Handwriting Help please

[BrianClaydon]

Good morning everyone,

may I please have some help in deciphering the following death Registration from 1898. I have posted the whole thing and then 3 excerpts where I am struggling.

Excerpt 1 is 'When and where died?'. I am struggling with the word between '1898' and 'Prittlewell'. There is also something written underneath too but that may be beyond recognition.

Excerpt 2 is 'Rank or Profession'. I think the last part is 'late of 9 Arnold Avenue', but I can't determine the first part. On previous Census Records he is recorded as an Agricultural Labourer.

Excerpt 3 is 'Cause of Death'. The first two lines are the issue. Third line I get as 'Endemic Fever, then '14 Days. Certified by G', I can't quite work out the name of the doctor either.

Any help would be gladly received. Thanks.

Kind Regards,

Brian

[fiddlerslass]

First word Sanatorium, letters under Prittlewell are UD standing for Urban District.

Cause of death syncope Morbus Cordis ie a heart disease.

Occupation looks like Tanks man. Don't know what that means though.

[Kiltaglassan]

Third line I get as 'Endemic Fever, then '14 Days.

Enteric Fever

[BrianClaydon]

First word Sanatorium, letters under Prittlewell are UD standing for Urban District.

Cause of death syncope Morbus Cordis ie a heart disease.

Occupation looks like Tanks man. Don't know what that means though.

Thanks for that fiddlerslass,

I thought it may have been 'Sanatorium', thanks for the confirmation and the determination of 'U.D.' as 'Urban District'.

Don't think I would have got 'syncope Morbus Cordis' - I thought the second word may have been 'Measles'.

I don't know what 'Tanks man' might mean either. I know the family had connections with Shoebury and the Garrison there. Too early for Tanks in an armoured vehicle sense though. Anyone know what 'Tanks man' may mean? Or do you see another profession?

Thanks again!

B

[BrianClaydon]

Third line I get as 'Endemic Fever, then '14 Days.

Enteric Fever

Hi Kiltaglassan,

thank you for the correction.

[AlanBoyd]

As an experiment I asked ChatGPT to interpret the cause of death box.

Yes, this close-up view helps. From the clipped image provided, here is what I can read:

   •   The cause of death appears to be “Syncope.”
   •   The condition leading to the cause looks like “Marasmus Cordis,” which is not a modern medical term but may refer to wasting (marasmus) associated with the heart (cordis).
   •   The text below might state “14 days,” which could indicate the duration of the final illness.
   •   The name of the doctor or informant appears to be “J. Kinnaird,” followed by “L.R.C.P.,” which stands for Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, a medical qualification from the UK.

The handwriting is quite stylized and may be subject to interpretation. It’s recommended to cross-reference with other historical documents for verification.

When I suggested ‘morbus cordis’ the AI agreed that this would be a reasonable alternative.

[BrianClaydon]

As an experiment I asked ChatGPT to interpret the cause of death box.

Yes, this close-up view helps. From the clipped image provided, here is what I can read:

   •   The cause of death appears to be “Syncope.”
   •   The condition leading to the cause looks like “Marasmus Cordis,” which is not a modern medical term but may refer to wasting (marasmus) associated with the heart (cordis).
   •   The text below might state “14 days,” which could indicate the duration of the final illness.
   •   The name of the doctor or informant appears to be “J. Kinnaird,” followed by “L.R.C.P.,” which stands for Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, a medical qualification from the UK.

The handwriting is quite stylized and may be subject to interpretation. It’s recommended to cross-reference with other historical documents for verification.

When I suggested ‘morbus cordis’ the AI agreed that this would be a reasonable alternative.

Thanks AlanBoyd,

that is pretty impressive. I didn't even know feeding the information to ChatGPT was possible. Both interpretations seem valid at this point. An issue with the heart certainly seems likely anyway.

Any chance you could ask ChatGPT to have a go with the possible 'Tank Man' under profession? I've not used ChatGPT so I wouldn't know where to begin.

Thanks again.

B

[AlanBoyd]

It is impressive given that all I supplied was the image. I'm experimenting now with whether it can 'learn' someone's handwriting, but not looking too promising as yet. It did tell me that Prittlewell was at Southend and that there was a candidate for Arnold Avenue in the vicinity.

I looked for "tank man" in a dictionary of occupations but drew a blank.

Here is ChatGPT on the topic. As you will see it provided a link to search results (I have shrunk the url).

Me:
On this death certificate the occupation of the man is given as “tank man”. Given that this is in Southend in 1898 do you have any suggestions what this occupation could be?

ChatGPT:
The occupation "tank man" in the context of Southend in the late 19th century isn't clearly defined in historical records. However, considering the period and location, it could potentially refer to a worker associated with large storage tanks for water or other liquids, possibly in a municipal or industrial capacity. This might involve the maintenance and operation of storage tanks, perhaps for a waterworks company which was common in the era before widespread plumbing infrastructure. Since detailed historical occupational records can be challenging to interpret without context, this is a speculative interpretation based on the era and the terminology used at the time. For more information on historical occupations, you might explore resources like the Dictionary of Old Occupations for further insights.

Check out these search results http://tinyurl.com/bdu7e69n to dig in deeper.

[fiddlerslass]

Chat Gpt just beat me to it

I was going to suggest something to do with water tanks, see

https://www.southendtimeline.co.uk/3/southend-timeline-southend-waterworks-diagrams-documents-pdf-history-of-southend-on-sea.html