Why did Donald die?

['Trish']

My great grandmother had an illigitimate (in fact had three!) child - Donald Voysey born June quarter of 1890 St Thomas Registration district.  I have found out that he died at age 6 Sept quarter 1896 St Thomas Registration district.  Is there anyway I can find out how & why he died without purchasing the death certificate?  Any help would be most appreciated.
Regards Trish

[lizdb]

In short - no  (sorry)

[Tricia_2]

But you could get an idea.

You may be able to find books in the local library, detailing results of local health inspections.
I can't remember what they are called ~ maybe something about medical examiners' records ~ but they give details of epidemics & death rates at certain ages, etc. Very illuminating!

['Trish']

Thanks for your help, I will certainly have a go at looking at these books.  Donald came from a wealthy family in Tiverton/Exeter/Teignmouth, so it wouldn't be from diseases etc of the poor!  Thanks anyway.

[Valda]

Not quite sure what you mean by a disease of the poor? In a period before anti-biotics where sanitation was still an issue, diseases killed many children rich and poor. One of the main killers on Victorian children's death certificates for instance was measles.
Wealthy people did not live in isolation - they had servants, they ordered their food from local shops.
Epidemics were only considered as such when more unusual diseases such as cholera claimed substantial lives (contaminated water supplies don't respect the wealthy). Children's deaths from measles, scarlet fever, tuberculosis and accidents etc were to be expected.

Regards

Valda

[suey]

I have death certs for three children who died between the age's three and eight c1847 to 51...all three died at home of Whooping Cough.

I do sometimes wonder though if the doctor was actually called while the children were ill, my families had no money, agricultural labourers to a man.  Because so many children contracted the disease did the Doc. just assume that's what they died from?

Suey

[lizdb]

That's a good point, Suey.  The doctor probably first saw the child after its death when they had to have a doctor to provide a death cert for burial. So a lot of his 'diagnosis' as to cause of death would be based on what the parents told him of the childs illness. But Whooping cough is pretty obvious, and I guess the parents were really in no doubt.

Back to Donald. Whilst it will undoubtably be very interesting to investigate childhood epidemics at the time, it will still very much be an assumption as to what caused Donald's death. Even if Whooping Cough or Diphtheira or whatever was rife in the area at the time, little Donald could have died of alomst anything, not least by means of an accident - knocked down by a horse and carriage, falling out of a tree when playing etc.
So if you REALLY want to know what he died of, I stick by the fact that you'll have to get the cert!

[Valda]

'In the early days of registration all the deaths were uncertified. The informant simply gave the cause as they saw it. And they were probably not far off the truth. You tend to get simple causes such as measles, stroke, gout, childbirth and so on.

It is still possible to have a death not certified by a doctor in which case it is still the informant who is supposed to tell the registrar what the cause of death was. If you have a death certificate without the name of a certifiying doctor and it was not a post mortem or an inquest then you have an uncertified death. They are pretty rare today - but the sort of situation in which you would have an uncertified death would be where a person died at home at the weekend - they had only been treated by the one doctor from their surgery and that doctor went on holiday for a fortnight starting that weekend. In that case there is no other doctor who can legally sign a certificate. The coroner would then be notified - but if he decides after looking into the matter that there is no need for a post mortem then you would have an uncertified death.

By 1845 most of the causes of death are followed by the word - certified. Where those words are not found then a doctor did not write a certificate of cause of death. Plenty of families who had sick and dying relatives would not necessarily have called a doctor to see the patient - after all doctors had to be paid.'

http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/deaths.htm

When my father died at home in the 1980s, an expected death, we had to have two doctors his own and another visit before the undertakers were allowed to even remove the body, so I would think an uncertified death is now almost impossible.

Obtaining death certificates can be very interesting and often the only way you know that for instance an inquest has taken place, which again can lead to further records.

Regards

Valda

[Tricia_2]

...So if you REALLY want to know what he died of, I stick by the fact that you'll have to get the cert!

I won't disagree with that.