Meaning on a death certificate ("Idiot")

[annes]

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

[meles]

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

[elin]

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

[Notinpastyet]

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?

[stanmapstone]

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

[annes]

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

[MarieC]

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

[Berlin-Bob]

You can find some more topics with discussions about the usage of  Idiot  / Imbecile / Lunatic in the
RootsChat Reference Library => Lexicon ^{(click here)}

Bob

[stanmapstone]

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