Attitudes to a suicide in the 1920s

[Lionrhod]

Thank you for this fascinating thread, and my condolences to those who have lost ancestors and closer family members to suicide.

I'm a writer working on a book involving a character who (was believed to have) committed suicide in the 1927 and I found this thread because I was researching suicide in the 1920's.

One interesting fact I learned from a very helpful Episcopal church secretary is that if my character died after 1928 she would have been able to have a normal church burial. (I didn't want that, so I ended up changing the date of her death from 1929 to 1927.) I assume they changed some church rules about that time, though I haven't located the exact info on it yet. Hopefully that info is helpful for someone.

I very much appreciate having found the term "unsound mind," here. The character was suffering from tuberculosis (pretty much fatal in those days) and depression because of that, but I figured there was a better word to use than "depression."

Right now I'm trying to write the news clipping of the character's death. For those of you who have actual newspaper clippings and/or death certificates from this era, I hope you don't mind my asking a few questions:

1) Would the suicide's name absolutely be identified in the newspaper? The girl is 18, and the daughter of a wealthy local. Is it possible that the newspaper would say something like, "the daughter of a wealthy local shipping magnate" and later say "the family has requested that their names be withheld pending notification of relatives" or would it just print her name regardless? Would it print her address, or merely the town she lived in? (The local paper covers several towns.)

2) How long would the coroner's inquest generally take? And how long from then to get to the papers? I'm sure that partly depends on death method. In this case the girl was in the bath, allegedly wetted her towels so that she could send her nurse for more, and while the nurse was gone, drowned herself.

I hope it doesn't seem callous of me to post these questions in an ancestry forum. History is an important thing to me and I wish to honor the many folks who died of tuberculosis by keeping as much of possible of my story accurate to the period and the disease.

[pet50ite]

Hi Lionrhod,
I have a fairly strong possibility of an ancestor on my side who committed suicide. It was a bit earlier than your character's time (1890) and it is in Ireland, so I don't know if this will be of any use to you.
The coroner's inquest was reported in the paper. Not only was his full name printed but his mother's name and the name of the street she lived in (although it doesn't give his address, the impression you get is that he lived with his mum).
It appears that the inquest happened very quickly after the event and was reported within a few days.
Pet50ite

[Redroger]

Everything had to be done as quickly as possible in that pre refrigeration era. Not pleasant to know I realise.

[Ruskie]

 I don't have any real knowledge of what may or may not be included in newspaper announcements, but the phrase "the family has requested that their names be withheld pending notification of relatives" sounds a bit modern to me.

 I would have thought that anyone who took their own life in that era would not have had a newspaper announcement, or if they did, the cause of death may be omitted.

These thoughts are merely coming from the point of view of someone who may read your book rather than any real knowledge of the subject in that era. 

Inquest would have given the facts of the case but I am not sure the family would pay for it to be published in an newspaper.

[cati]

I looked in the newspaper collection on FindMyPast (using "suicide" and various place names as search terms , and picking the 1920s as an era): quite a few of the reports give full details of the suicide's name, personal circumstances and an exact address.

As Coroners' Courts are public courts, there would be no bar on the press attending, except in very exceptional circumstances (such as, I would imagine, the suicide of a member of the Royal Family): the papers would report this as a news item and the family would have little, if any, say in what was printed.  Certainly the family wouldn't pay the paper anything for this: the most the family would pay would be for an obituary or funeral announcement.

[Redroger]

In my grandmother's case it was the full harrowing description of the event.

[Lionrhod]

Thank you everyone! You've helped me make my story far more realistic. (I'd tried using newspapers.com to do some research, but they wanted an up front credit card and that WASN'T realistic for me ) Hugs and kisses to you all!

The point about getting the inquest done fast because of the lack of refrigeration was also brilliant. Duh! Having lived in locations without electric, I should have thought of this. And of course nowadays we have so much more forensic info - DNA etc, that it makes sense it would take longer.

Thanks to all of you, I now have the victim's name and town listed (not address, since she's a fictional character living in a fictional house and I don't want to just plant a house somewhere that doesn't actually exist) recorded, as well as the fact that she's the daughter of a prominent shipping magnate (his name included) as well as the nurse who discovered the body (and is actually the murderer--it wasn't really a suicide) and her story about "what happened."

This is a fascinating forum, and as genealogy and history are some of my passions, I hope I can contribute and give back.

Here's what I have--please feel free to comment and add suggestions.

Poughkeepsie Journal, April 20, 1927
Local Girl Commits Suicide in Tub
The coroner was summoned to the home of prominent shipping magnate Jonas Tottenham of Hyde Park, on Sunday, April 17. The eldest daughter of the family, Rachel Agnes Tottenham age 18, had apparently drowned herself in the bathtub while her family was away at church.
The girl had been suffring from consumption and it is believed that this caused her to be of unsound mind, leading her to take her life.
The girl's nurse, one Clarice Wallace, stated that as she was helping her charge bathe, the towels had fallen into the tub and she was sent for more. Miss Wallace further said that she believed Miss Tottenham had deliberately soaked the towels so that she would have time to effect her demise.