{"id":419,"date":"2018-06-08T13:38:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T13:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=419"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:37:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:37:03","slug":"death-certificates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/08\/death-certificates\/","title":{"rendered":"Curious deaths – death certificates and family history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cause of death is a key feature of death certificates, not only for family (and the state) at the time, but also for social and family historians.<\/p>\n

Knowing an ancestor died of TB helps us to \u2018know\u2019 them better, to imagine what they went through.\u00a0Reading that the cause of death was \u2018old age\u2019 tells us that doctors in the past would put anything down when they didn\u2019t have a clue what had actually caused death. Or perhaps didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

The civil registration of births, deaths, and marriages in England and Wales began in 1837. Death certificates are therefore only available if your ancestor died after that date. Previously, the only records are parish registers, which give burial dates \u2013 but rarely any further detail.<\/p>\n

Look for statistics<\/h2>\n

As well as individual death certificates, wider statistics can tell us a lot.<\/p>\n

A report on deaths in Cumberland in 1848 mentions smallpox killing 19 victims in Maryport<\/strong>, and two in Dalston<\/strong>. In Kendal<\/strong>, there were 19 deaths of babies aged one or under, and eight deaths of people aged 84 or thereabouts.<\/p>\n

A BBC article<\/a> a few months ago illustrates how common causes of death can change within a few decades.<\/p>\n

Curious causes<\/h2>\n

As well as death certificates, it is worth looking out for death notices and inquest reports.<\/p>\n

1786<\/strong> February 8. Cumberland Pacquet. On the 28th ult, after a tedious illness, at Ellerton<\/strong>, near Hesket in the Forest, Mary Noble<\/strong>, wife of Mr John Noble.<\/p>\n

Mary Noble was (given the baptism dates for their children) probably in her late 40s.<\/p>\n

Perhaps \u2018tedious\u2019 had a different connotation then! Unless whatever she died of really was boring.<\/p>\n

\"death
Death certificates tell us something about doctors’ knowledge at the time!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An alternative official cause of death for \u2018flip knows\u2019 was \u2018died by the visitation of God\u2019.<\/p>\n

That was the verdict at two inquests in Lincolnshire, in October 1820:<\/p>\n

Mary Vickers, aged 81 years,\u00a0 <\/span>had died somewhat suddenly. \u2018Her husband, who is a very young man, and to whom she was married a few months ago, was committed to Skirbeck Quarter prison during the time the inquest was sitting, on a charge of committing a rape at Donnington fair.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

An inquest on William Charles, labourer of Stamford, who suddenly dropped down dead on the dunghill in his own yard, reached the same verdict.<\/p>\n

In Cumberland, God was also said to have \u2018visited\u2019 the parish of Brampton<\/strong> in 1841.<\/p>\n

An inquest at Woodfoot, into the death of Elizabeth Noble<\/strong> (no relation to Mary above) was told by her husband John that she\u2019d been complaining for some time of pain in her face and teeth. He came home on day to find her lying face down on the flagstone floor, speechless. He put her to bed, where she died a few hours later.<\/p>\n

Inquest verdict: Died by the visitation of God.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, inquests were so newsworthy as to be reported by newspapers across the country, rather than just those in the person\u2019s home town or area.<\/p>\n

In 1825, it was widely reported that in Stepney, one Charles Trimmer, 60, a journeyman bookbinder, had sent a boy to buy four pennyworth of arsenic to deal with a cat which kept getting into his room and stealing his food.<\/p>\n

Trimmer over-indulged one night, took what he thought was magnesia to settle his stomach\u2026<\/p>\n

Chloroform for asthma<\/h2>\n

Another accidental death, late in 1848, tells us something about how medical conditions were treated in the past. Again, it was widely reported that \u2018Mr Carruthers, a gentleman of Dormount, Annan, has perished by the incautious use of chloroform\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He frequently inhaled it from a handkerchief to relieve his asthma.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, also in 1848, a sad case served up as a warning:<\/p>\n

\u2018Death from drinking cold water. On Saturday last a man named William Fell killed\u00a0himself at Low Furness (then Lancashire), by incautiously drinking a quantity of cold water whilst in a state of perspiration\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Poor Mr Fell, who was \u2018about 40,\u2019 had been wheeling ballast from an iron ore vessel in port and took a short break to drink water. \u2018He\u2019d scarcely got the pitcher from his mouth before he dropped lifeless to the ground.\u2019 The inquest returned a verdict that he died from the effects of taking cold water while in a state of perspiration, caused by over-exertion.\u2013<\/p>\n

Death certificates – how to order one<\/h2>\n

Death certificates for deaths that occurred in England and Wales can be obtained from the General Register Office. You can find more information on the GRO, and a link to the ordering service, here<\/a>. \u00a0If you are not sure when someone died, and haven’t got a subscription to a genealogy site, you can search for \u00a0deaths registered with the GRO here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Further reading<\/h2>\n

You can read about Victorian ‘cures’ for ailments in this post<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cause of death is a key feature of death certificates, not only for family (and the state) at the time, but also for social and family historians. Knowing an ancestor died of TB helps us to \u2018know\u2019 them better, to imagine what they went through.\u00a0Reading that the cause of death was \u2018old age\u2019 tells us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,2],"tags":[110,107,105,109,108,106,33],"class_list":["post-419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cumbria-history","category-family-history","tag-brampton","tag-dalston","tag-death-certificates","tag-ellerton","tag-hesket","tag-inquests","tag-maryport"],"yoast_head":"\nCurious deaths - death certificates and family history - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Death certificates are a valuable source of information for family and social historians. 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