How much worse ?

pinkshoes · Post by **pinkshoes** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:31 am

I'm feeling a bit maudlin

Poor Edward was only 16 when he died in Quarter Pit in Denny (not in the huge explosion in 1895 - this was in 1867). Cause of death is not stated, the cert simply says "not certified", and the death was not registered for more than two weeks after the death. Also, the informant was a neighbour who was also a coal miner. So I think maybe Edward is still in there? If that wasn't enough, 5 days after Edward's death was registered, his wee 8 year old brother died of fever which he'd had for four weeks.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the father had committed suicide by cutting his throat less than two years before.

We're lucky to be here at all, are we not

Pinkshoes

Thrall · Post by **Thrall** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 3:06 am

Hi Pinkshoes, Yes it does seem that those who went before us had to take the rough with the smooth.
Having (with Dave´s help in the old SP forum) found my own gr. grandmother (whom my own mother had not the faintest idea of), I then followed the line of her half sister Susanna McFarlane b.1847 Port of Menteith. She had an illegitimate daughter who was adopted by the local blacksmith at Doune, James Shaw b.1847, on Susanna's and his marriage. After raising three children of their own, they adopted a daughter of the first (adopted) daughter, then a son from Stirling, the nearest town. Things get easier(?), and James the blacksmith is appointed gravedigger, then sexton of Doune church, only to be found "strangled" according to the DC, in the churchyard. The Register of Corrected Entries reveals "cause-suicidal".
Some times one wonders where this "digging" gets one to! Somehow however, we carry on.

Thrall

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:56 am

Hi Thrall

I collect unusual registrations, but haven't got a "strangulation" !! <morbid bg>

As the RCE verdict was suicide this sounds like he hanged himself ...........

The reference info please, - name, place, date ............

David

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 12:09 pm

Hi David
I have a death by "strangulation, suicide" too:
1933 - as its relatively recent, I'll PM it.

Best wishes
Lesley

darrenst · Post by **darrenst** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 1:05 pm

How about poor Alexander Petrie (4 Nov 1887, Enzie, Banffshire, entry 47):

(accidental) Struck by engine on North of Scotland Railway.

It was also reported in the Scotsman of 5th November. It seems 'he became confused' at a farm gate crossing the railway. I have to wonder how fast the trains went in those days and how much noise they made not to have seen it coming, but there was no suggestion of suicide on the RCE.

It must have been a dangerous spot. The report went on to mention that the same crossing had claimed his collie dog two weeks earlier...

Darren

Thrall · Post by **Thrall** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:18 pm

Hi David
My sexton/gravedigger James Shaw, married to Susan McFarlane, died May7th. 1908 about noon, aged 58, in Kilmadock Burial Ground. COD -strangulation. His daughter Susan was the informant.
In the Register of Corrected Entries the cause: "Strangulation (Suicidal)".
Also rather morbidly perhaps, under the column "When and where died" it states "Kilmadock Burial Ground Usual Residence Same", inferring perhaps that he was living in the cemetry, and not with his family on the same Main Street, Doune as the burial ground. Who knows. Seems hard to have raised three children of your own, adopt another three, and then.......just when the youngest is leaving home. Sad.

Thrall

pinkshoes · Post by **pinkshoes** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 10:42 pm

David : this one might be of interest to you? It's not mine, but on the same page as one of mine who drowned (did she jump or was she pushed?) in the Forth & Clyde Canal.

1877 A wee baby of 4 weeks - cause of death - "Suffocation caused by deceased being too closely wrapped up and held too closely to the Breast of its mother".

Puir wee thing - killed wi' kindness?

Pinkshoes

rye470 · Post by **rye470** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:03 am

Hi David,

I've also got a few that pain me to think about.

Firstly, there's my Gt Grandmothers brother, John Kennedy. Born 29 December 1865 and died 5 days later on 3rd January 1866 from "Overdose of Laudenum by mistake".

Then there's another Gt Grandmothers sister who hanged herself at home. The funny thing about this one, is that the address shown, 6 McKerrell Street, Paisley, is the house one of my oldest friends lived
in when she first left home. I've yet to tell her!

Finally there is my Gt Aunt's husband, Campbell Carnegie. He was walking to work in the blackout during the war and walked off the end of the Princes Dock in Glasgow and was drowned.

Quite a varied collection.

Christine.

Bryan · Post by **Bryan** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:09 am

one of the saddest things I've come across was a gravestone by an abandoned chapel in the Yorkshire Dales.

Don't recall all the details but it was a couple commemorating their children - about 10 of them who had died at ages from a few days to a few years. The final entry was for their only child to reach adulthood - killed in action - France 1916

the good old days?

caraid · Post by **caraid** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:15 pm

Hi David
Don't know if your interested but I've a couple of unusual deaths, not my people but on the same pages.
1882 Death, Parish of Dunnet, Caithness, Nov 19th (found dead) at 7 am Brough. Cause of death, Burning - body found with clothes all burnt off. Reg of corrected entries vol 1 pg 52 28 nov 1882.
and
1940 Death, District of Leith, John Walsh ( formally John Robertson) L.M.S. Railway near South Trinity Bridge, Leith, usual res. 18 Eyre Pl. Cause of Death Multible Injures (run over by railway train). reg of corrected entries vol 25, pg 209 26th August.

Caraid