Child buried at age 6 but recorded as "Child of" with no given name?

[Seaton Smithy]

Scenario - All events occur in St Agnes:

Richard Sam(p)son and Mary Thomas are married in 1761.

A son Peter is baptised in 1761 and a daughter Katherin is baptised in Sept 1765.

Peter is buried in 1769. Richard and Mary are both buried in 1770.

A "Child of Richard Sampson" is buried in May 1772. There does not appear to be another Richard Sam(p)son in St Agnes at the time.

If the child buried in 1772 was Katherin, she would have been around 6 years old. How likely is it that a child of 6 would be buried as "Child of" and not have their given name recorded?

[Tasman1]

Confess _ No idea. Just weird thoughts.
Cause of death of the parents so soon and close same year??? scandal?

[philipsearching]

Burial details of Richard and Mary:
Richard SAMPSON buried 21 Apr 1770 St Agnes
Mary SAMPSON widow buried 5 May 1770 St Agnes

Did daughter Katherin survive and get married?
NO marriage (including spelling variants) found in Cornwall up to 1830 on Cornwall OPC

Catherine baptisms in St Agnes 1750-1800:
Katherin SAMSON daughter of Richard and Mary bapt 16 Sep 1765 St Agnes
Catherine SAMSON daughter of Samuel and Catherine bapt 13 Apr 1789 St Agnes
Catherine SAMPSON daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth bapt 30 Jun 1793 St Agnes

Mrs Catherine SAMPSON
Samuel SAMPSON married Catherine TONKIN 3 Jun 1786 St Agnes b (NOTE: this is probably Katherin TONKIN bapt 1764 St Agnes)

Burials for Catherine and mystery child in St Agnes
(a child of Richard) SAMPSON buried 17 May 1772 St Agnes
Catherine SAMPSON age 2 buried 13 Apr 1793 St Agnes
Catherine SAMPSON age 1 buried 27 May 1794 St Agnes
Catherine SAMPSON age 65 of Towan buried 26 May 1829 St Agnes

Summary
There are four Catherines: three children baptised Catherine SAMPSON (including variants) and Catherine nee TONKIN.
There are no marriages for Catherine SAMPSON (including variants).
There are three burials before 1837 for Catherine SAMPSON (including variants).

Likely solution:
Katherin bapt 1765 is the "child of Richard" buried in 1772 (no age recorded).
Catherine baptised 1789 was buried in 1793 (with an error of 1 year on the age).
Catherine baptised 1793 was buried in 1794 aged 1.
Catherine (nee TONKIN, bapt 1764) was buried in 1829 aged 65.

If Katherin was aged around 6 and buried  as "a child of Richard" it seems strange, but if she was neglected after she was orphaned it is not impossible.    If the parish minutes survive there might be a reference to what became of her after her parents died.

If the "child of Richard" is not Katherin, this would mean that this was another child born before Mary died in May 1770 who lived to at least 2 years of age without being baptised, AND Katherin was adopted and given a different surname OR Katherin was sent away from the parish.

[jonw65]

How likely is it that a child of 6 would be buried as "Child of" and not have their given name recorded

Probably very likely at St. Agnes, because only a minority of children who were buried there at that particular time seem to be named in the register.
They are mainly recorded as "A child of" or "An infant child of" with the fathers names being given.
Your one is no different to most of the others.

PR very faded on FamilySearch, here is the (damaged!) BT
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93K-FCHS

[athel_cb]

There is a tendency to assume that official records (or semi-official ones, like parish records) have been competently compiled by well informed and educated people, but often that is not the case, as I discovered when I needed a copy of my father's birth certificate. He was born in 1908 in Sydney, Nova Scotia, so naturally I applied to the appropriate office in Nova Scotia. They told me that they couldn't provide a birth certificate (I don't know why not, as they sent one to my nephew a couple of years later) and offered a photocopy of the relevant page of the birth register. In one short paragraph there were no fewer than four mistakes: my father's second given name was garbled to the point that it was gibberish; my grandfather's birthplace was (trivially) misspelt; his occupation was completely wrong; and I don't remember what the fourth was.

[Seaton Smithy]

Thank you for the responses.

It does appear to have been the practice at the time in St Agnes not to name children being buried..