely on the generosity of our supporters to continue sharing stories like Cary Grant’s unique connection to Bristol’s mental health history. Your donations help us preserve this vital heritage, develop engaging exhibitions, and collaborate with festivals and organisations that celebrate Cary Grant’s legacy. Every contribution, big or small, makes a real difference—thank you for helping us keep this important story alive.
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