Sad about death certificate (tw: suicide)

[Ayashi]

Hi all

I decided to 'treat' myself to some death certificates. They are for a branch of the family I haven't yet proven but I went for them partly out of curiosity, partly because there is a good chance I'm right and partly to see who the informants were (hopefully helpful!)

They arrived today and I made the mistake of opening one during my lunch break at work- I gasped so loudly I'm surprised my coworkers in the next room didn't come to see what the problem was.

My (possible) 4th great grandfather, Benjamin BELL, passed aged 69. "Emaciation and debility consequent on cutting his throat on the 9th September 1867 [exactly 6 months prior] whilst temporarily insane".

Poor man 

Of course, back then not only could you be in hot water just for the attempt, but the punishment for being successful was that the person couldn't be buried on consecrated ground and the soul would spend eternity in Hell. I once read a document of inquests (I forget for where) where you'd be surprised how few people who killed themselves actually committed suicide. Of dozens of cases, only two or so were found to have maliciously and purposefully destroyed the life given to them by God. The rest had some frequently creative accidents (such as mistakenly downing a whole bottle of arsenic rat poison after forgetting having bought it an hour earlier) or, in many cases, were inferred to be upstanding, law abiding, God fearing Christians who, presumably under the influence of the Devil, had sudden and insuppressible intrusive thoughts and couldn't possibly be blamed for having done so.  I can only assume the two people who did it on purpose were either not liked very much or the gentlemen of the Inquest couldn't think of a good enough excuse within the evidence provided.

I have no idea what brought on his "temporary insanity"- two more of his children died in short succession the following year so 'at least' he wasn't around for that, I guess? 

[Top-of-the-hill]

  The "temporary insanity" verdict allowed burial in consecrated ground. A relative of mine committed suicide in 1863 and the verdict was similar. One of the censuses said he was deaf, he never married, was nearly 40, and I guess life as a farm labourer just got on top of him.

[Zaphod99]

What is tw in the subject?

Zaph

[Ayashi]

I understand the 'temporary insanity' verdict. I meant his own motivations. He'd lost a lot of family members, but not recently to his own death. He was getting older so perhaps his health was worsening, but there's no secondary cause as given on the certificate. He might have been worried about his job or house, although I don't think he'd have needed to be concerned about the latter other than pride- as long as he hadn't alienated himself from his family there were a lot of people lodging (and dying in some cases) with other family members.

It's a bit unfortunate that the abode is so vague. I'm not sure where he was living for his last six months.

Zaphod: Tw means "trigger warning" In other words, 'be warned, sensitive topic'

[Andrew Tarr]

Zaphod: Tw means "trigger warning" In other words, 'be warned, sensitive topic'

A rather dubious warning if it isn't understood ? 

[Ayashi]

Zaphod: Tw means "trigger warning" In other words, 'be warned, sensitive topic'

A rather dubious warning if it isn't understood ? 

Respectfully, I'd argue that it would be understood by most people under the age of, lets say, 40.

[rosie99]

I suppose anything could finally trigger temporary insanity, it may have been something that had been going on for a long time

I don’t think you needed to add the tw at all, the word suicide would be sufficient to alert most people.

I do wonder what percentage of members who use rootschat are under 40 though.

[MollyC]

Agree with you Rosie.

[Ayashi]

I have to say, especially as a long term member of Rootschat, I'm surprised and a bit offended that several people can read a title saying "sad about death certificate" with details of an ancestor who died horribly and derail and reduce the entire thing to complaining about my use of two letters (and yes, I am myself below 40). Sorry, but shame on anyone who thinks that is the primary point of this thread.