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Mine was
Threw himself out of first floor window of hospital in a fit of anger at nurse (no longer of sound mind) - recorded accidental death
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Visitation of God on one of mine. Old age or something the docs couldn't fatherm out?
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My grx2 grandfather's first wife's brother-in-law (a distant cousin got confused about the wives and amused herself digging through parish records on the wrong side!):
-- in 1892, after falling out of his damson tree, breaking his arm and getting lockjaw.
Very specific on the tree there. After googling, I learn that it is a plum tree.
Can't top that fit of anger / throwing self out of window, I'm afraid!
I was curious about "visitation of god" ... just desserts? ... so googled:
http://www.antiquusmorbus DOT com/English/EnglishV.htm
(I think "de morbo gallico" would be "of the French disease"!)
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Visitation of God
From an article: These considerations seem especially relevant to the final category of coroners’ inquests we have studied, those attributed to what juries regularly described as the Visitation of God (‘ex visitatione dei’). This categorization of death (one which was distinct in the jury verdicts from accidental death) seems to have been invoked when death arose inexplicably, or when it followed actions which were not regarded as being likely, under normal circumstances, to have resulted in a fatality. The exact cause of death is rarely noted in the Crown Books, and here too further investigation in the rolls is needed before any definite conclusions about this categorization can be reached. One case in which the cause of death was recorded, a case which demonstrates the occasional fluidity of definitions by coroners’ juries, comes from 1610, when it was noted that a man had died ‘de morbo gallico’, that is, of syphilis. The original verdict that he had died ‘per infortuna’ (by misfortune or accident) had been struck out, and ‘ex visitacone dei’ substituted. It is also noteworthy that around 1600 verdicts of death by divine visitation were regularly brought on prisoners who died in Chester gaol. [ESRC Violence in Early Modern England]
The description "died by the visitation of God" had been used at inquests in earlier times but was no longer acceptable. Compulsory registration of deaths had been introduced through the Births and Deaths Registration Act of 1836/7. Giving the cause of death was optional at first, but the trend towards accurate registration increased. In 1837 the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Surgeons and the Society of Apothecaries circulated a joint paper that explained the need for accurate death certification and urged doctors to provide it. In 1859 a publication called The nomenclature of disease was drawn up by a committee appointed by the Royal College of Physicians. Thereafter it was frequently revised. When a medical practitioner gave a cause of death that was unacceptable, the Registrar-General communicated with him in an attempt to elicit a more accurate diagnosis." 1874 saw the passing of another Births and Deaths Registration Act. It now became compulsory to give the cause of death. The penalty for failure to give the required information was a fine of up to forty shillings. [Ann Dally 1997]
Listed in the 1909 Manual of the International Causes of Death 2nd Revision As: Cause of death not specified or ill defined. [MICD1909]
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So Colin ... syphillis, or execution?!?
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My grt grandfather fell over while "intoxicated" and hit his head...was found out in the street at about 4am
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