Dead Cert

Elizabetha

Hi, need help deciphering again. Can anyone tell me what the occupation was for Walter Skerritt on this death cert? Thanks

Shield

Army Pensioner. Most likely died from injuries sustained during active duty.

pedroeibar1

Death is 1908. No action around that time. Pneumonia and heart failure were the causes.

shanew

looks like

'Pulmonary Tuberculosis, heart failure, certified'

to me ....

pedroeibar1

Your are correct Shane – I (mis)read the initial post on my phone:o. However, there is not a huge difference between the two, the lungs get blocked which puts a big strain on the heart which then fails, as indicated on the cert.

Generally ‘simple’ tuberculosis was called consumption and entered as ‘phthisis’ on a death cert. (Hippocrates named it that c.450BC.) It killed almost one in four people in the 1800’s, and if you were lucky enough to get to a sanatorium/hospital the death rate there was 50%. Being an army pensioner probably got this man into the Adelaide. (He obviously had to retire early , he died age 38). It was largely a disease spread by living in close proximity to others (‘the disease of the poor’) although it was also spread by cows milk until pasteurization became common. He could have contracted it by living in military barracks or from crowded accommodation at home.

One of my great-grandfathers died of phthisys, which is why I've read up and know a little about it.

shanew

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

....
One of my great-grandfathers died of phthisys, which is why I've read up and know a little about it.

one of my gtgt-grangfathers too in 1879 - his cert has 'phthisys 3 years certified'. Lucky break for us with that branch as his wife died later the same year. The young children all survived and stayed together and were apparently taken in by in-laws and later went back to the original family farm where my grandmother was born...

The story goes that when they returned to the old house and farm (probably 10-15 years later), brambles were growing through the window frames..

Much later in the 1930s my gt-grandmother from another branch contracted TB and had a lung removed. She was told that she had 3 months to live. However, she was sent to live for a number of months in Switzerland and lived to 80.

pedroeibar1

They were tough times and had some remarkable people. My GGF died in 1905 - I haven’t his d. cert to hand, but I think it said ‘phthysis one year’. Like your story, he left a widow aged 33 with 7 children, 6 of whom were under 10. She was a remarkable woman, a labourer's daughter and they had married secretly as socially it was a very 'downward' marriage for him. After his death not only did she hold onto the farm but expanded it, all her male children were well educated, went on to successful careers and her daughters (except for one!) married well. When her second son (the one destined for the farm) died of Spanish 'flu she ran the farm herself until her death in 1940. One of her grand-daughters also got TB in the 1950's, was in a sanitorium (Peamount?) and made a successful recovery. TB and the risk of cross-infection from bovine TB makes one think about enjoying cheeses made from unpasteurized milk!

contrary

Army pensioner is it?

Elizabetha

That's great info, thanks Shane, thanks pedroeibar1

AHD

Hi there,

I have Williams military record if you want to message me your email address.

Lindy