Affection of the liver??

[Joan of Archives]

Got 5 x great grandfather's death cert today at last & it says he died from "Affection of the liver". Would that be sclerosis do you think?

Also although he died on Christmas Day poor chap, the informant was a "Susan Nicholes in attendance" she was not his wife, so is it possible she was someone helping to nurse him, & his wife was too distraught to go & register the death ? (it was registered Boxing Day).

[kiterunner]

I don't know the answer to the first question, but to the second one, yes, she could well have been his nurse.

[Olde Crone]

Where I live, even today it is considered NOT the done thing for a woman to register the death of her husband. (And actually, for some of the real old fashioned families, not the done thing for the widow to attend the funeral, either).

Affection of the liver could have been anything really, many conditions affect the liver and lead to a rapid death.

OC

[Merry]

I think (don't quote me though!!!) his cause of death just means it was known that he had something seriously wrong with his liver that caused him to die, but the exact condition was not known. If you google the phrase you will see it appearing in all sorts of medical papers etc refering to lots of different liver diseases. If you change the organ to kidneys or heart et you get a different selection of illnesses.

Regarding the informant.....Yes, she could be a nurse or she could possibly be a local woman who would be paid a shilling or two to sit with the invalid/support the family etc and then after the death, lay out the body. My Maynard death certs show the same woman being present at the death of my gg-grandparents and three of my ggg-grandparents over a spread of about 25 years. I'm 99% sure she isn't a relation so I guess she laid people out, but was obviously present at the death too.

Another twig on my tree had a lady turning up for deaths who was obviously the local midwife, as my Quaker families recorded 'present at the birth' on their birth certs, so I've seen her on two sorts of cert.

[Nell]

Liver problems might be caused by all sorts of things, so I don't think you can be certain of the exact cause of death.

As for the informant, I did read somewhere that in some villages they'd give the task of registering events to anyone who was able/likely to be visiting the town where the registration district was. Susan Nicholes could have been a nurse, or maybe a neighbour who was helping out. Have you tried looking for her on a census?

[Joan of Archives]

Thanks OC, that's interesting, his wife was a school mistress with 11 children (yes !! lol) so maybe she was very busy consoling them on the loss of their father. Strangely, 2 of the sons married later in London, & one gave his father's occupation as "Gentleman" even though he was a deceased coach driver lol! He was well liked though as there was a piece in the local paper which said he died after a long illness.

Nell I will have a look, that idea did cross my mind last night but the Nicholes name frightened me off a bit although there can't have been that many living in Yoxford.

Thanks Merry, Kite, Nell & OC. More to think about.