causes of death

[wildwitch]

I was wondering if anybody can shed light on causes of death in Victorian England.
A member of my family died in 1868 in a rural village. She was only 16 years old, but her cause of death is given as general decay. I have seen this term used in the elderly, but not in one so young. Does this suggest that she died of a long term disability, for example had cerebral palsy. I presume most long term health problems would have been recognised.
Thank you for any help

[Ruskie]

I expect the answer is, "you will never know".  There would probably not have been strict guidelines for recording causes of death on d/cs and general decay is such a broad term.

You would expect that as she was so young, for her cause of death to be general decay, there must have been some pre-existing illness or condition. How you would ever find out what that was I don't think would be possible. If she lived in a rural village any she may never have visited a doctor and any condition she may have had may not have been diagnosed. So general decay might have been a best guess.

Are there any clues in the census as to a condition she may have suffered from?

[stanmapstone]

Until 1874 entering the cause of death was not a legal requirement, but from 1874 a doctor's certificate was necessary before a death certificate could be issued. Between 1858 and 1874 the entry should indicate whether the cause had been 'certified' or 'not certified' by a medical practitioner.

Stan

[ScouseBoy]

It may have been a poor diet and malnutrition.

[Anne W]

" General Decay" I think is a term for when they don't really know what the cause of death was! As you say the poor girl didn't have any of the recognisable diseases. No fever or any sort of a sudden acute illness.

The other term I've come across for the same thing is a " visitation of god"

[stanmapstone]

"It must be stated, moreover, that the causes of death assigned are often inadequate, and frequently erroneous" Thirtieth annual report of the Registrar General, 1867. http://www.histpop.org

[wildwitch]

Ah that does answer some questions. I didn't think her death was medically certified. Her father's death in 1864 was certified and had a fancy diagnosis with note cert. The death was registered by what appears to have been a friend of the family. A woman who has on census records been recorded as an almswoman (whatever that means bar somebody who received alms?) I was wondering whether this woman may have acted as a sort of unqualified nurse in her village. The record did not say cert. so the woman may very well have simply not recognised the problem and saw her 'wasting away.' This does though exclude most obvious infectious illnesses I presume and probably leaves us with a girl who deteriorated over time (for reasons we shall never know). The 1861 census (the only census she ever lived to take part in) does not record her as being blind, deaf or dumb, so maybe a severely disabled girl is less likely.

[Carmela]

TB is another possibility. Quite common cause of death among young people at that time.

[Guy Etchells]

I was wondering if anybody can shed light on causes of death in Victorian England.
A member of my family died in 1868 in a rural village. She was only 16 years old, but her cause of death is given as general decay. I have seen this term used in the elderly, but not in one so young. Does this suggest that she died of a long term disability, for example had cerebral palsy. I presume most long term health problems would have been recognised.
Thank you for any help

A gradual decline in health for example by old age.
It could however be a gradual decline such as happens in cases of cancer or Alzheimer’s but unless you are given further information you cannot make any assumptions.

Cheers
Guy