General Chat

LOL Sue... :)))

Committ? erm I reckon Gwyn we all will be some time in the future as we're driving ourselves barmy trying to read all the old records..Committed to the nearest nut house.. oh maybe not.. they pulled them all down! lol

OK, OK by 1736 they spelt it convul

*hides in corner and sucks thumb*

x

Why is it I can decipher all the others! I've looked on antiquus morbus and come up with nothing!

Right, lets try lateral thinking. What were the most common causes of death? Well on that page there are 3 cases of consumption, 2 ague (flu), ! fissick (?), 4 smallpox, 1 fever and 1 mortified!

Whatever the cause is, it affected both male and female.

In those crowded areas of London common causes would have been

TB. Typhus, Measles, childbirth, cancer, age related, teething, colds, smallpox, whooping cough, chickenpox etc

It seems that the average life expecctancy for someone born 1725-1750 was 32.4 lower than those born between 1700-1724 36.4

Found a page relating to causes of death in London 1735

http://www.thornber.net/medicine/html/mortality2.html

Now this relates to inner London but I would imagine that there wouldn't be that great a discrepency between St Dunstans are and London. So it looks like the term could be another name for convulsion.

All the deaths with that cause appear to be children as they are the son or daughter of. So looks like it could be febrile convulsions which can be caused by fever, malnutrition, gastro enteritis, inanition etc

B****r I've spent all evening doing this! Why didn't committ come up when I googled it?

Never mind, its always fun doing a bit of social history research.