No cause of death?

[JayG]

I've got a copy of a 1877 death cert, the cause of death is listed as unknown. I've never seen this before & thought a doctor had to sign off the cause of death at this point in time?

[Olde Crone]

JayG

I've seen unknown and I've seen Act of God - in other words, they didn't have a clue. Remember that medical diagnosis was very hit and miss in the 19th century.

(I think "unknown" in this case means I don't know, rather than "this might be a suspicious death")

OC

[JayG]

Thanks OC, not seen Act of God but heard of it!

The death I have was registered by the neighbour so maybe they just didn't know & didn't bother with the doctor. There's nothing else in the cause of death column where i'd expect to see certified, the doctors name etc.

[Shona]

I've seen 'very old' as a cause of death.

[Merry]

Section 4 here explains:

Death certificate tutorial (http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/deaths.htm)

[JayG]

Thanks Merry, so reading that it should of been signed by a doctor (if he'd seen the person who died recently) & failing that the coroner should of been informed

Copied from the link

By 1875 the cause of death is followed by "Certified by..........(name of doctor) ..........(doctors qualifications)" in which case the doctor in attendance on the deceased in his last illness has signed a medical certificate of cause of death. This tends then to be in medical jargon eg myocardial infarction (a layman would have said heart attack) or cerebrovascular accident (stroke). A doctor is only qualified to sign if he has been in attendance on the deceased in his last illness AND has either seen the deceased within 14 days of his death or saw the deceased after death. If there is no doctor who qualifies under these restrictions then the death must be notified to the coroner.

Obviously the Registrar wasn't paying attention that day!

[Guinevere]

I have a "Visitation of God" death cert. Scary stuff.

[JBee]

In 1977 when my dad died of cancer on a sunday a locum came but couldn't sign the death certificate as he hadn't seen him before, luckily GP had and so he signed.

[Durham Lady]

I have several certificates from mid to late 1800's that say "Visitation by God" . All for folk who died in their 80's.

[Tom Tom]

I have one that was left completely blank (not even "Unknown"). When I rang the local RO they said there were quite a few like that.

Another from the 1870s says "Unknown, found dead at home" but I found "Old Age and various diseases" to be quite unnerving.

Decay of nature was quite popular as well.

[Chris in Sussex]

I was listening to a NA lecture, actually about Coroners' Inquests, and she said that 'Visitation of God' was often used where a person died suddenly, without any previously known signs of illness, so something like a heart attack.

One thing I learnt was that where a burial register gives a cause of death, 'Visitation of God', 'Kicked by a horse' or something similar,then that is an inquest verdict and not just an informative note made by the person who wrote up the register as they were not allowed to do so...Mind you I wonder if some did?

http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/coroners-inquests/

Chris

[Merry]

One thing I learnt was that where a burial register gives a cause of death, 'Visitation of God', 'Kicked by a horse' or something similar,then that is an inquest verdict and not just an informative note made by the person who wrote up the register as they were not allowed to do so...Mind you I wonder if some did?


Interesting. I wonder if that was at some given time period or after some specific date? (I don't have time to listen to an hour's audio to find out!)

I've seen dozens of burial entries with causes of death listed, some of which might well have had an inquest, but others not. Some of the LMA burial registers on Ancestry have a cause of death for every burial!

[Olde Crone]

I've seen causes of death as early as the 1600s in burial registers. I have also seen "Kicked by a horse" for one of my relatives in about 1890, there was no inquest, so I think some vicars just did what they had always done and added bits of information to the registers as they saw fit....I'm very grateful for that because how else would I know that Mary Holden was "a great and incontinent whore" lol.

OC