« Reply #84 on: Friday 31 July 15 12:13 BST (UK) »
Phthitis pulmonaris, for any who haven't come across it on a relative's death cert, is TB or consumption. It was a common illness in older times, sometimes because of living conditions, but could be a slow and miserable death, as Coombs' message shows. And it was infectious. It crops up on the death certs of several of my ag lab forebears.
My 3xgreat grandfather's first wife died of phthisis and they lived in Brighton. She had to then be buried by the parish expense. He was a servant and out pensioner after 25 years as a private. Maybe the medical bills sucked him dry and he had to get the parish to bury her.
Researching:
LONDON, Coombs, Roberts, Auber, Helsdon, Fradine, Morin, Goodacre
DORSET Coombs, Munday
NORFOLK Helsdon, Riches, Harbord, Budery
KENT Roberts, Goodacre
SUSSEX Walder, Boniface, Dinnage, Standen, Lee, Botten, Wickham, Jupp
SUFFOLK Titshall, Frost, Fairweather, Mayhew, Archer, Eade, Scarfe
DURHAM Stewart, Musgrave, Wilson, Forster
SCOTLAND Stewart in Selkirk
USA Musgrave, Saix
ESSEX Cornwell, Stock, Quilter, Lawrence, Whale, Clift
OXON Edgington, Smith, Inkpen, Snell, Batten, Brain