Attitudes to a suicide in the 1920s

[Colin Cruddace]

I don't know how I've missed this thread until now, but there are many poignant and touching stories coming through. I would like to thank those who have shared their family 'skeletons'.

On Clara's question as to whether to tell Mum? I can only suggest that you are the best judge of that. Is your Mum interested in your research and does she like to share what she knows so that you can find out more about her family? If she does then I would say yes, but in a roundabout way, saying that you might have found something odd about his death, and does she know any more about him. The older generations are not easily shocked because that was their way of life and sad things happened.

The other question of suicide while being of unsound mind, meant that a normal burial and religious service could be undertaken, as the deceased was not held responsible for his/her actions and it was not regarded as being illegal or as a sin in the eyes of God.

Regards,
Colin

[Redroger]

Clara, I would tell her, as sooner or later the truth will come out and someone else will. Then she will only wonder what you knew and for how long. My grandmother killed herself in 1901, also with a razor, and though I knew there was a mystery I only discovered it in 1997. My late father, who was also a WW1 veteran and never talked about the war, had walked past the house where she killed herself every day on his way to and from work for well over 40 years, and had never mentioned the suicide to me or my brother, though when I told her it was obvious that my mother had known about it.

[Maggie1895]

I was in my teens when someone said to me quite casually "it was a terrible shock when... "
I hadn't known about the very public suicide in my family at all until then.   My parents didn't want to tell us children and thought we would never find out.
I got a bit of a shock, but I think it was much harder for my father, being asked questions by his daughter and having to answer them, on a subject he never wanted to discuss.
I think it really is a case of distance lending detachment - a lot depends on how close your mother is/was to the family.   Only you can really guess if this would hurt her or not, and also how robust or frail she is.   
Yes, older people are more practical and pragmatic, but that doesn't mean they necessarily want to have everything brought out into the open.    It's a really difficult decision - good luck.

[Floss]

My Grandfather killed himself in 1932 when my mum was 2.    It seems he was a bit depressed about being out of work but had a few drinks, my nana thought it best to leave him downstairs to sleep it off, when she came down in the morning he'd gassed himself.  Result of inquest was suicide by coal gas poisoning due to unsound mind.  My nana was left with 2 young children to bring up.  I managed to find a newspaper report from the local paper which gives more details including how a police office gave artifical respiration for an hour but to no avail.

[Siamese Girl]

What a sad subject.

Is it not also true that a verdict of "unsound mind" was not only kinder for the surviving relatives to live with, but also mean that the suicide was not legally responsible for his/her actions in which case if there was any kind of life insurance it would still be paid out to his/her survivors ?

Carole

[Redroger]

Carole, That is my understanding of the reason. I find it somewhat surprising that any provision like this was made, after all it would save the insurance companies money when they didn't pay out.

[Siamese Girl]

I like to be generous and think that not all laws were made either to stop people from doing things/punishing them when they did/or extracting money from them by a myriad of taxes, and that some, such as allowing insurance policies  to be paid out to widows and children were made out of kindness.


But I'm sure I'm wrong!

Carole

[stanmapstone]

Historically the goods of people found guilty of the 'crime' of suicide were forfeit to the crown, often leaving the survivors in poverty, however if the person committed suicide while the balance of the mind was disturbed (non compos mentis)the survivors were not subject to this draconian penalty.

You can still buy 'cut throat razors'    http://www.rootschat.com/links/08hr/   

Stan

[meles]

Oh - that's interesting, and answers the question I asked a while ago.

meles