Interesting cause of death!

[MarkJ]

On my latest acquisition, the Cause of Death is most certainly different -

"Murdered by (name of murderer) having cut her throat"

The victim was my great grandmothers sister and she was indeed murdered in that way. But I would have expected the certificate to state something like "Loss of blood" or "Laceration of jugular vein" or similar.

Mark

[Alan Welsford]

A bit like my "accidentally killed by the bursting of a gun", then.

The newspaper report of the inquest gives the cause of death as "inflamation of the brain", (it having taken a week for him to die),

But what's written as a cause on the certificate is the "accidentally killed by the bursting of a gun", with no mention of what this resulted in medically.

Alan

[MarkJ]

Wonder if the entry in the Cause of Death column is what the Coroner states at the end of his investigation?
During the investigation, there would doubtless be all sorts of technical stuff mentioned, but at the end, perhaps they just state the glaringly obvious and that is placed on the certificate.
I know that the "Informant" section states that the details come from the Certificate received from the Coroner, so maybe that is how the entry is so lacking in medical terms and gives just the outcome of the Inquest?

Mark

[Mutley]

I have one that cut his own throat. Cause of death was stated as

"Phithisis accelerated by shock from the effect....."
and then goes on to explain what he did and how.

"Informant" section also states that the details come from the Certificate received from the Coroner.

Maybe it depends on who actually fills in the certificate as to how much detail they give.

[hyatt]

Wonder if the entry in the Cause of Death column is what the Coroner states at the end of his investigation?
During the investigation, there would doubtless be all sorts of technical stuff mentioned, but at the end, perhaps they just state the glaringly obvious and that is placed on the certificate.
I know that the "Informant" section states that the details come from the Certificate received from the Coroner, so maybe that is how the entry is so lacking in medical terms and gives just the outcome of the Inquest?

Mark

I have an extra death on one of my rellies death certificates received
from 1880 victoria a 47 year old woman..
"death by asphyxia from cut throat self inflicted" informant sergeant of police, present at inquiry. date given.
from the death certificates here where inquests have been held the causes of death have all been phrased very plainly and bluntly from the findings of the inquest.

I have a death certificate with cause of death "reactionary shock"..I had to get a copy of the inquest to sort that one out.

[busyglen]

My husband has a distant family member murdered in 1859 and she had her throat cut with a razor by a scorned suitor. He was caught and hanged, but although I have the details of the trial....which lasted all of about 10 minutes as he confessed, I don't have the death certificate. I'm curious now as to what it would have said.

Glenys

[MarkJ]

hyatt, interesting that you mention the bluntness of the details. I was quite surprised when I read the report, taken from the inquest, about the murder I mentioned. Very gory, with plenty of graphic details regarding the scene of the event. As it involved two people, both dying from throat injuries sustained from a razor, you can imagine the sort of details!

Mark

[hyatt]

It can be distressing reading inquest reports..I recently spent a day at the PRO office reading abt 20 family members inquests..i did not expect such detail and to see the statements written by family members, and to read how these tragic deaths unfolded touched me greatly,especially when children were involved, as many of the deaths were.
It made me feel a strong connection to these people who before that day had just been names on my family tree documents................ my gg grandmother in 1866 describing the tragic circumstances that led to the death of her little child.
I could imagine the frantic efforts of another relative trying to locate a horse at 3am on a winter night to ride the miles between Gordon and Ballan to fetch the doctor only to find that the child had died just before the doctor arrived.
Or the stark statement that a 5 year old half caste boy named Samuel Sing had died from injuries received after being run over by a dray, driven by a chinaman.

It is amazing how 100 or so years slip away and we are left with these feelings of sadness and grief over the long ago deaths of a family member almost as if the time that has past becomes irrelevant. we still feel the connection even though generations have come and gone. I suppose that is one reason why family research becomes such an "obsession"

[MythicalMarian]

A bit like my "accidentally killed by the bursting of a gun", then.

The newspaper report of the inquest gives the cause of death as "inflamation of the brain", (it having taken a week for him to die),

But what's written as a cause on the certificate is the "accidentally killed by the bursting of a gun", with no mention of what this resulted in medically.

Alan

Alan - I have the death certificate of my 2xgreat grandfather's brother Joseph Stokes, who was 'found dead in Heaton Mersey' in the first column and 'injured by a wagon wheel running over him' under the cause column. This was a coroner's finding too.

Another 2xgreat grandfather Absalom Holland was 'found dead of natural causes' - again a coroner's verdict. In the latter case I suspect Absalom either died in his sleep or in the armchair or something, as he was found dead at his abode and his wife was still around at the time. But Joe fascinates me. If he was 'found dead' then the driver of the wagon must have ridden on?

It is interesting that neither state the actual physical, medical cause of the death. Joe's was 1856 and Absalom's 1879. Today there would be a definite medical reason - natural causes or not - injury or not.

Joseph's death seemed not to be of sufficient interest to appear in the local Stockport newspapers - I did check.

[Alan Welsford]

It occurs to me that not recording much detail of the case of death after an inquest is not just an old fashhioned thing.

My brother was sadly killed in a road accident, and whilst I know the postmortem report carries all the grizzly details, what's recorded on his death certificate is simply "Multiple injuries".

Alan

[alcooper]

my grandfather died of "melancholia and exhaustion" - aged 36!

I did hear that it was a "get-out" and that he probably committed suicide but being a Catholic, it was such a sin that they made an excuse

Any thoughts/info would be much appreciated.

Angela

[MarkJ]

Melancholia is what we would call depression these days, so I suspect your theory about possible suicide is quite likely. Perhaps not suicide in the way we mean generally - maybe he refused food etc and became weaker and died? Would that be suicide I wonder? It would fit with the "exhaustion" reference quite well.

Mark

[alcooper]

thanks Mark - the theory fits in well with what I know - apparently my grandfather discovered that his wife had been having an affair with his friend, and he tried to kill her and "the baby" (my mother) After he died, his wife immediately married the "friend", had 2 more children, then died herself, leaving the poor second husband to look after 5 step-children!
I had always suspected that my mother was the child of the second husband, and after discovering photos of him after both my parents died, I am now so convinced that I am looking into his family tree rather than my "real grandfather"