Genealogy Chat

If a person had taken their own life would the death cert say so....

Misty x

That's a question I've wondered about, Misty. I know that my grandfather took his own life but I've never bought his death certificate to see if it says so. I guess I just didn't want to see it in writing. I think I will order it now.

I do know that he was buried in consecrated ground in the cemetery. I didn't think that was allowed in the case of a suicide.

This is something which has been discussed before. I think the general consensus of opinion was that it depended on the individual registrar and the way he wanted to record the death.
It might be worth trying to look for old newspaper articles from the time to see if they can shed any light.

I have a death cert (1959) on which, in the Cause of Death column, is written...
Coal gas poisoning
Gas inhaled from domestic supply
Suicide while the balance of his mind was disturbed .

Informant column has the Coroner's details.

EDIT: (Ref: the point Margee made about burial)
P.S. Regret to say I have no idea where he is buried.

My gr-grandfather took his own life in 1902, and it says so on the death cert.

"Suicide by cutting his throat with a razor while of unsound mind."

As in Karen's cert above, the Coroner was the informant.

My grandfather took his own life in the 1970s......not seen the death cert as dad has it...perhaps I shall ask him what it says

My grandmother gassed herself in the 1950's. The coroner was very blunt!! The certificate says "Did kill herself".

I think it was from the 1820s that suicides could be buried in consecrated ground but without a service.

EDIT..Found it. The Burial of Suicide Act 1823 made it legal for the burial of suicides in consecrated ground but religious services were not permitted until 1882. The 1961 Suicide Act decriminalised suicide so that those who failed in the attempt would no longer be prosecuted.

The NA has a podcast on the subject and it is an interesting listen..

At the Instigation of the Devil: suicide and its records
http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/at-the-instigation-of-the-devil-suicide-and-its-records/

Chris

Hello All, apologies for slow reply....

Thank you for info...I have the death cert, cause of death is rather ambiguous, however, nowhere does it mention suicide etc. There was a postmortem, brother was informant, she died at home...

In her obit, part of it pulled my heart strings.... "she died after a hard struggle with life"

Whilst researching this lady I have become rather fond of her, she appears to have had a terribly sad life, dreadful bully of a husband ( found from newspaper reports of his court appearances/divorce papers) death of children etc, so I'm glad that maybe she was able to have some life after her divorce (whilst he was in prison for bashing her) and (hopefully) died peacefully from natural causes....

Thanks again...

Misty x