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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: annes on Saturday 15 March 08 16:20 GMT (UK)
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I wonder if anyone can help me please?
I have just received a copy of a death certificate and the cause of death is given as :
Epilepsy (Idiot)
Epileptic Convulsions
My question really is, what would "idiot" have meant then (this was in 1911), and would the epilepsy have been a symptom of this or would it have been a separate condition? It looks as though she died of an epileptic fit of some kind.
The little girl who died was 8 :'( and would have been my great aunt.
Thank you for any help you can give me.
Best wishes
Anne
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It would have meant that she did have severe mental problems.
The terms used were:
Idiot - IQ 0-25 severe learning problems
Imbecile - IQ 25-50 moderate learning problems
Feeble minded -IQ 50-70 mild learning problems
Poor little thing.
meles
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There was a stigma attached to being epileptic and people were often committed to lunatic asylums for life just because they had epilepsy. They were viewed as being mad or possessed.
Epilepsy couldn't be kept under control as it often can be today and children would have been left uneducated and possibly hidden from view. I would think that people with epilepsy were more likely to have mental health problems because of the harsh treatment that they received.
Elin :(
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I would think they used the word idiot to mean she was mentally deficient some kind of brain damage & maybe this even caused the fit in the first place, I know today we would find this a very strange word to use & rather rude & upsetting don't you think?
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Under the Mental Deficiency Act 1913 four "classes" of Mental Deficiency were defined:
Idiot ~ unable to protect themselves from common dangers.
Imbecile ~ could protect themselves from common dangers, but unable to take care of themselves.
Feeble-Minded ~ required care to protect themselves.
Moral Defectives ~ criminal or vicious personalities.
Stan
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Thank you to everybody for replying, and for your wonderful knowledge.
My grandmother was born the following year in 1912, and although she told her own children about her two brothers who had also died in childhood, she never ever mentioned this sister. How sad that she felt unable to do so, but rather poignant that she named one of her daughters after the sister who had died.
These small discoveries about our family's past lives are totally fascinating.
Thank you again
Best wishes
Anne
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I cringe to see someone described this way on an official document - especially a child! :'( :'( :'( Poor little mite. Maybe society has made some progress after all!
MarieC
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You can find some more topics with discussions about the usage of Idiot / Imbecile / Lunatic in the
RootsChat Reference Library (http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/index.php) => Lexicon (click here) (http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/reflib-lexicon.php)
Bob
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I cringe to see someone described this way on an official document - especially a child! :'( :'( :'( Poor little mite. Maybe society has made some progress after all!
MarieC
We are talking about 100 years ago, you cannot apply today's sensitivities, or political correctness, to the past. As H.E. Bates says, The past is a different country; they do things differently there
Stan
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Thanks Berlin-Bob for the link to the Rootschat Reference Library - a facility I never knew existed 8) .
Anne
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I cringe to see someone described this way on an official document - especially a child! :'( :'( :'( Poor little mite. Maybe society has made some progress after all!
MarieC
We are talking about 100 years ago, you cannot apply today's sensitivities, or political correctness, to the past. As H.E. Bates says, The past is a different country; they do things differently there
Stan
Yes, I know, Stan, but I can't get rid of my sensitivities either! These are words that I'll never be able to read without cringing!
MarieC
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I hope MarieC & Stan are not going to start to argue I agree with both of you, its differant times & differant attitudes I am sure we are all in agreement that it does not sound very acceptable to us in 2008 it isn't very polite to call anyone a idiot but it was used as a medical term I am dyslexia & I know I was classed as been a idiot in the 1950s which isn't that long a go .
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I was classed as been a idiot in the 1950s which isn't that long a go .
The Royal Commission on the Law relating to Mental Illness and Mental Deficiency published a report in May 1957 which stated that;
"In proposing for legal and administrative purposes three main groups in the general category of "mental disorder" the commission express the view that the public mind has outgrown such terms as "idiot," "imbecile," and "person of unsound mind."
The Times, Thursday, May 30, 1957
Stan
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I guess we find it offensive because we've changed the meaning of words. Like 'gay' used to be a word for 'happy' and now it can be used offensively. My brother uses it to describe our temperamental computer a lot. Words like 'idiot' probably didn't have the same offensive connotation back then, although of course the attitude that went with the label is often the thing that is most offensive.