Re: More Explanation of a death

On Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:08:36 +0000, Graeme Wall
<Graeme@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In message <3dfap3pos3q162l5g4hr2vhh5fm9jn39ub@xxxxxxx>
Charles Ellson <charles@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:43:27 GMT, "willers" <willers03@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


"Maire Black" <mbnilspam@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1ib39tc.lgw11w1orpc9yN%mbnilspam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SantaUK <santa@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have only started looking at my tree for a couple of weeks now, and
found
that my 2x Great Grandfather committed suicide in Kilbarchan,
Renfrewshire,
Scotland in 1887. On the death certificate it states that he committed
suicide by cutting his own throat, a bit of a gastly act to commit. I
would
like to investigate this further, possibly with news paper articles,
medical
reports, anything that could help. Can anyone suggest how to go about
doing
this?


Watching my dad shave with a "cut-throat" razor back in the 50s it
always surprised me that he didn't accidentally cut his throat. Suppose
he had, and was alone in the house at the time . . .

Maire Black

Interesting thought but it's pretty hard to cut one's throat with a
straight razor unintentionally and go deep enough to encroach upon the
trachea or one of the major blood vessels in the neck. The worst you
could achieve would be a deep skin laceration. On the other hand if you
were bent upon suicide...........................

As an aside, my GGrandfather also did himself in using the same method
as above in 1888 and the coroners report states "suicide cutting throat
with razor whilst mentally deranged". I wonder how they knew he was
mentally deranged? Do you have to be mentally deranged to commit
suicide?

ITYF the attitude at that time was that it was usually seen as
something that a mentally-competent person would not do.

IIRC it has legal implications to do with inheritances. The normal verdict
is Suicide While of Unsound Mind.[1] There is, apparently, one verdict of
Suicide While of Sound Mind on the books. The case was an eminent
pathologist who had given evidence in a number of high profile criminal cases
and the verdict was to avoid the possibility of appeals from the various
people he'd helped to convict, on the basis that he might have been of
unsound mind when giving testimony. Can't remember the chap's name, it was
many years ago.

[1] In England & Wales, Scotland may be different.

There is no direct direct equivalent to the inquest system of England
so before the introduction of Fatal Accident Inquiries (FAIs) in the
1890s the details on a death registration IME tend to be limited to
what an informant has supplied which generally describes the mode of
death without explanation of the preceding circumstaces unless the
informant was the Procurator Fiscal; suicide was often qualified with
"supposed". With the introduction of FAIs (held in a Sheriff Court)
there was more chance of a bit more detail appearing, usually via the
Register of Corrected Entries not on the original registration, so RCE
indicators on Scotlands People should not be ignored. It is still the
case that an FAI might deliver a rather bald formal verdict that e.g.
X died "after his/her throat was cut" or "... after ingestion of
poison" or simply "was found dead at <place>" leaving it open to doubt
as to who/what actually caused the death if only the death
registration and RCE entry are read but Sheriff Court records (if
kept) might explain more; in some cases the local newspapers might
report the details in the same way that Coroners' Courts in England
and Wales were used as a source of local news.
.

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